Sports briefs

BASKETBALLLiberty routed at Washington

Ivory Latta scored 16 points and Kia Vaughn had 12 as the Washington Mystics beat the visiting Liberty 79-46 last night. The Mystics moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the fourth-place Liberty (12-16) in the Eastern Conference. Washington grabbed control with a 29-6 first-half run. It led 37-22 at the break. Tina Charles had 10 points for the Liberty, which had won eight of 12 games. New York shot 28.8 percent from the field en route to its fewest points this season. The Mystics turned 16 Liberty turnovers into 22 points. New York scored only six points off Washington's 15 turnovers.

Nets' Plumlee Team USA finalist

Nets forward/center Mason Plumlee was named one of 16 finalists for the 12-man U.S. national team that will compete in the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Bilbao, Spain, from Aug 28 to Sept. 14. Plumlee will continue training in Chicago on Aug. 14 with Team USA, which will play an exhibition game against Brazil two days later.

Warriors' Speights faces DUI charge

Golden State Warriors center Marreese Speights faces a drunken driving charge in Florida. Tampa police say the former Florida Gator was arrested early yesterday morning and charged with driving under the influence. The Warriors said in a news release that the team was aware of the arrest but had no comment.

NHL

Rangers name ex-Canuck Williams assistant

Darryl Williams, who worked on Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault's staff in Vancouver, has joined the team as an assistant coach, the team said. Williams, 46, who was an assistant and video coach for the Canucks for the past six years, replaces Dan Lacroix, who left to become an assistant to Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien last week. The rest of Vigneault's staff -- associate coach Scott Arniel and assistants Ulf Samuelsson and Benoit Allaire -- remains intact. Williams, a Newfoundland native, also was associate coach, video coordinator and strength and conditioning coach for St. John's of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 2005-06 through 2007-08. In 676 AHL and IHL games, Williams, a left wing, scored 126 goals and 283 points. Flyers sign ex-Ranger Del ZottoThe Philadelphia Flyers signed defenseman Michael Del Zotto to a one-year contract. The 24-year-old Del Zotto had a goal and four assists in 25 games for Nashville last year. Del Zotto was a first-round pick by the Rangers in 2008. He had 26 goals and 95 assists for 121 points in 292 games over five seasons with the Rangers . . . Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen has been hospitalized in Finland because of blood clots in his lower right leg and in both lungs. The team made the announcement yesterday and Timonen's return to the ice is uncertain.

TENNIS

Venus rallies to win in Montreal

Venus Williams rebounded from a shaky second set to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Scoreboards went dark due to a power outage that affected 200,000 customers in the area, but the matches were able to go on as scheduled. In the men's tournament at Toronto, Roger Federer opened with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Peter Polansky. American Jack Sock defeated Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-3. Fellow American Donald Young beat Frank Dancevic 5-7, 6-0, 6-3. Nick Kyrgios downed Santiago Giraldo 7-6 (3), 7-5 and next plays Andy Murray. -- AP