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SportS

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

1B

Sanchez benched vs. Chargers

NEW YORK (AP) Mark Sanchez blew the second chance Rex Ryan gave him. Now, its Greg McElroys chance to be the New York Jets starting quarterback. And, Tim Tebow? Well, he was leapfrogged by the third-stringer, fueling speculation that the team has little confidence in him as a quarterback. Ryan decided to bench Sanchez on Tuesday after the fourth-year quarterback had another miserable performance. Sanchez threw four interceptions Monday night and wasnt able to handle a low snap with the game on the line as the Jets (6-8) were eliminated from playoff contention with a 14-10 loss at Tennessee. Things got worse after the game for Sanchez, who received a series of death threats on Twitter. League spokesman Greg Aiello said the NFL is aware of the threats and is working with the Jets to assist on the matter. Ryan said after the loss that he wasnt ready to decide who would start against the Chargers, but chose McElroy over Sanchez and Tebow after talking with his staff and others in the organization Tuesday.

Kingman Highs Stephanie Goulart fights with Flagstaff Coconinos Morgan Horn for control of the ball during the second half of the Lady Bulldogs 55-52 loss to the Panthers Monday night. KHS traveled to Lake Havasu Tuesday and wont be in action again until Jan. 11, when they host Flagstaff.

RODNEY HAAS/Miner

Second half growing pains haunt KHS

By Rodney Haas rhaas@kdminer.com KINGMAN When the Kingman High girls basketball team started the season 6-0, they knew there were going to be games like Mondays against Flagstaff Coconino. The Lady Bulldogs jumped out to a 17-12 lead after the first quarter and held a 34-21 lead at halftime. However, there was a second half still to be played. The Panthers outscored Kingman 13-4 in the third quarter and took their first lead (49-48) with 2:44 left in the game. They held on to claim a 55-52 win, handing KHS its third loss. We havent really had a close game with tight situations before and we just need to learn how to keep it together, said Taylor Reed, who had 16 points. We need to learn how to control the ball in tight situations and a close game. With its core group consisting of five juniors and a combined 10-43 mark over the past two seasons, KHS has jumped out to a 7-3 start this year. But Mondays loss is a reminder that while the Lady Bulldogs have enjoyed great success, there are still some growing pains that will happen. We have to develop a leader at one particular moment, said KHS coach Danny Gonzalez. We have a whole bunch of good juniors, but at some point we need that one person, and it could be more than one person. We would love to have it be more than one person to step up and say, Ill pull us through it. Freshman Desirae Gonzalez led KHS with 17 points. Rachel Arave added nine points. Jasmine Golding led Coconino with 18 points while Riley Hannemann chipped in 17 points. We just didnt come out in the second half and play basketball, Gonzalez said. We didnt take care of the basketball and at times we looked like we were afraid to shoot the ball and take that chance. After playing eight games in 14 days, KHS had a five-day layoff thanks to weather postponements from games against Prescott and Flagstaff. You know its going to hurt, Gonzalez said of the layoff. We were playing and we had a good little click going and then having one game canceled for whatever reason and you look for the next one and the next one. I think with the layoff, we were stagnant. The last couple of weeks we played a lot of basketball with the River Valley and the Pepsi Tournaments. The girls want to be on

the floor. KHS traveled to Lake Havasu Tuesday and wont be in action again until Jan. 11, when they host Flagstaff. We are still learning, said Desirae Gonzalez. I believe by the end of the season, we are going to come together as a team and do great.

Mets get OF Collin Cowgill from As

NEW YORK (AP) The Mets have obtained outfielder Collin Cowgill from the Oakland Athletics for minor league infielder Jefry Marte. The 26-year-old Cowgill hit .269 with two doubles, one homer and nine RBIs in 38 games and 104 at-bats with Oakland last season. He also batted .254 at Triple-A Sacramento with 17 doubles four homers and 37 RBIs in 61 games and 260 atbats. Cargill made his big league debut with Arizona in 2011 and had two RBIs in the NL division series against Milwaukee