IN BRIEF

MOTOR SPORTS

Patrick wins Nationwide pole
for season opener at Daytona

In about 24 hours, Danica Patrick went from her biggest crash to her biggest moment in a stock car.

The former IndyCar driver won the pole Friday for today's season-opening Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., becoming the first woman to gain the top qualifying spot in NASCAR's second-tier series since Shawna Robinson at Atlanta on March 12, 1994. It came a day after Patrick wrecked on the final lap of a qualifying race for Sunday's Daytona 500.

"I really don't think about it from a girl perspective," she said. "I've been taught from a young age to want to be the best driver. ... It was about being the best driver and not the best girl."

Patrick turned a fast lap of 49.250 seconds around the high-banked speedway, averaging 182.741 mph. Defending Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne qualified second, followed by Elliott Sadler, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Austin Dillon.

Also: John King wrecked the leader and later held on to win a wild Truck Series opener at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., his first NASCAR victory in eight starts. Timothy Peters took second, giving Red Horse Racing a 1-2 finish.

King turned leader Johnny Saunter around on the second of three attempts at a green-white-checkered finish. Joey Coulter then slammed into the wall shortly after the final restart, his truck lifting off the ground, hitting the fence and spinning back across the track. He wasn't hurt.

BASKETBALL

Five-time NBA All-Star Miller
among 12 Hall of Fame finalists

Former NBA great Reggie Miller was announced as a first-time finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, one of 12 finalists for the class of 2012.

Miller, a five-time All-Star, was joined as a first-time finalist by five-time NCAA Final Four coach Rick Pitino, former NBA coach Bill Fitch and two-time Olympic gold medalist Katrina McClain. On the ballot again are Don Nelson, Maurice Cheeks, Bernard King, Dick Motta, Hank Nichols, Ralph Sampson, Jamaal Wilkes and the All-American Red Heads, known as the female version of the Harlem Globetrotters and the first women's professional basketball team.

The 2012 class will be announced April 2 at the NCAA's Final Four in New Orleans. A finalist needs 18 of 24 votes.

Also: Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving made eight 3-pointers and finished with 34 points, helping Team Chuck beat Team Shaq 146-133 in the Rising Stars Challenge in Orlando, Fla. Cleveland's Tristan Thompson, a former Findlay Prep star, scored 20 points to lead Team Shaq. New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin scored only two points in nine minutes for Team Shaq.

This year's Rising Stars Challenge had a different format, with the rookie and second-year players mixed together on teams for the first time. The league also inserted a little more name recognition with former stars Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley serving as general managers and drafting the teams.

Jae Crowder scored 26 points and No. 10 Marquette, after benching leading scorer Darius Johnson-Odom and two other starters in the first half, overcame a double-digit deficit to defeat West Virginia 61-60 in Morgantown, W.Va.

Johnson-Odom, Junior Cadougan and Vander Blue sat out the first half for breaking team rules. But the Golden Eagles (24-5, 13-3 Big East) still beat the Mountaineers (17-12, 7-9) for their fifth straight victory and 12th in 13 games.

MISCELLANEOUS

Wanting more touchbacks,
NCAA moves kickoffs to 35

Kickoffs in major college football will move from the 30 to the 35-yard line next season, a change intended to keep players safer. The change was approved this week by the NCAA playing rules oversight panel, which also said the running start by players on the kicking team will be limited to 5 yards.

The NFL moved up kickoffs 5 yards last season, and touchbacks increased dramatically. Another new NCAA rule involving free kicks will move touchbacks from the 20 to the 25-yard line, a move intended to encourage more touchbacks.

Also: Daniel Summerhays birdied the final hole for a 6-under-par 65 and a share of the second-round lead with Will Claxton and Greg Owen in the wind-swept Mayakoba Golf Classic at Playa del Carmen, Mexico. They were at 8-under 134. Summerhays, a 28-year-old former Brigham Young player, made only eight cuts in 29 PGA Tour starts last season.

Katie Futcher and Jenny Shin shot 5-under 67s in the HSBC Women's Champions in Singapore to join first-round leader Angela Stanford in first place. Futcher and Shin both had six birdies and one bogey to reach 8-under 136 and tie Stanford, who had a 70, on a day when temperatures reached the low 90s.