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Gatorade officially ended its relationship with Tiger Woods , saying the company no longer sees a role for the world's top-ranked golfer, who one week ago apologized for the sex scandal that has enveloped him. Gatorade, which dropped its Tiger Focus sports drink before the scandal broke, issued this statement: "We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts. . . . However, our partnership with the Tiger Woods Foundation will continue. We wish him all the best." This is the third sponsor to cut marketing ties with Woods, who is in rehabilitation and remains on a self-imposed break from the game.

The women's giant slalom was finally put to bed Thursday as Julia Mancuso tried to put a few rumors, and her emotional Olympic experience, to rest. Mancuso had no real shot at Whistler to defend her gold medal. Hope ended Wednesday when she finished 18th in her first run. Mancuso was flagged off course during her run and forced to restart after teammate Lindsey Vonn crashed in front of her. Poor weather postponed the second run to Thursday morning, which gave Mancuso time to transition from fuming to philosophical.

Could you imagine Joe Torre managing the Dodgers and Angels? Or Canada's hockey coach, Mike Babcock, behind the bench for both the Canadian and U.S. teams? That's the situation in the ice dance, where the top two finishers, one from Canada and one from the United States, share a pair of Russian émigré coaches and the same training rink in Canton, Mich. Such arrangements are not unusual in figure skating, where one coach often trains rivals in the same discipline.

The most accomplished American skier in Olympic history -- the girl with gold already tucked in her pocket -- won another medal Thursday. Her name: Julia Mancuso. The day after a busload of drop-in history assessors returned to Vancouver's media compound after justifiably praising Lindsey Vonn after her dramatic win in downhill, Mancuso sent out a mountain memo suggesting the story isn't over yet. Mancuso, who finished behind Vonn in the downhill, claimed a surprising -- shocking, some might say -- silver medal in the women's super combined.

Canada did its part to set up a gold-medal showdown between women's hockey powerhouses. The United States and Canada have been on a collision course since the pairings were announced long before the start of the 2010 Winter Games. Both teams plowed through their groups, with the U.S. reaching Thursday's gold-medal game with a 9-1 victory over Sweden in Monday's first semifinal. Canada followed suit with a 5-0 win over Finland to continue its quest for its third consecutive gold.

It looked a ski race but unfolded almost like literature, with a grab-you beginning tethered to the page-turner end. There were as many twists as the "Franz's Run" course had turns. It would be hard to imagine anything better than what actually happened Wednesday, at the Olympics, in Whistler, above white snow and below blue sky. Lindsey Vonn didn't just become the first American woman to win the Olympic downhill, with a time of 1 minute 44.19 seconds. Vonn did it with a throbbing shin under backbreaking pressure, which is why, when she won, she cried nonstop for almost two hours.

The women's giant slalom was finally put to bed Thursday as Julia Mancuso tried to put a few rumors, and her emotional Olympic experience, to rest. Mancuso had no real shot at Whistler to defend her gold medal. Hope ended Wednesday when she finished 18th in her first run. Mancuso was flagged off course during her run and forced to restart after teammate Lindsey Vonn crashed in front of her. Poor weather postponed the second run to Thursday morning, which gave Mancuso time to transition from fuming to philosophical.

They already called her "Queen Yuna" in South Korea. And Kim Yuna spread her dominion to an absolute reign over the women's figure skating world after the Olympic women's figure skating final Thursday night. Skating a stunningly difficult program without an error, floating like a feather in the wind to the airy, jazzy rhythms of Gershwin's Concerto in F, unflinchingly bearing the weight of her country's hopes, Kim crushed her rivals with a performance for the ages. Mao Asada of Japan wound up a distant second, Joannie Rochette of Canada, third, and Mirai Nagasu of the United States a surprising fourth.

The weather report does not look promising -- snow, rain, slush, fog -- for the running of the women's giant slalom Wednesday, leading some to muse: How could Julia Mancuso get so lucky? She's already had a charmed Olympics -- winning two unexpected silver medals -- and could now benefit from the kind of whiteout that helped her win the GS gold four years ago in Italy. A lot of people don't remember that Mancuso won at Turin because she captured it in almost Donner Party conditions.

Circumstances couldn't have been much different for Canada's ski-cross couple. Chris Del Bosco's dreams of winning a medal for Canada turned nightmarish Sunday when a sure-fire bronze evaporated in a forlorn heap on a bright, spring-like day at Cypress Mountain. Two days later, with the winter back in the Winter Olympics, Ashleigh McIvor won gold for Canada in women's ski cross in picturesque heavy falling snow, leading early and easily holding on. McIvor had watched her boyfriend Del Bosco from the stands, and he was, in turn, on hand Tuesday to support her winning effort.

