In Brief

HOCKEY

Crosby runs scoring streak
to 22 games in Penguins' win

Sidney Crosby matched the second-longest NHL scoring streak in 18 years at 22 games with his first-period goal, and the host Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Florida Panthers 5-2 on Wednesday night.

Crosby scored for the 28th time this season and 22nd during the streak 7:44 into the game, giving the Penguins a lead they wouldn't relinquish. He fired a slap shot while skating down the left wing, beating Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun to the far side.

Ben Lovejoy had his first career goal, and Mark Letestu, Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis also scored for Pittsburgh, which has won 14 of its last 16, recovering from a two-game losing streak last week with consecutive convincing victories.

Stephen Weiss and Bryan McCabe scored for Florida, which had won five of its previous seven.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Stanford coach VanDerveer claims 800th career victory

Stanford's Tara VanDerveer became the sixth women's coach to reach the elite 800-victory mark, doing so in her third try as the eighth-ranked Cardinal routed host San Francisco, 100-45.

The Dons are coached by former Stanford star Jennifer Azzi, and Katy Steding, another ex-Cardinal standout, is an assistant.

Kayla Pedersen scored her team's first eight points of the second half on the way to 16 and grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds to lead Stanford (7-2), which was coming off losses at No. 16 DePaul and at fifth-ranked Tennessee.

VanDerveer is 800-197 in 32 seasons as a head coach, 25 of those years at Stanford, where she is 648-146. Azzi embraced the Hall of Fame coach after the final buzzer sounded, then fans and players held up 800 signs reading "Congratulations Tara." Azzi and Steding presented VanDerveer with flowers and the game ball in a ceremony at midcourt.

Also: Louisville will be without sophomore guard Mike Marra for up to a month after he sprained his right ankle in practice Tuesday.

Marra is averaging 9.3 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.7 assists for the Cardinals (10-1), who won without him Wednesday night, drilling Western Kentucky 114-82 in Bowling Green, Ky.

A federal judge in Kentucky denied a request that he disqualify himself in the case of a woman convicted of trying to extort millions from Louisville coach Rick Pitino.

U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III also denied Karen Cunagin Sypher's request that he impanel a special grand jury to investigate what she has said are "criminal civil rights violations" against her, her family and witnesses.

Simpson rescheduled Sypher's sentencing for Jan. 18.

MISCELLANEOUS

Brewers' ticket sales spike
after trade for pitcher Greinke

Zack Greinke already is paying off for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Team officials said they've added more than 1,500 new season ticket holders since Sunday's trade with the Kansas City Royals, more than tripling the 400 new account holders the team had added in the first few months of the offseason.

Rick Schlesinger, the Brewers' executive vice president of business operations, said response from fans has exceeded "even our most optimistic expectations." Starting pitching has been a soft spot for the Brewers in back-to-back disappointing seasons, but the addition of Greinke, the 2009 American League Cy Young winner, could make the team a contender.

The Brewers also announced that they finalized infielder Craig Counsell's $1.4 million contract and reached an $875,000, one-year agreement with right-hander Sean Green.

Also: Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1 in Madrid, Spain, to square a two-match, home-and-home exhibition series for charity between the world's top-ranked tennis players.

Federer beat Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 Tuesday in the opening match in Zurich.

UNLV announced the hiring of Cindy Fredrick as volleyball coach, replacing Allison Keeley, whose contract was not renewed after the Rebels went 10-20 this year.

Fredrick has been a Division I head coach for 24 years and led her squads to 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, including nine while at Washington State from 1989 to 2004. The Cougars twice reached the national quarterfinals.

She coached at Iowa from 2004 to 2008 and spent the past year at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

The Philadelphia Union acquired 15-year-old midfielder Zach Pfeffer, the fourth-youngest player to sign a Major League Soccer contract.

Pfeffer is the team's first homegrown player under Major League Soccer rules. He recently completed a two-week training trip with Hoffenheim in Germany.

Pfeffer turns 16 on Jan. 6.