Sports shorts Taurasi breaks WNBA career scoring record

About the only thing missing from Diana Taurasi’s record-setting day was a victory.

Taurasi became the WNBA’s career scoring leader in front of her family, friends and Kobe Bryant.

With her parents watching, Taurasi passed Tina Thompson on Sunday in the Phoenix Mercury’s 90-59 loss to the Sparks in Los Angeles.

“It’s pretty special I got to do it in front of my family on Father’s Day in LA,” said Taurasi, who finished with 19 points.

Taurasi came into the needing 14 points to break Thompson’s mark and the Mercury guard did it late in the first half on a layup with her team down big.

“Once I got the basket it was pretty cool,” she said. “I was trying not to think about, wanted it to happen and do it organically. It did. You think about all the great players you played with, all the games.”

Taurasi stands alone atop the league’s scoring list. She has 7,494 points and has averaged 19.9 points in her career.

She said in the weeks leading up to the historic points that she wasn’t thinking about the record. After the basket, the game stopped and Taurasi was given a warm ovation from the crowd that included Bryant and his daughters as well as Taurasi’s.

“We had this planned on the schedule for quite some time,” Bryant said during an interview ingame. “It worked in our favor we could see a historical night.”

Earlier in the season, Taurasi set the career 3-pointer record, passing Katie Smith. Taurasi has 927 3-pointers.

Jimmy Spithill and his mates with Oracle Team USA might need to start tapping out an SOS from the Bermuda Triangle.

The two-time defending America’s Cup champions are foundering badly against hotshot young helmsman Peter Burling and Emirates Team New Zealand, who are threatening to sail — and cycle — away with the oldest trophy in international sports.

The 26-year-old Burling calmly steered the Kiwis’ fast 50-foot catamaran to two more dominating victories Sunday to remain undefeated in the showdown on the Great Sound.

Although they’ve won the first four races, the Kiwis lead Oracle 3-0. Because Oracle won the qualifiers, the challenger started the 35th America’s Cup match with a negative point.

Team New Zealand needs to win four more races to return the Auld Mug to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron in Auckland, where it resided from 1995-2003.

Oracle needs to win seven to keep the silver trophy in the hands of one of the world’s richest men, software tycoon Larry Ellison, who has been watching the shellacking from a team support boat.

Aroldis Chapman rejoined his New York teammates ready to pitch again after more than a month on the disabled list, and the struggling Yankees couldn’t wait to have their flamethrowing closer back in the bullpen.

Manager Joe Girardi planned to use Chapman in the series finale at Oakland regardless of the situation just to get him back in the major league mix immediately. In fact, Chapman flew cross-country for one game before the club was set to return to the Bronx with a day off Monday ahead of a home series with the Angels.

The left-hander had been sidelined since May 13 with inflammation in the rotator cuff of his pitching shoulder. Title contenders Portugal and Mexico fought out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the Confederations Cup, with each team scoring in the last five minutes.

Portugal looked set for a late win when Cedric Soares scored with a deflected shot in the 86th minute, but Hector Moreno equalized for Mexico with a header in stoppage time. Cristiano Ronaldo had set up Ricardo Quaresma’s opening goal for Portugal, and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez hit Mexico’s equalizer just before halftime.