SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Rachel Homan has confidence, home ice and hammer heading into Sundays final at the Ford Womens World Curling Championship. She intends to turn those assets into gold. Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Alison Kreviazuk and lead Lisa Weagle out of the Ottawa Curling Club will start the championship game against Switzerlands Binia Feltscher with last-rock advantage. Its Canadas reward for their 10-1 record to win the preliminary round and their 8-3 playoff win Friday over the Swiss. None of the other 11 countries at Saint Johns Harbour Station were as effective at scoring more than one point with hammer as Canada, so having it in the first end is an advantage. "Its huge," Homan said. "If you play your game properly, you can control the game." Canada last won a womens world curling title in 2008, when Winnipegs Jennifer Jones claimed it in Vernon, B.C. The wait hasnt been as long for Switzerland, as Mirjam Ott took the title two years ago in Lethbridge, Alta. With spectacular runbacks and raise takeouts, the Canadians drained Switzerlands offence Friday to win the playoff between the tournaments top two teams. That provided the host country a direct route to the gold-medal game, while Switzerland needed a 7-3 win over South Korea in Saturdays semifinal to gain a rematch. Russias Anna Sidorova and South Koreas Ji-sun Kim will play for bronze Sunday in what will be a first womens world curling medal for one of the countries. Homans team had Saturday off, so the skip watched the game in her hotel room and conducted interviews by phone in a raspy voice. "The rest will be good for me," Homan said. "Im glad the final is not today. "Its been a long week and we all need a bit of rest, so were glad that we put in the work and played really well and were able to get this bonus day off. We have some confidence we can take over into the final." Feltscher, 35, won an Olympic silver medal in 2006 playing third for Ott, but Sundays final will be the biggest game of her career as a skip. Third Irene Schori, second Franziska Kaufmann and Lead Christine Urech made their world championship debut in Saint John, so a 9-2 round-robin record and a berth in the final is a surprise. "Weve got nothing to lose tomorrow," Feltscher said via an interpreter. "It would be a great pleasure for us to put that gold medal around our necks." Switzerland was the only country to beat Canada in the round robin. Down 8-4, Homan shook hands after eight ends. Canadian Al Moore, husband of television curling commentator Linda Moore, is one of Switzerlands coaches. "I dont think their expectations were particularly high coming in," Moore said. "My goal coming in was to be in the playoffs. I really thought they could do that. The gold-medal game is a bonus." "They believe they can win. They believe if they go out and play their best, they believe they can win and really thats the difference." Jones and Brad Jacobs gave Canada double curling gold at the Winter Olympics in Sochi last month, with Jones going undefeated en route to the top step of the podium. Homan is on the verge of making it a dominant season for Canadian womens curling. "We have pressure on ourselves as well," Homan said. "You want that gold when it comes down to it. "Seeing Jones and (Brad) Jacobs bring home the gold from the Olympics, I really want to make it a clean sweep for Canada and make sure weve got gold everywhere." The average age of Homan and her teammates is just under 26, but they have big-game experience. Theyve won back-to-back Canadian titles, took bronze in their world championship debut last year in Riga, Latvia, and made it as far as the semifinal in Decembers Olympic trials. Homan was a shot away from making the final last year in Riga, but she missed a double takeout with her last throw of the semifinal to give up a steal and lose 8-7 to Scotland. The travel, time zone and arena were kinder to Homan this time. "Youre going to feel nervous and that comes with the territory and that comes with the sport," Homan said. "We love playing with the pressure and the home crowd. "A little bit different than Latvia. We had about five fans cheering us on. Theres a lot more energy this time around." Custom Dallas Mavericks Jerseys . In mens doubles, Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Croatian Mate Pavic and Andre Sa of Brazil. Yogi Ferrell Jersey .com) - The Oklahoma City Thunder will try to get back on track Monday night when they welcome the Minnesota Timberwolves to Chesapeake Energy Arena. http://www.nbamavericksauthority.com/dev...cks-jersey-c-7/. The injury could land