Sports briefs: Phoenix Mercury win WNBA draft lottery

Women's basketball • The Phoenix Mercury won the WNBA draft lottery Wednesday night and earned the right to choose Brittney Griner with the top pick next year.

Chicago will pick second and Tulsa third. Washington, which had the worst record in the league will pick fourth. The Mystics (5-29) had a 44 percent chance to win the top pick.

The 6-foot-8 center Griner guided Baylor to a national championship and 40-0 record.

Nebraska AD to retire in January

College sports • Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne is retiring as of Jan. 1.

The 75-year-old Osborne announced his decision Wednesday at a news conference. He says "the perception" that you're getting old "can get in the way." Osborne says he doesn't want to be a distraction.

Osborne was one of the most successful football coaches in history. Every one of his 25 teams won at least nine games, and three of his last four teams won national championships. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

U.S. skier among avalanche survivors

Skiing • Renowned American extreme skier Glen Plake, one of the survivors of the weekend Himalayan avalanche that killed at least eight people, said Wednesday he feels lucky to be alive but heartbroken that he could not save two friends who remain missing.

Plake is a champion hot-dog skier who has appeared in many extreme-skiing documentaries and also is well-known for the tall mohawk he wears on the slopes. He had planned to ski down Mount Manalsu, the world's eighth-highest mountain.

Contador wins 2nd title after ban

Cycling • Alberto Contador won the revived Milano-Torino road race on Wednesday in Milan, his second title since returning from a doping ban.

Contador moved ahead of the peloton on the final climb to the Basilica di Superga and held on for his first victory in a one-day, 123-mile race. Diego Ulissi of Italy was second, while Fredrik Kessiakoff of Sweden was third.

Contador returned from a doping ban in August, and won the Spanish Vuelta earlier this month.

From wire reports