VAL DISERE, France - World Cup leader Tina Wierather of Liechtenstein protected her lead from the first run to win the first giant slalom race of her career on Sunday, her second victory of the season and third of her fast-improving career. "Today was a very great day for me. It was always my dream to be good in GS," Wierather said. "I took quite a long time to get there. It feels awesome to have my first win (in GS)." Wierather leads overall with 595 points from Lara Gut (568), who finished second, and Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany (535). "Its cool to have the chance to fight for it. Its the first time Ive been so consistent. But its only December so Im not thinking about that," Wierather said. "Its just that Ive been healthy for some years now and I could improve a little bit every summer. I feel very strong and feel ready for more than just downhill, but also super-G and GS." Julia Mancuso of the United States did not finish the second run. After winning a super-G race at St. Moritz last weekend, the 24-year-old Wierather secured her third career win and 13th podium finish with an overall time of 2 minutes, 24.10 seconds. "Its a process of many years. I tried to improve my technique, my physical performance. Its like a big puzzle and at the moment it looks like it is working," Wierather said. "I used to play tennis until I was 12. I never liked this battle. In skiing its you against the hill and you see the time. You just fight the hill and not the other girls. Thats what I like about ski racing." Wierather was 0.75 seconds clear of Gut, who was third after the first run, and 0.95 ahead of Swedens Maria Pietilae-Holmner, who had been second. Italian Federica Brignone was fourth, ahead of the former World Cup winner Hoefl-Riesch. Gut has four World Cup wins this season, and five podiums, but had failed to finish the last two GS races. "Its always fun to be on the podium and to make points," the 22-year-old said. "But I was skiing good even in Beaver Creek and St. Moritz before going off course." Pietilae-Holmner, the GS runner-up at the 2007 worlds, secured her first World Cup podium in GS. "Its a perfect Christmas present," the 27-year-old said. "I had two seasons with both knee injury and shoulder injury. Im back without injury so I can put the energy in the right things." World slalom champion Mikaela Shiffrin was eighth, improving from her 12th-place finish in slalom at Courchevel on Tuesday. The previous weekend, the 18-year-old had failed to finish another GS in the Swiss resort of St. Moritz. "I was really tired coming from the U.S. to here (Europe). I had to rethink how I was doing things, getting my recoveries and stuff," Shiffrin said. "Before this race I actually got some rest and I felt a lot better today, which means that I just have to ski faster. Im happy with the top 10." She thought that she could have done better, however, with more preparation. "I think the first run was a little bit straighter than I thought it would be from looking at it on inspection. Its a lesson for next time," she said. "I have to be able to see its a little straighter so I can go, because some of the other girls hammered it and they were really fast, and thats where I lost some time." Defending overall champion Tina Maze, who was second in Saturdays downhill, improved in her second run to finish 11th. The Slovenian is still looking for her first win of the season and says she feels mentally tired. "Maybe its the result of the progam I have. Since St. Moritz every day Im in ski boots, skiing and training and its tough to be in shape every day and to concentrate 100 per cent," she said. "I really need two days break now, just to relax a little bit. I think its pretty tiring when youre going up and down and fighting every day to be positive." The 30-year-old Maze looked set for a competitive time but almost fell on her first run. "I was skiing really good so Im excited about my skiing, but with that mistake it was just too hard to come in front and be relaxed in the second run," she said. "I was attacking too much and on this snow when you push too much its not a good idea." Air Max 97 False . - The Raiders have released guard Mike Brisiel after two disappointing seasons in Oakland. Vapormax Outlet Italia . Ghoulam has put pen to paper on a four and a half year deal, tying him to Napoli until 2018. The 22-year-old Algeria international, who played for France at Under 21 level, has made 87 league appearances in four seasons at Saint-Etienne. http://www.airmaxshoponlineitalia.it/sco...0-outlet.html.Y. - Rob Manfred was promoted Monday to Major League Baseballs chief operating officer, which may make him a candidate