IN BRIEF

BASKETBALL

Heat gives Livingston second shot at NBA

The Miami Heat is giving Shaun Livingston a second chance at an NBA career.

The free-agent point guard signed a two-year contract with the Heat on Friday, the first significant step in what he hopes is a comeback from a serious injury to his left knee 19 months ago.

"I'm excited to play, excited to be here in Miami and really show what I bring to the table when healthy," the 6-foot-7-inch Livingston said.

Also: The Indiana Pacers declined to comment on a report that point guard Jamaal Tinsley would be traded to Denver for Steven Hunter and Chucky Atkins.

Pacers president Larry Bird downplayed the report, which appeared in the New York Post, saying the team wouldn't comment on "trade rumors" involving any of its players.

Katie Smith scored 22 points, and the Detroit Shock built a big lead in the first quarter, then hung on to defeat the host San Antonio Silver Stars 69-61 and take a 2-0 lead in the WNBA Finals.

Game 3 in the best-of-5 series is Sunday at Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti, Mich., where Detroit will try to wrap up its second title in the last three years.

Candace Parker received the WNBA's Most Valuable Player award, becoming the first player to win it along with rookie of the year honors. The Los Angeles Sparks star was unanimously selected rookie of the year.

Florida coach Billy Donovan signed a six-year contract extension. The deal is worth more than $19.5 million before incentives.

GOLF

Choi leads by two in LPGA Samsung event

Na Yeon Choi of South Korea survived a changing wind and decreasing temperatures to shoot a 1-under-par 71, giving her a 4-under 140 total and a two-stroke lead after two rounds of the Samsung World Championship in Half Moon Bay, Calif.

Choi leads Angela Stanford (73), who had a rare double eagle; Lorena Ochoa (73), who had a rough back nine with two double bogeys and a bogey; Paula Creamer (74); and Song-Hee Kim (73).

Also: Jeff Overton shot a 3-under 69 to take a one-shot lead over Tag Ridings (68) in the blustery Turning Stone Resort Championship in Verona, N.Y.

Playing through wind, rain and even a shower of hail, Overton was at 8-under 136 after two rounds.

Austria's Markus Brier shot a 2-under 70 at St. Andrews, Scotland, to take a one-stroke lead over four players in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Brier had an 8-under 136 total after two rounds.

South Korea's Kim Wi-joong shot a 4-under 67 to take a one-stroke lead in the Korea Open in Seoul, and American Ryder Cup star Anthony Kim followed his opening 64 with a 73 to drop three shots back. Wi-joong is at 8-under 134.

UNLV

Women's soccer team wins behind Partridge

Senior forward Haley Partridge scored on a breakaway goal in the 59th minute as the Rebels women's soccer team beat host San Diego State 2-1 to improve to 9-3-1 on the season.

UNLV (1-0 Mountain West Conference) trailed 1-0 when sophomore forward Ashleigh Shoughro scored her team-leading seventh goal of the year in the 17th minute.

Also: The Rebels men's soccer team opened Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play with a 1-0 loss to Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Falcons had only two shots on goal against UNLV (5-3-1, 0-1) but broke through in the 57th minute on an unassisted goal by Steven Noller.

Senior setter Melody Nua had 54 assists and 15 digs for her seventh double-double of the season as the Rebels volleyball team beat San Diego State 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-23, 25-19) in a Mountain West Conference match at Cox Pavilion.

Junior libero Samantha Richard had 14 kills and 10 digs as UNLV improved to 3-1 in league and 10-7 overall.

MISCELLANEOUS

Ex-football star Phillips sentenced to 10 years

Former football star Lawrence Phillips was sentenced to 10 years in prison, two years after he was convicted in Los Angeles of assault with a deadly weapon.

The sentencing was repeatedly delayed while Phillips fought to withdraw a guilty plea in a domestic abuse case that could have led to a stiffer sentence.

Phillips was convicted in 2006 of seven counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

The 33-year-old former Nebraska running back has been jailed since August 2005, when he drove onto a field near Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and his car struck three boys, ages 14 and 15, and a 19-year-old man who suffered cuts and bruises.

Phillips allegedly was upset after losing a pickup football game to the youths and accused them of stealing some of his possessions.

Also: Lawyers for Michael Vick asked a federal bankruptcy judge in Newport News, Va., to appoint a mediator to help settle his debts to creditors, saying a third party might expedite a resolution.

Vick, once the highest-paid player in the NFL, listened in silently by telephone from the federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan., where he is serving a 23-month sentence for a dogfighting conviction last summer that magnified his financial troubles.

Vick's assets that could be liquidated include four houses, other real estate holdings and cash, as well as future earnings if he is able to resume his football career.

Dream Empress pulled away down the stretch to win the $500,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes and capture the first of seven "win and you're in" Breeders' Cup berths being awarded at Keeneland's fall meet in Lexington, Ky.

After losing an engine during the first of two Sprint Cup practices for Sunday's Amp Energy 500 at Talladega, Ala., Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s right-rear tire exploded in Turn 4 early in the final practice to set off a wreck that sent his and three other teams scurrying to get backup cars ready for today's qualifying session.

The Championship Off Road Racing series event scheduled for Oct. 25 and 26 in Primm has been canceled by CORR owner Jim Baldwin because of financial reasons.

The races will be added to the Dec. 6 and 7 season finale in Chula Vista, Calif.

Serena Williams has pulled out of next week's Kremlin Cup in Moscow because of an ankle injury.

Montreal Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau received a multiyear contract extension for leading the team to first place in the Eastern Conference last season.

The former Canadiens captain would not say how long the extension was for, other than that "it's more than one year and less than 10."

The Detroit Red Wings signed goalie Thomas McCollum to a three-year deal. He was Detroit's first-round selection in the 2008 NHL Draft.