TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Japanese figure skater Kanako Murakami led the womens short program on Thursday at the Four Continents, a tournament she was initially reluctant to attend. Murakami gracefully executed a double triple toe jump and a triple flip jump that put her at the top of a tightly contested race with 64.73 points, just ahead of Li Zijun of China on 62.84 and fellow Japanese Haruka Imai at 62.72. Murakami was on her way to her first Winter Olympics and said the Four Continents was building her confidence and refining her program. "I didnt want to come to the Four Continents but now Im glad I came here," she said. "Of course there are things that can be improved." In ice dance, Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States overwhelmed the competition in the free dance to win the gold medal by almost five points. They scored 97.20 in the free, nearly six points better than second-place Piper Gilles and Paul Poirer, and left the Canadians with the silver. Alexandra Aldridge and Daniel Eaton of the United States retained third place. "Weve learned a tremendous amount about our partnership this season," Hubble said. "I feel that we finally have proven ourselves as a strong consistent team that deserves to be at the top." wholesale jerseys . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. wholesale nfl jerseys . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. http://www.cheapnfljerseysauthe... . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. [url=http://www.cheapnfljerseysauthentic.us.com/]cheap jerseys from china . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. cheap nfl jerseys . -- Ohio States Urban Meyer has never had any issue acclimating to the biggest stages in college football.TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- It was a sputtering, inconsistent, and rather mundane performance for No. 1 Alabama. Or at least, thats how it seemed a week after a big-game roller coaster ride. AJ McCarron passed for 258 yards and threw a 30-yard touchdown to DeAndrew White in the fourth quarter to lift Alabama to a 31-6 victory over Colorado State on Saturday night. Two fourth-quarter touchdowns, one on special teams and another on fourth down, helped keep the final score from being close for the Tide (3-0). "I felt like as a whole, we didnt really execute to our full abilities," Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley said. "Thats not an SEC opponent that we just played and the win really wasnt what it should have been. So I felt like we kind of got away with a win. We didnt dominate that win." Offensive lineman Kellen Williams described the postgame mood as "pretty sombre," even after the 25-point win. Kenyan Drake set up one touchdown with a blocked punt returned 15 yards by Dillon Lee and scored on a 3-yard touchdown run for the Tide, which led just 17-6 heading to the fourth. Alabama managed only one offensive touchdown and no third-down conversions in the first three quarters a week after winning a 49-42 shootout over Texas A&M. Coached by former Tide offensive co-ordinator Jim McElwain, the Rams (1-3) nursed hopes for a monumental upset into the fourth quarter before allowing two touchdowns. Trey DePriest stripped the ball from quarterback Garrett Grayson and recovered the fumble early in the quarter. "We challenged our guys to come in here and go toe-to-toe," said McElwain, who was part of two Tide national championship teams from 2008-11. "I think the guys on the other sideline have earned some respect for Colorado State Rams and how hard we played the game." The next play after the fumble, McCarron laced a perfect strike to White in the end zone and restless Alabama fans had something to cheer about. The Tide was without several key players, including receivers Amari Cooper (toe) and Kevin Norwood, guard Anthony Steen (headache), cornerback Deion Belue (turf toe) and safety Jarrick Williams (eye). This was a sandwich game between Southeastern Conference showdowns, and the nearly 40-point favourites played like it offensively.dddddddddddd No. 21 Mississippi visits Bryant-Denny Stadium next week. McCarron completed 20 of 26 passes but also was intercepted on an ill-advised throw. T.J. Yeldon ran seven times for 49 yards while Christion Jones caught nine passes for 90 yards. Yeldon was held out of the first quarter after getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct against Texas A&M. He apologized in a statement Monday for making the "money" and double throat slash gestures after a touchdown. He had a 38-yard run on his first carry midway through the second quarter but the running game produced only 66 yards on 21 carries. That was the fewest rushing yards by the Tide since South Carolina held them to 36 yards on Oct. 9, 2010. "Offensively, we couldnt run the ball with any consistency or effectiveness," Alabama coach Nick Saban said. "Even though we did a pretty good job passing, it had to be four or five times that we moved the ball down the field and got just outside the red zone, and we had something happen like throw an interception, miss a field goal, make a field goal, get sacked. Just too many negative plays." Greyson completed 24 of 38 passes for 228 yards for the Rams, who managed just 51 yards on the ground. Rashard Higgins had seven catches for 71 yards and Joe Hansley gained 82 on six receptions. Alabama failed on all six third-down attempts through three quarters and finished 2 of 10. The Tide outgained Colorado State 338-279 in total yards after running up 568 yards a week ago. Alabama continued to find other ways to score. Lees return early in the second quarter was the Tides fifth non-offensive touchdown. Alabama backup quarterback Blake Sims hit Chris Black for a 14-yard touchdown pass to add to the lead with 1:13 left. It was Blacks first career catch. McCarron was in for most of the series against a team led by his former position coach and Saban assistant. McElwains Rams didnt reach Alabama territory until midway through the third quarter and then did it two straight drives. The Tide defence did come up with stops both times. Jared Roberts kicked field goals of 45 and 31 yards to cut the Tides lead to 17-6. 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