Basketball

The Kansas State women's program announced the signing of four players Friday: Chantay Caron, a 5-foot-11 senior at Lawrence Free State; Brianna Kulas, a 6-foot forward from Shawnee Mission North; Camille Redmon a 6-4 forward from Grand Prairie, Texas; and Stephanie Wittman, a 5-9 guard from Alamo Heights High in San Antonio. She is rated the No. 37 guard nationally by ESPN HoopGurlz.

* Dirk Nowitzki scored 15 of his 20 points in the third quarter and had 11 rebounds to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 89-77 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.... Dwight Howard had 26 points and 12 rebounds to lead Orlando to an 88-72 win over winless New Jersey.... LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and 13 rebounds, helping Portland to an 86-78 victory over New Orleans.

* The Hutchinson Community College men defeated Labette County 75-48 in the teams' Jayhawk Conference opener at Hutchinson. Southeast product Joe Mitchell led the Blue Dragons with 13 points.

* Maize product Heather Robben led the Hutchinson women with 18 points in a 64-31 win over Grayson County.

MOTORSPORTS

Martin Truex Jr. won the pole at Phoenix International Raceway. Truex turned a lap at 135.120 mph to qualify first for Sunday's race at PIR in his No. 1 Chevrolet. His lap bested Kurt Busch, who qualified second at 134.579 mph in the No. 2 Dodge. Defending three-time series champion Jimmie Johnson qualified third, and was followed by Kasey Kahne and Denny Hamlin. Mark Martin, who trails Johnson by 71 points in the standings with two races remaining, qualified 10th.

FOOTBALL

Tony Pike threw two touchdown passes in a cameo appearance, and No. 5 Cincinnati overcame a self-destructive first half to beat West Virginia 24-21 to improve to 10-0, the best start in school history. Isaiah Pead ran for a career-high 175 yards, and sophomore Zach Collaros threw for 205 yards in his fourth start for Pike, who is recovering from an injury to his non-throwing arm.

* Three Tennessee freshmen players charged with attempted armed robbery will not play today at Mississippi. Tennessee spokeswoman Tiffany Carpenter says the team will travel to Oxford without wide receiver NuKeese Richardson, safety Janzen Jackson and defensive back Mike Edwards.

VOLLEYBALL

Washburn, the No. 8 team in NCAA Division II, took down No. 9 Emporia State 20-25, 25-9, 25-22, 25-14 at Topeka. Kate Hampson led the Ichabods with 43 assists and 16 digs while Jessica Kopp added 12 kills. Arica Shepard led the Hornets with 14 kills and 14 digs.

* Friends will play Bethel in the KCAC tournament final tonight at Hillsboro after the Threshers defeated regular-season champion Tabor 25-19, 25-13, 25-17 and the Falcons defeated Sterling 25-23, 22-25, 26-24, 25-15.

GOLF

Tiger Woods shot a 68 in the second round of the Australian Masters to build a three-shot lead going into the weekend, his fourth straight tournament with at least a share of the 36-hole lead. Before another enthusiastic gallery that topped 24,000 people, Woods opened with two birdies to take the lead. And while he lost his swing late in the round and missed a pair of short birdie putts late, he was pleased with his position.

* Former world No. 1 David Duval is likely to lose his PGA Tour card next year after missing the cut at the Children's Miracle Network Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Duval finished at 5-over par at Disney World on Friday in the final event of the season.