Machado on the 15-day disabled list, but its not as serious as it looked on Monday night, when the third baseman crumpled in a heap at the plate after taking an awkward swing in a game against the New York Yankees. Wesley Matthews Jersey . -- Canadian ski cross star Marielle Thompson accomplished two goals in one race Saturday. Jose Barea Jersey . Kelli Stack and Alex Carpenter also scored for the Americans, who avoided a repeat of Finlands upset at the Four Nations Cup in Lake Placid, N.Y., in November. Finnish goalie Noora Raty made 58 saves in that one, but the three-time Olympian could stop just 40 of 43 U. AUSTIN, Texas -- Like it did against North Carolina, Texas controlled most of the first half against Michigan State. The only difference was how the Longhorns performed in the second half. Texas was outrebounded, 25-13, and allowed the Spartans to take 29 free throws in the final 20 minutes. Adreian Payne scored 19 of his career-high 33 points in the second half as Michigan State picked up its most lopsided win over Texas in school history during a 92-78 victory. Yet it wasnt rebounding, defence or shooting that Texas head coach Rick Barnes was most displeased about. "The biggest area we need to improve in is listening," Barnes said. "We didnt listen the way we needed to. If you dont listen, youre not going to execute." Payne hit 10 of his 13 shots from the floor and knocked down 11 of 12 attempts from the free throw line. He hit a pair of free throws to complete a 14-2 run Michigan State used to put the game away over a 4:22 stretch midway through the second half. "Payne got off scotch-free in the second half because we didnt make him defend," Barnes said. "Michigan State, they werent No. 1 a couple weeks ago for no reason. They beat us. We really needed to make Adreian Payne defend. We didnt do that." Appling, battling a hip pointer, had one of the worst shooting days of his career, connecting on only 2 of 11 attempts from the floor. Payne was one of six Spartans to score during that 14-2 run. Branden Dawson, who had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, started with a layup. Gary Harris, who missed three of the previous four games with an ankle injury, followed with a 3-point play. Between Gavin Schillings putback and Travis Trices 3-pointer, Appling got a layup to go, one of his few bright moments. But the way he responded after the game was one of Izzos favourite moments of the game. "Listening to him after the game, thanking the guys for picking him up was maybe as big a part of this as the win," Izzo said. "We came down here Thursday night because of plane issues.dddddddddddd I wasnt really happy about that but it turned out to be really good because we got to spend a little team time. I think our team grew a little bit." Cameron Ridley scored 13 of his team-high 17 points in a first half mostly controlled by the Longhorns, who was coming off an 86-83 win at No. 14 North Carolina. Texas opened the game on an 8-2 run and Michigan State led for only 56 seconds in the first half when Dawson gave the Spartans a 21-19 edge with a layup. But the Longhorns quickly reclaimed the lead on two 3s by Damarcus Croaker. Javan Felix hit a 15-footer in the final seconds of the first half to give Texas a 38-36 lead going into halftime. His only 3-pointer of the game put the Longhorns on top 47-43 early in the second half but they never held that large of a lead again. "All in all, it wasnt a championship but its a big road win for us against a very, very good team," Izzo said. "I think both of those teams have a bright future in the second half of the year." Texas entered the game averaging nearly 10 more rebounds per game than its opponent. But Michigan State outrebounded the Longhorns, 25-13, in the second half and shot 50 per cent from the floor for the game while holding Texas to 39.3 per cent shooting. "We have to learn how to play for 40 minutes, especially against good teams like Michigan State," Felix said. "We played right into their hands by not moving the ball and not getting any movement on offence. That resulted in fastbreak points and got them in a rhythm." Texas had four players score in double figures for the 10th straight game as Isaiah Taylor had 16 points and five assists while Javan Felix and Holmes each added 11 points. Michigan State also had four players with at least 10 points, including Trice, who missed the Spartans last game with a foot blister but chipped in 13 points while hitting 3 of 4 3-pointers. Harris scored 19 points in what was Michigan States most lopsided win over Texas in school history. 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