IN BRIEF

GOLF

Heavy rain forces shortening of LPGA Tour Championship

More rain on already saturated grounds at The Houstonian Country Club washed out play at the LPGA Tour Championship on Saturday in Richmond, Texas, forcing tour officials to cut the season-ending event to 54 holes.

More than 1.4 inches of rain fell on the course from Friday morning until the decision was made to call off play Saturday afternoon.

Play will resume today, and the cut will be made at the low 70 scores and ties. A third round and final round will be played Monday.

Tournament leader Lorena Ochoa, who can win her fourth straight LPGA Player of the Year award with a win this week, has not hit a shot in competition since early Thursday afternoon, when she finished a first-round 66.

Also: Lee Westwood maintained his two-shot lead at the Dubai World Championships after shooting 6-under 66 in the third round in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Englishman made six birdies to take his total to 15-under 201. England's Ross McGowan was second after a 66.

UNLV

Lady Rebels to host Lucas, fourth-ranked North Carolina

Former Centennial High School basketball standout Italee Lucas returns to Las Vegas today with fourth-ranked North Carolina (2-0), which will take on UNLV (2-1) at Cox Pavilion.

UNLV enters off a 97-92 victory at Sacramento State on Thursday.

Lucas, a 5-foot-8-inch junior guard, appeared in all 35 games for the Tar Heels last year and started 31, averaging 13.9 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists. She didn't play in the season-opening 88-57 rout of College of Charleston, then had nine points and four rebounds Wednesday in an 88-49 blowout of Coastal Carolina.

The game will air live at 2 p.m. on The Mtn. (Cable 334).

Also: The UNLV volleyball team fell just short of upsetting No. 25 Colorado State, losing 24-26, 26-24, 25-27, 25-22, 15-12 in Fort Collins, Colo.

Samantha Richard had 52 assists and 15 digs for the Rebels (8-17, 5-11 Mountain West Conference), and Sara Nehf had 22 digs and 14 kills. Cursty Jackson had 17 kills.

The UNLV men's swimming team was in second place after two days of the Cougar Classic Fall Invitational in Houston.

UNLV got three wins Saturday, from Cody Roberts (100-yard butterfly), Kyle Virva (200 freestyle) and the 200 medley relay team. The Rebels have 473 points, well behind Louisiana State's 992.

MISCELLANEOUS

Sluggish Wranglers once again fall short against Grizzlies

Vlady Nikiforov scored twice to lead the Utah Grizzlies to a 5-1 victory over the Wranglers in an ECHL game in West Valley City, Utah.

It was the fourth straight loss for Las Vegas (6-10), all coming to the Grizzlies (10-4).

Vic Bartley had three assists and Dylan Hunter two assists for Utah, which scored four goals in the second period to take a 5-0 lead.

Adam Miller scored the lone goal for the Wranglers.

Also: Zsolt Erdei of Hungary won the WBC cruiserweight title with a majority decision over Giacobbe Fragomeni in Kiel, Germany.

Erdei vacated the WBO light heavyweight title to fight at cruiserweight for the first time, and he managed to do just enough against the 40-year-old Italian. Two judges had it 115-113 for Erdei, while the third scored it 114-114.

Sprint stars Usain Bolt of Jamaica and Tyson Gay of the United States will race each other at least three times at elite Diamond League meetings next year.

Track and field's governing body said the two fastest men in history are contracted to compete in seven of the 14 cities in Asia, Europe and the United States featured in the inaugural global series. The rivals must decide which meets will host their showdowns, over 100 or 200 meters.

Art Savage, majority owner of the Pacific Coast League's Sacramento River Cats, has died at 58. Jeff Savage said his father collapsed at his Sacramento, Calif., home and died on the way to the hospital. He said his father had recently recovered from a long battle with lung cancer.

Savage bought the team when it was based in Edmonton, Alberta, in 1998. He moved the club to Vancouver, British Columbia, for a year before relocating to Sacramento in 2000. The River Cats won Triple-A championships in 2007 and 2008.