Briefly: U.S. women win as push for another world basketball title begins

The United States trailed by eight points in the first 15 minutes but wore down Senegal for an 87-67 victory Saturday in the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup in Tenerife, Spain.

The two teams played six days ago, and the Americans cruised to a 51-point victory. This time Senegal led 10-2 and still was in a 25-25 tie before a U.S. 20-6 run ended the first half.

"We've had more actual games then we've had practices," U.S. coach Dawn Staley said. "That's what you saw on the floor. Sometimes didn't look as clean as we'd like it to be."

Elena Delle Donne scored 19 points for the U.S.

The victory was the Americans' 17th in a row in the tournament, which is played every four years and was known as the World Championship until after the 2014 event.

The United States will play China on Sunday.

Naomi Osaka relied on a dominant serve to reach the final of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, taking a 6-2, 6-3 win over Camila Giorgi.

Third-seeded Osaka had nine aces and dropped just eight points in eight service games.

Jess McDonald scored two goals and the North Carolina Courage won the National Women's Soccer League championship with a 3-0 victory over the Portland Thorns in Portland, Ore.

The victory was a bit of revenge for the Courage, which lost 1-0 to the Thorns in last year's title match.

A sellout crowd of 21,144 was announced at Portland's Providence Park.

Soccer: Liverpool beat Southampton 3-0, improving to 6-0 in the English Premier League.

NHL: New Jersey signed forward Miles Wood to a four-year, $11 million contract. Wood scored a career-high 19 goals last season.

Golf: Steve Stricker and Brandt Jobe shot 3-under 67s and were tied for the lead after two rounds of the PGA Tour Champions Sanford International in Sioux Falls, S.D.

MLS: The host New York Red Bulls all but knocked defending champion Toronto FC out of playoff contention with a 2-0 victory. The Red Bulls (18-7-5) tied a franchise record for wins. Toronto fell to 8-15-6.

Boxing: Anthony Joshua retained his WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titles by stopping Alexander Povetkin in the seventh round at Wembley Stadium in London. Joshua (22-0) improved to 22-0. He was a 1-10 favorite against 39-year-old Povetkin.

Figure skating: Two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu made a successful return from an ankle injury, winning the Autumn Classic in Oakville, Ontario. Hanyu scored 263.65 points.