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Louisville, Connecticut reach final

Breanna Stewart had 29 points, five rebounds and four blocks in UConn's 83-65 victory over Notre Dame in the Final Four on Sunday.
(Chris Graythen / Getty Images)
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Breanna Stewart put on quite a show to help Connecticut finally vanquish Notre Dame.

The stellar freshman scored a career-high 29 points to go with four blocks, leading the Huskies to the women’s national championship game with an 83-65 win over Notre Dame on Sunday night at New Orleans.

The Huskies will face Louisville in the championship game Tuesday night in an all-Big East final after the Cardinals rallied to beat California, 64-57, in the other NCAA semifinal. Connecticut will be going for its eighth national championship to match Tennessee for the most in women’s basketball.

Connecticut (34-4) had lost the previous two national semifinals to the Fighting Irish (35-2) and dropped three thrilling games this season to its rival.

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Antonita Slaughter scored 18 points on six three-pointers for Louisville (29-8). Cal finished 32-4.

ETC.

Johnson wins in Sprint Cup

Jimmie Johnson pulled away on a restart with eight laps to go and won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

It was his eighth victory on the shortest track the series races. Only Richard Petty with 15, and Darrell Waltrip with 11 have won more.

Clint Bowyer was second, Jeff Gordon third and Kasey Kahne fourth. Kyle Busch finished fifth.

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Andretti Autosport remained perfect this year when defending IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay ended Penske Racing’s winning streak at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala.

Scott Dixon finished second for the fourth consecutive year. Helio Castroneves was third to take over the IndyCar points lead, and Charlie Kimball, Dixon’s teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, was a career-best fourth. Will Power was fifth.

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Tony Schumacher (top fuel), Cruz Pedregon (funny car) and Allen Johnson (pro stock) were winners in the SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at Las Vegas.

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Serena Williams rallied past Jelena Jankovic, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2, to win her 15th straight match and second consecutive title in the Family Circle Cup at Charleston, S.C.

It was the second straight tournament in which the top-ranked Williams dropped the opening set in the final before digging in for victory. A week ago, she lost 6-4 to Maria Sharapova and then won 12 of the next 15 games to win the Sony Open.

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Even an ankle injury couldn’t stop world No. 1 Novak Djokovic from dominating Sam Querrey, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-0, to give Serbia an insurmountable 3-1 lead over the U.S. in a Davis Cup quarterfinal at Boise, Idaho.

At 1-1, 30-40 and a second breakpoint opportunity on Querrey’s serve, the Djokovic twisted his right ankle off a forehand and fell to the court.

Wincing in pain, Djokovic had to be helped courtside. But after having the ankle taped and taking anti-inflammatories, he continued to play. He broke serve on his third breakpoint in that third game.

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Martin Laird tied the course record with a nine-under par 63 to hold off Rory McIlroy in the Texas Open and earn his first win in more than two years.

Laird began Sunday four shots behind leader Billy Horschel but posted a bogey-free round to finish 14 under overall and earn the third win of his career.

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McIlroy, the world’s No. 2, began the day at six under before posting a 66 to finish two shots back and finish second — his best finish of the year. Horschel shot a one-under 71 to finish in a tie for third.

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Marty Blake, the NBA’s longtime director of scouting, died Sunday. He was 86.

Blake worked in the NBA for more than 50 years. The NBA said Blake died in Alpharetta, Ga., but didn’t provide a cause of death.

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