U.S. Is Warming Up to Task

Members of the U.S. Olympic qualifying team put on a dunking exhibition during warmups and the show kept going in the first quarter as the United States defeated Venezuela, 98-69, Friday night at San Juan, Puerto Rico.

But in winning for the third straight night at the Olympic qualifying tournament, the Americans did it with a mixture of flair and sloppiness -- seeming to lose their focus after opening an early 20-point lead.

Early in the game, Tracy McGrady had a windmill dunk off an alley-oop pass from Allen Iverson, followed by an underhanded alley-oop pass from Iverson to McGrady for another jam.

McGrady led the U.S. with 16 points, Iverson had 14 and Vince Carter, Mike Bibby and Tim Duncan each added 13.

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In the WNBA, Tamika Catchings matched her career high with 32 points to help the Indiana Fever defeat the host New York Liberty, 64-51, in front of 15,424.... Katie Douglas scored 21 points to push the Connecticut Sun past the Charlotte Sting, 63-55, in front of 9,176 at Uncasville, Conn.... Anna DeForge scored a career-high 24 points to help the Phoenix Mercury beat the San Antonio Silver Stars, 89-62, in front of 10,123 at Phoenix.

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Homer Drew is returning to Valparaiso, succeeding his son as men’s coach.

Drew retired 18 months ago as the school’s career leader in victories, turning the position over to his son, Scott, who was named coach at Baylor.

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Efforts by Baylor athlete Patrick Dennehy to expose wrongdoing in the university’s basketball program resulted in “violent threats” against him and a cover-up that led to his murder, the player’s father, Patrick Dennehy Sr., said in a wrongful-death lawsuit.

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Texas forward Heather Schreiber scored 21 points, but the defending champion U.S. women’s team lost to Italy, 81-64, in a preliminary-round game at the World University Games at Daegu, South Korea.

Tennis

Lindsay Davenport easily defeated Elena Dementieva, 6-4, 6-2, to advance to the final of the Pilot Pen tournament at New Haven, Conn.

Davenport will play third-seeded Jennifer Capriati, who advanced when Amelie Mauresmo retired because she said she was feeling ill.

Martina Navratilova won’t play mixed doubles at the U.S. Open because her regular partner, Leander Paes, is hospitalized with a brain lesion. They teamed to win two of the first three Grand Slam titles this year, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

James Blake rallied for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Jarrko Nieminen of Finland to advance to the semifinals of the TD Waterhouse Cup at Commack, N.Y. Blake will face Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, who defeated second-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Top-seeded Paradorn Srichaphan advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 win over qualifier Jeff Morrison.

Motor Racing

Jeff Gordon’s pursuit of his fifth NASCAR Winston Cup Series title took a positive turn when he won the pole for tonight’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.

Winston Cup regular Michael Waltrip used a slight bump-and-run to knock Ron Hornaday out of his way and went on to win the Busch Series race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

Miscellany

A former boys’ basketball coach reportedly fired over his players’ academic shortcomings sued the head of L.A. Ribet Academy for defamation over comments made last year. Bobby Brimmer was let go last season, after leading his team to the Southern Section Division V-AA finals in his first year as coach.

Brimmer seeks $3,000 he claims he is owed for the remainder of his contract, and unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

Preki scored on a penalty kick in stoppage time at the end of the second half to lift the Kansas City Wizards into a 2-2 tie with the Colorado Rapids in a Major League Soccer game in front of 12,778 at Kansas City, Mo.