to succeed Bud Selig as commissioner. Air Max 95 Prezzo Amazon . -- Shanshan Feng was alone in her opinion about the pin positions in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Air Max 97 Italia . The veteran fighter will be squaring off with Henderson in a five-round lightweight bout as part of another network televised card at the United Center on Saturday night.NEW YORK -- If only the Brooklyn Nets could get a mulligan on that 2013 part of the 2013-14 season. They are perfect in the new year, looking more like the team that was the heavy Atlantic Division favourite than the one that was 10-21 through December. "Were undefeated this year," swingman Alan Anderson said. "So as long as we just keep that rolling, man, we know weve got a couple of tough games ahead of us, but like I said, take it one game at a time, one practice at a time, and keep building." Joe Johnson snapped out of a slump with 23 points against his former team, and the Nets matched a season high with their third straight victory by beating the Atlanta Hawks 91-86 on Monday night. Mirza Teletovic scored 16 points and Anderson added 14 starting in place of the injured Deron Williams as the Nets moved to 2-0 on four-game homestand that finishes with visits from Golden State on Wednesday and Miami on Friday. Despite yet another injury to a key player, the Nets look ready to test themselves against those powerful teams after matching their three consecutive victories from Dec. 7-12. "Were going to have our hands full, but weve got to come with the same effort that we have since 2014 started," Nets coach Jason Kidd said. Paul Millsap scored 16 points for the Hawks, who lost their third in a row to equal their worst stretch of the season. Jeff Teague also had 16 but shot 5 of 15 from the field. "We felt like we could (get over the hump) and a few things didnt go our way," Millsap said. "But still we fought to the end. At the end of the day, weve just got to work on our fundamentals." Williams missed his 12th game this season after his ankle swelled Sunday. He will be re-evaluated Tuesday. But the Nets got solid guard play from Shaun Livingston, who scored 12. And they got clutch play from Johnson, who had been held in single digits in five straight games for the first time in 11 years -- though he did hit the winning shot in one of those, a victory at Oklahoma City on Thursday that started the win streak. "Jason told me I was going to have to pick it up," Johnson said. "And he told me in the fourth quaarter when I came back in that he wanted me to be very assertive and make plays and kind of take over the game, which is what I tried to do.dddddddddddd" He finished 10 of 22, making the go-ahead 3-pointer with 6:21 remaining. The Hawks rebounded from a dreadful start to the second half to grab a 78-77 lead on DeMarre Carrolls dunk with 6:38 left in the game. Johnson answered with a 3-pointer on the next possession, Livingston had a steal and dunk, and Johnson nailed another jumper to cap the run of seven straight points and make it 84-78 with 3:37 to go. Johnson, traded to the Nets in the summer of 2012, made another jumper with 2:12 left, then made a huge play after Atlanta had trimmed it to two, finding Teletovic in the corner for a 3-pointer and 89-84 lead with 44 seconds remaining. The teams meet again on Jan. 16 in London in whats considered a home game for the Hawks. Kyle Korver needed little time to extend his NBA-record streak with a 3-pointer to 104 games, hitting with 9:11 remaining in the first quarter. The Hawks scored the final 11 points of the first half, capped by Millsaps 3-pointer with 28 seconds left, to take a 52-46 advantage. But the Nets stormed out with the first 14 of the third quarter. Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer angrily knocked his clipboard onto the court while reaching for it after calling one timeout, then was hit with a technical foul on a subsequent possession after redirecting his rage from his players to the referees. Anderson made a jumper and then consecutive 3-pointers to cap the spurt and make it 60-52. The Nets led 72-67 following three 3-pointers by Teletovic late in the third. "I think the game really changed coming out of the third quarter," Budenholzer said. "They went on a big run. We went from up six to down six. I think in a lot of ways thats where the game was won." Notes: Because of Williams injury, the Nets recalled Tyshawn Taylor from Springfield of the NBA Development League, hours after theyd assigned him. He left Springfield early Monday afternoon and arrived at the arena shortly before 5 p.m. He did not play. ... Singer Rihanna was at the game, seated next to the Nets bench. ' ' '