its first WNBA title in 2011. During that stretch though, they hav

PASADENA, Calif. -- UCLA coach Jim Mora said he has been pleased by his defenses ability to contain the guy that can hurt you most this season.He also recognizes that Arizona quarterback Brandon Dawkins will present a different kind of challenge Saturday.Dawkins is averaging 130.3 yards rushing per game, second only to Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey in the Pac-12, and his seven rushing touchdowns are one more than the entire UCLA ground game has produced through four games.We have to stop him as a runner first, because he can really, really hurt you that way, Mora said.Dawkins had to become the main ball carrier in coach Rich Rodriguezs spread-option offense because of injuries that have depleted the Wildcats skill positions. Quarterback Anu Solomon has missed the last three games with a knee injury, while running back Nick Wilson is questionable to play against the Bruins with an ankle injury.Promising freshman J.J. Taylor suffered a broken ankle against No. 10 Washington, and the depth at running back is so limited that senior receiver Samajie Grant practiced there this week.Just because Dawkins is the focal point of Arizonas offense doesnt mean he is easy to stop. The redshirt sophomore had 176 yards rushing against the Huskies touted defense, including a 79-yard scoring run. Mora compared Dawkins to a less-experienced but more explosive version of BYU quarterback Taysom Hill.This kid has lightning speed, Mora said. He is really, really, really fast, and he doesnt need a lot of room to get through. He is big and physical enough to break arm tackles.UCLA limited Hill to minus-7 yards rushing on 10 carries and sacked him four times in a 17-14 win, as the run defense delivered its best performance of the season. After holding McCaffrey to a relatively modest 138 yards rushing last week, UCLA defensive lineman Jacob Tuioti-Mariner credited defensive tackle Eddie Vanderdoes and ends Takkarist McKinley and Deon Hollins with providing leadership to turn around a group that struggled badly last season, including allowing Arizona to rush for 353 yards.They are impact players, and just having them back brings more confidence in the defense, Tuioti-Mariner said. Having those specific guys on the field brings the intensity and everything.Here are some things to know before the Bruins host the Wildcats:SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES: UCLA and Arizona have identical 2-2 records, 0-1 in Pac-12 play. Both teams have lost in overtime to teams currently ranked in the Top 10, UCLA dropping a 31-24 decision at Texas A&M in the season opener and Arizona falling 35-28 to Washington last week at home. And both teams are using their performances in the first month of the season to stay upbeat about their long-term prospects.Said Arizona linebacker Paul Magloire: Were not that many points away from winning all four games.I think we have a chance to do something special this year, Mora said. Its been made more difficult, obviously, by losing the other night (to Stanford), but were still on track.DREAD OCTOBER: UCLA has lost its first game in October in three of four seasons under Mora, including defeats at the Rose Bowl in each of the last two seasons. UCLA was ranked No. 7 in the nation before a 38-23 loss to unranked Arizona State last season, while Utah dealt the 8th-ranked Bruins a 30-28 defeat in 2014.INJURY ISSUES: UCLA defensive lineman Eli Ankou (elbow) is touch and go, Mora said. Arizona linebacker DeAndre Miller (ankle) and receiver Shawn Poindexter (foot) were both ruled out Thursday.GRASS STAINS: The grass at the Rose Bowl is regarded as one of the best and most picturesque playing fields in college football, but Arizona probably wouldnt complain if it was replaced with an artificial surface this week. Arizona is 2-11 playing on grass under Rodriguez, including the 18-16 loss to BYU at University of Phoenix Stadium in the season opener. Both wins came at Colorado.---AP college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org Custom Spurs Jerseys . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. Spurs Jerseys China . Its an influence in football and a big part of the game. http://www.customspursjersey.com/custom-sean-elliott-jersey-large-79t.html . After the whistle, Thornton skated the length of the ice, pulled Orpik to the ice from behind and punched him in the face several times. Authentic Custom Spurs Jersey . