said she couldnt approach the event any

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INDIANAPOLIS -- George Hill knew there was something different about the way he felt when he showed up to the arena Friday. . He didnt know it was going to turn out to be a career night. "When I first walked in here today I was yelling at everybody, I dont know what it is, but I have a lot of energy," Hill said. "They said, Hopefully it carries to the court." It did in a big way. Hill had a career-high 37 points, nine rebounds and eight assists, leading the Indiana Pacers to a 118-113 overtime victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Hill forced overtime with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 103 with 8 seconds left in regulation. Paul George, who finished with 17 points, missed a 3-pointer, Granger grabbed a rebound and found Hill for the tying basket. "Just trying to move to an open spot to get a shot up." Hill said. "I knew we needed a 3. The best way to do it is off an offensive rebound." David West scored a season-high 30 points and had 10 rebounds and Paul George added 17 points for the Pacers (39-10), who have won 5 of 6 games. Damian Lillard had 38 points and 11 assists and LaMarcus Aldridge had 22 points for the Trail Blazers (35-15). George converted a steal into the go-ahead dunk with 3:48 left in overtime, putting the Pacers ahead 107-105. West dunked with 1:37 left to make it 111-107. West scored 10 points in the fourth quarter to keep Indiana in the game. He made a jumper to tie it at 91 with 3:54 left in regulation and later tied the game at 97. George made a 3 with 1:30 remaining to put the Pacers ahead 100-99, but then Wesley Matthews scored and Nicolas Batum made a pair of free throws to put the Trail Blazers ahead 103-100 before Hill tied the game. "I thought we played well against a championship-level team who found a way to get it done," Lillard said. "Thats what great teams do, find a way to get it done." Indianas 118 points was a season high, but its what was needed to beat the leagues best offensive team. More importantly, though, the Pacers just want to prove they can beat the leagues best teams. "Against the top teams, you have to get wins throughout the year," West said. "This is a good win for us and we talk about finishing strong before the All-Star break. I thought we prepared well for this and came in and had a good game." Indianas newest addition was inactive. Andrew Bynum joined the team on Friday, a week after signing with the Pacers and over a month after being suspended indefinitely by the Cleveland Cavaliers. He played in 24 games for the Cavaliers this season, but hasnt played a game since Dec. 26. Pacers coach Frank Vogel doesnt expect the 7-foot centre to play for several more weeks and said he wants to make sure Bynum is comfortable before throwing him into Indianas rotations. But the Pacers could have used his rebounding. By halftime, the Trail Blazers had a 25-15 edge and held Indiana to no offensive boards. The Pacers went on a 10-2 run in the second quarter. C.J. Watson made a free throw and Granger converted a 3-point play before Dorell Wright made two free throws, Watson made pair, Granger scored on a jumper and Rasual Butler hit a 3-pointer to make it 30-27 with 8:10 left in the first half. Lillard scored to give the Trail Blazers 44-35 lead with 3:29 left in the second quarter. Then the Pacers went on 8-2 run capped off with a shot by Hibbert to make it 46-43. Aldridge answered with a basket and West scored for Indiana before Lillard scored a wide-open layup with 2 seconds left to give the Trail Blazers a five point halftime lead. Pacers forward Lance Stephenson was out with a sore lower back. He was injured during a fall in Indianas 89-85 win over Atlanta on Tuesday. Vogel said Stephenson bounces back from injuries quickly and doesnt expect him to miss many games. NOTES: Stephenson has started every game hes played in this year and has missed just one game. Granger, who finished with seven points and six rebounds, started for Stephenson in that game in January and started Friday nights game, too. Its the only two starts for Granger in nearly two years. ... The Trail Blazers were without guard Mo Williams, who missed the game because of personal reasons. . Portland outrebounded the Pacers 47-46. It was the first time the Pacers were outrebounded in seven games. . Parrish, 34, went scoreless in two games last season with the Buffalo Sabres. He had 17 goals and 34 assists in 56 games with the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League. .ca MLB Power Rankings, ahead of the Oakland As and resurgent Atlanta Braves. .com) - Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson was fired on Sunday, a day after the Tigers lost the highest-scoring Iron Bowl in history.TORONTO -- She has successfully defended her Olympic gold medal and plans to compete in the 2018 Games, but Kaillie Humphries still has her sights set on achieving yet another goal in bobsleigh: having women take part in the four-man competition. Humphries said she plans to make a proposal this summer to her sports international governing body. The Calgary athlete hopes to help lead the charge by seeking to train and compete with men as the pilot