Minnesota Sports Briefs: U women hoops lose at home

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MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota women's basketball team lost a home game to Nebraska yesterday 84-63.

The Cornhuskers outscored the Golden Gophers 43-25 in the second half to make the game a rout. Leading Minnesota scorer Rachel Banham of Lakeville netted 15 points in the loss, but was only 6-for-21 from the floor. Lindsey Moore pumped in 26 for Nebraska. The Golden Gophers are now 13-6 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten. Minnesota is at Penn State on Thursday.

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The Minnesota Timberwolves begin a stretch of three of their next four on the road when they face the Hawks tonight. Minnesota ended a five-game losing streak on Saturday as they defeated the Rockets, 92-79, to move to 17-20. Atlanta has dropped eight of its last 10 games.

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Companies interested in building the Vikings new stadium put their bids in today. A decision is expected sometime in February. Two of the bigger name companies battling it out are Hunt Construction and Mortenson Construction. Hunt is based out of Arizona, while Mortenson is local.

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The finalists for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award were announced on Sunday. Larry Fitzgerald of the Cardinals, Joe Thomas of the Browns and Jason Witten of the Cowboys are all up for the honor The award recognizes community service and playing excellence. The winner will be announced in New Orleans at Super Bowl 47. The three finalists were selected from the 32 team nominees. All three will receive a five-thousand-dollar donations from the NFL Foundation to their charity. The winner receives an additional $20,000 in his name. Last year, Ravens center Matt Birk took home the award. Birk, a former Viking, is from St. Paul. Fitzgerald, a former Vikings ballboy, is from Minneapolis.

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The San Francisco 49ers are heading back to the Super Bowl after defeating the Atlanta Falcons 28-24 in the NFC Championship Game. The Niners rallied from 17 points down to move to their first Super Bowl since winning the 1995 title following the '94 season. Colin Kaepernick threw for 233 yards and a touchdown, while Frank Gore ran for 90 yards and a pair of scores for San Francisco. Vernon Davis had five catches for 106 yards and the TD.

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The Baltimore Ravens are headed to Super Bowl 47 after defeating the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, 28-13. Joe Flacco threw for 240 yards with three touchdowns as Baltimore outscored the Pats 21-0 in the second half. Anquan Boldin had five catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns while Torrey Smith ended with 69 yards receiving. Ray Rice had 48 yards and a touchdown on the ground while Bernard Pierce added 52 rushing yards.

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The baseball world is mourning the loss of two Hall of Famers, who both died on Saturday Former Cardinals outfielder Stan Musial passed away at the age of 92. Stan "The Man" played all 22 seasons in St. Louis and was named MVP three times. The perennial All-Star was a career .331 hitter with 475 homers and nearly two-thousand RBI. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969 Former Orioles manager Earl Weaver died at the age of 82. Weaver was aboard a cruise in the Caribbean according to a team spokesman. The "Earl of Baltimore" managed parts of 17 seasons for the O's and led them to four American League pennants and a World Series title in 1970. He is the fifth winningest manager in modern baseball history. Weaver was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1996.

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