Their game, their gold, but the Olympic hockey finale between Canada and the U.S. belonged to history before the roars triggered by Sidney Crosby's overtime goal had faded by so much as a decibel Sunday. Crosby, whose silence the previous two games had led a nation to brood, took a pass from Jarome Iginla and rifled a shot through the legs of U.S. goaltender Ryan Miller 7 minutes 40 seconds into overtime, giving Canada a 3-2 victory in the last event of perhaps the last Olympic tournament that will include NHL players.

at UC Davis 66, UC Riverside 43 -- Mark Payne scored 19 points to lead the Aggies (12-16, 7-7 Big West Conference), who clinched a bid to the conference tournament. Kyle Austin had eight points and 10 rebounds for the Highlanders (12-16, 5-10), who did not have a player score in double digits. -- associated press

Another race, another victory for Jimmie Johnson and yet another round of griping about the NASCAR champion's dominance. Only this time, there was a silver lining for those ready to see someone else hoist the Sprint Cup trophy: His competitors are clearly closing the gap. Johnson reeled in teammate Jeff Gordon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where the four-time defending champion won for the second consecutive week. He needed luck to win last week at Fontana and strategy Sunday at Las Vegas.

The Lakers pledged to play a physical game and did it. They promised to beat back the swagger and strut of the Denver Nuggets and succeeded. On an afternoon when little went right for Kobe Bryant, the Lakers boxed out their main rivals in the Western Conference, elbowing aside the Nuggets in a 95-89 victory Sunday at Staples Center. It took a second half of defensive resolve, specifically a fourth quarter in which the Lakers forced the Nuggets into five turnovers and five-for-19 shooting.

Dallas 111, at Atlanta 103 (OT): Dirk Nowitzki scored 37 points and Jason Kidd had a triple-double (19 points, 17 assists and 16 rebounds) in the Mavericks' sixth win in row. Cleveland 126, at Toronto 118 (OT): Mo Williams made back-to-back three-pointers in overtime. at New Orleans 100, Orlando 93: David West scored 40 points and the Hornets outscored the Magic in the fourth quarter, 28-13. Charlotte 93, at Memphis 89: Stephen Jackson scored 32 points and had a season-high 11 rebounds.

Bodies and sticks and skates flew at Roberto Luongo while an entire nation tensed, praying there would be no deflection or bounce that would knock the puck into the net and wrest Team Canada's ticket to the Olympic gold-medal game out of its sweaty grasp. Slovakia, cautious for too long Friday in its semifinal game against the host nation, had charged within a hair's breadth of a titanic upset. "It was the most fun I've ever had," Luongo said, smiling. His enjoyment was soon shared by all of Canada, which watched him get his glove on a point-blank shot by his Canucks teammate Pavol Demitra in the dying seconds to preserve a 3-2 victory and set up a championship match between Canada and the U.S. at noon Sunday.

On a day filled with crashes, Steve Holcomb drove his Night Train smoothly down the track and into first place at the halfway point of the four-man bobsled competition, raising hopes of ending a 62-year gold-medal drought for the United States. With two strong pushes, Holcomb twice lowered the track record, and he led Canada's Lyndon Rush by .40 of a second and Germany's Andre Lange by .44 of a second. "It's a great lead to have, obviously. It kind of takes a little pressure off. Even if we do make a little mistake . . . we still have a little padding," Holcomb said.

Gatorade officially ended its relationship with Tiger Woods , saying the company no longer sees a role for the world's top-ranked golfer, who one week ago apologized for the sex scandal that has enveloped him. Gatorade, which dropped its Tiger Focus sports drink before the scandal broke, issued this statement: "We no longer see a role for Tiger in our marketing efforts. . . . However, our partnership with the Tiger Woods Foundation will continue. We wish him all the best." This is the third sponsor to cut marketing ties with Woods, who is in rehabilitation and remains on a self-imposed break from the game.

Deonte Burton scored 24 points and teammates Kevin Smith and Thomas Hammock each added 15 as host Compton Centennial upset defending champion Harvard-Westlake, 78-70, in a semifinal game of the Southern Section Division 3A boys' basketball playoffs Friday night at Lynwood High. The third-seeded Apaches (25-5) trailed, 39-34 at halftime and 56-52 after three quarters, but rallied to take a 65-63 lead on a layup by Kurt Davis with 3:18 remaining. Davis finished with 11 points and put the game out of reach when he rebounded a desperation three-pointer from the corner by Harvard-Westlake guard Austin Kelly and dribbled the length of the court for a dunk to put Centennial ahead, 76-68, with 15 seconds left.

It has been a weird glitch for the Lakers, a hiccup in the franchise, extending all the way back to the three-championship run that began almost a decade ago. They always seem to struggle against the lesser teams, laughably so in some cases, the Charlotte Bobcats a prime example in recent seasons. The Lakers have done a notable job reversing the trend this season, but then the Philadelphia 76ers rolled into town. It took almost the full 48 minutes, but the Lakers managed to win a numbingly bland game, 99-90, Friday at Staples Center.