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. Cheap Spurs Jerseys . Jason Zucker and Matt Cooke also scored for Minnesota, which has won five of six. Kuemper made five saves in the first, nine in the second, and nine in the third. The rookies best save came with 2:17 left in the third period when he denied former Wild forward Matt Cullen from just outside of the crease on the right side. LOS ANGELES -- The Minnesota Lynx were frustrated with getting behind early and playing catch-up throughout Fridays Game 3 loss to Los Angeles in the WNBA Finals. That forces them into a must-win situation Sunday, when theyll have to beat the Sparks here at Staples Center in order to send the series back to Minnesota for a decisive Game 5.But being a sports fan, as well as a coach, Minnesotas Cheryl Reeve actually does understand why this series has had such momentum shifts. That tends to happen when two really, really good teams face off.Sometimes youll say, Oh, we didnt play hard enough, Reeve said. I told these guys, Im not killing us about our effort, but it just wasnt good enough to win a WNBA Finals game on the road.When we decided in Game 2 what was going to happen, its not like L.A. didnt try. And its not like we didnt try last night.However, the Lynx just didnt play throughout the entirety of Fridays game with the kind of urgency that they needed to.If we dont bring it [Sunday], we know whats going to happen, Minnesota guard Lindsay Whalen said. When you put yourself in a hornets nest like we did [Friday], its tough. If defense has been your calling card and your backbone for all these years, and it isnt at a high level, it hurts.Its now do-or-die for us. We have another chance to come out and do what we need to do. We built this thing on a lot of hard work; the Lynx werent always at this level. So I think that mentality is in us, but we have to come out here and do it.Whalen had 11 points in Fridays loss, in which post players Sylvia Fowles and Rebekkah Brunson led the way with 14 points each. The glaring stat offensively was star forward Maya Moores nine points.She averaged 19.3 points per game during the regular season, and her scoring has trended upward in the past month-plus. In her last seven games of the regular season, she averaged 21.6 PPG, and in the Lynxs five playoff games before Friday, her scoring average was 23.2.Moore got just seven shots in Game 3, making four, and went to the free throw line just once. But like the rest of the Lynx, Moore thought that the teams slow start and its lethargy, at times, onn defense were the two biggest problems.ddddddddddddThe start of Game 4 will be so intense, just as it should be in the Finals, Moore said. We have to continue to find a way to lock in defensively, despite some offensive struggles. The heart of who we are is being a great defensive team.In the WNBA Finals, the smallest details separate winning from losing. In a series like this, some of those details can have explosive results for both teams.There were moments Friday when then Lynx just didnt look like themselves. The Sparks flat-out grabbed the ball away from them a few times, and Minnesota was slow to get back defensively on a few of Los Angeles transition scores.Last year, when the Lynx won a five-game WNBA Finals series against Indiana, they took Game 3 on Moores buzzer-beater but then were not as aggressive as they wanted to be in Game 4. That sent the series to a Game 5 which the Lynx dominated at home at Target Center.Minnesota has been on an incredible run since winning its first WNBA title in 2011. During that stretch though, they havent been in a must-win situation on the road during the playoffs very often. This is just the third time, in fact, and they lost the other two: Game 4 of the 2012 WNBA Finals vs. Indiana and Game 3 of the 2014 Western Conference finals against Phoenix.The Lynx had the best regular-season record (28-6) and the No. 1 seed. They are trying to tie the Houston Comets with four titles and become the first WNBA team to win back-to-back championships since Los Angeles did it in 2001 and 2002. But to keep hope alive for all of that, they may have to play their best game of this series on Sunday.We just werent as ready as we needed to be [Friday], and that shouldnt happen in the playoffs, Fowles said. We watched some film, and you can see things so much clearer than what you thought it was when you were on court.We cant look at it with a negative attitude, though. Just be positive from here on out. We looked at the things we didnt do well, and we know theyre correctable. ' ' '