was an opportunity to see her in a leadership position. ... o

Serena Williams likes to make one thing clear: She is never satisfied, no matter how many matches and tournaments she wins. Driven as ever, Williams won plenty this year. She went 78-4 with 11 titles, including at the French Open and U.S. Open, raising her Grand Slam championship total to 17. She compiled a 34-match winning streak. She earned more than $12 million in prize money, a record for womens tennis. In February, she became the oldest No. 1 in WTA rankings history and never left that perch. Thanks to all of that, Williams was honoured Wednesday as The Associated Press 2013 Female Athlete of the Year. Its the third AP award for Williams, following 2002 and 2009. Only two women have been chosen more often as AP Athlete of the Year since the annual awards were first handed out in 1931. "Whenever I lose, I get more determined, and it gives me something more to work toward," Williams told the AP in an interview shortly before the start of the U.S. Open. "I dont get complacent, and I realize I need to work harder and I need to do better and I want to do better — or I wouldnt keep playing this game." The vote by news organizations was about as lopsided as many of Williams matches this season. She received 55 of 96 votes, while Brittney Griner, a two-time AP Player of the Year in college basketball and the No. 1 pick in Aprils WNBA draft, finished second with 14. Swimmer Missy Franklin was next with 10. The Male Athlete of the Year recipient will be announced Thursday. Williams, who grew up in Compton, Calif., and turned 32 in September, produced the finest womens tennis season in years. According to the WTA: — her .951 winning percentage was the best since Steffi Grafs .977 in 1989; — her 11 titles were the most since Martina Hingis 12 in 1997; — her winning streak was the longest since her sister, Venus, had a 35-match run in 2000. "She just continues to be an inspiration to American tennis," said Gordon Smith, the executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association, which runs the U.S. Open. "Her year this year? Unforgettable." By adding a fifth career U.S. Open championship, and a second French Open title, Williams also moved within one Grand Slam trophy of the 18 apiece won by Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. The record is 24 by Margaret Court. Pretty heady company. Evert is one of the only two women with more AP awards than Williams. Evert won four from 1974-80, while Babe Didrikson collected a record six — one for track in 1932, and five for golf from 1945-54. "Serena already has provided significant contributions to taking our sport to the next level. ... She is chasing records and no doubt will break many records before shes finished," WTA Chairman Stacey Allaster said. "That obviously just brings a lot more attention to our sport." Two particular moments in 2013 stuck out to Allaster. One came at Qatar in February, when Williams cried after assuring herself of returning to No. 1 for the first time since 2010, the year the American needed two operations on her right foot and got blood clots in her lungs. "You could see the joy, the tears of joy. It meant so much to her, from everything she had been through, to be able to be back at the top of the sport, a sport that she does truly love," Allaster said. The second moment came during Wimbledon, when Williams joined other women who have been ranked No. 1 at a celebration of the WTAs 40th anniversary. "It was an opportunity to see her in a leadership position. ... She did a remarkable job at speaking on behalf of all those great athletes and speaking to future players," Allaster said. "Theres a little girl, perhaps out there in Compton, who is dreaming of playing on the WTA, and Serena said, Were waiting for you, and we cant wait to meet you." Kyle Lowry Raptors Jersey .ca. 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First, the Red Wings scored the tying goal after officials missed the puck hitting the protective netting, then the Kings wound up losing in a shootout. That could affect playoff positioning in the Eastern and Western Conferences, and thats a concern for everyone.CHARLOTTETTOWN, P.E.I. - Olivier Archambault scored three times and added an assist as the Quebec Remparts doubled up the host Charlottetown Islanders 6-3 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Nick Sorensen also had a hat trick for the Remparts (17-10-6), who have won back-to-back contests, and Adam Erne had three assists. Ryan Culkin and Anthony Duclair each chipped in with two assists. Daniel Sprong, Alexandre Goulet and Yan Pavel LaPlante scored for the Islanders (13-15-4), who are winless in seven contests. Ryan graves had two assists. Quebecs Callum Booth made 31 saves for the win as Antoine Bibeau stopped 29 shots for the Charlottetown. The Remparts went 2 for 4 on the power play while the Islanders scored once on five chances with the man advantage. --- VOLTIGEURS 2 DRAKKAR 1 BAIE-COMEAU, Que. -- Frederick Gaudreau had a goal and an assist as Drummondville slipped past the Drakkar. Gaudreau opened the scoring for the Voltigeurs (20-11-2) at 17:47 of the first period and then set up Nikolas Brouillards eventual winner at 9:07 of the third, which came on the power play. Alexandre Ranger responded for Baie-Comeau (20-8-4) while playing six-on-four at 18:25 of the third, but the Drakkar couldnt get another past Drummondvilles Louis-Phillip Guindon. Guindon stopped 31 shots for Drummondville as Simon Lemieux made 21 saves for Baie-Comeau. --- SCREAMING EAGLES 9 SEA DOGS 6 SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Cameron Darcy had three goals and an assist and Raphael Corriveau scored twice as Cape Breton toppled the Sea Doggs for its fourth win in a row.dddddddddddd. Justin Hache scored once and set up three more for the Screaming Eagles (17-11-3) while Michael Lyle, Bradley Lalonde and Kyle Farrell added the others. Spencer Smallman and Nathan Noel had a goal and two assists apiece for Saint John (7-22-3), which is on a four-game slide, and Oliver Cooper had a goal and an assist. Jason Cameron, Jurij Repe and Stephen Anderson each scored once to round out their clubs offence. Cape Bretons Chase Marchand picked up the win, despite being pulled early in the third period. Marchand allowed five goals on 19 shots before giving way to Alex Bureau, who stopped 2-of-3 shots in 18 minutes of relief. Sebastien Auger took the loss for the Sea Dogs after giving up six goals on 27 shots in 28 minutes of action. Antoine Landry turned away 17-of-20 shots in relief. --- HUSKIES 8 OCEANIC 3 ROUYN-NORANDA, Que. -- Maxime St. Cyr scored twice and Julien Nantel had a goal and two assists as the Huskies handed Rimouski its fifth straight loss. Justin Guenette and Jason Fuchs each had a goal and an assist for Rouyn-Noranda (18-9-3), which has won six of its last seven outings, while Steven Mercier, Quinn OBrien and Marcus Power also scored. Frederik Gauthier, Tyler Boland and Anthony DeLuca supplied the offence for the Oceanic (16-11-5). Alexandre Belanger made 25 saves for the Huskies. Philippe Desrosiers allowed five goals on 24 shots for Rimouski before getting pulled in favour of Zachary Fortin, who stopped 8-of-11 shots in 24 minutes of relief. ' ' '