of a four-person sled. "Women dont have four-man -- yet," Humphries said in an interview Friday, sporting her gold medals from the Vancouver and Sochi Olympics. "Were in a situation where women for a lot of years in our sport have always been told that were not as good a pilot, or were not as strong. And I think were at a point where women are proving now that we are just as good.... Were competing on the same level. And so its got to start somewhere. "Were still very much an all-boys club, and were still fairly new," she added, noting that women first competed in Olympic bobsleigh at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. "But at the same time, youve got the chicken and the egg. Youre not going to get more girls coming in unless you have more events. At the same time, theyre saying you cant have more events until you have more girls." Humphries said if women arent allowed to start competing in four-man bobsleigh, then maybe she can "join the guys." "Ill definitely have to have three men behind me in order to be competitive at all, but I feel like that could be a start and a step in a right direction towards encouraging women to come out to the sport, which will hopefully raise the profile a little bit more. And from there, we can hopefully get four-man started (for women)." The 28-year-old acknowledged that it will be an uphill climb, saying shell have to attend driving school and qualify "just like any other mens team would," adhering to both the Canadian system and international rules. "It will be a long process, it will be a hard one, one that I know Im going to get a few battles over and slack over for sure -- but one that Im willing to face. "I feel like Im a great person to at least get the ball rolling. Whether itll happen while Im still in sport, I dont know -- but its got to start somewhere." So could Humphries foreseeably see herself piloting both two-man and four-man sleds in the future? "I wouldnt go forward with it if I wasnt super passionate about it and didnt see it happening," she said. "Its just whether the federation and everybody else is ready for that to take flight yet. So thats what Ive got to do my best to convince people of." Humphries is still revelling in the golden glow of earning back-to-back Olympic titles with brakeman Heather Moyse of Summerside, P.E.I. The duo capped off their victory with yet another honour: being chosen as Canaadas flag bearers for the closing ceremony. . . Humphries mom, Cheryl Simundson, was able to attend the Games as part of the "Thank You, Mom" program spearheaded by Procter & Gamble Co., which sponsors the bobsleigh champion. The program honours the role mothers play in helping children achieve their dreams. Simundson became emotional recalling the nail-biting two-minute wait to see Americans Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams complete their run following the Canadian team. In the end, Humphries and Moyse eked out a victory by a tenth of a second. "We knew that it was close. We knew that they had finished their fourth run and that it was possible, that it was up to Elana to take it or lose it," Simundson recalled, as her eyes began to fill with tears. "It was all about consistency. At that moment, we knew that they had done their best." Humphries admitted the pressures were greater heading into the Sochi Games, but said she couldnt approach the event any differently than other competitions. "I try and keep all my races as simple as possible," she said. "I push as hard as I can and I drive that track the very best that I can, and all my energy and focus goes into that. "If I think about it as the Olympics and your life is built up to this, four years is about this moment its too much." As has become customary, the heavily tattooed athlete plans to add new ink in commemoration of her Sochi victory just as she did after Vancouver. She plans to have a design of her newest medal tattooed with art from Sochi blended into one piece. Despite thriving under the intense spotlight of competition, Humphries admitted carrying Canadas flag with Moyse at the closing ceremony was fraught with a fresh set of jitters. While no one offered any guidance on how to carry the colours, she recalled a tip she received from British flag bearer Lizzy Yarnold that didnt quite work out as planned. "She said: I think you wave it like a figure eight. So I started doing that as I walked out, and I started hitting other peoples flags and I was like: This is an epic fail. OK, dont do that. Thanks, Lizzy," Humphries recalled, laughing. Still, the moment in Fisht Stadium was one to remember. "To know that we had our whole country behind us that just completely supported us and to hear it and to feel it from back home ... it was unbelievable." Humphries said while her biggest goal now is "just trying to live in the moment," her plan is to compete at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, with hopes of once again piloting to victory -- and the top of the podium. "Of course, if Im going in, Im going all in, 100 per cent. It will be sights set on another gold medal. "I cant do things halfway because I know its going to be that much harder. I mean, two is hard, but three, its really unbelievable, and again, never been done." ' ' '