AP Sports SummaryBrief at 11:29 a.m. EST

Caitlin Clark honored as AP Female Athlete of the Year following her impact on women's sports Caitlin Clark has been named the AP Female Athlete of the Year after raising the profile of womens basketball to unprecedented levels in both college and the WNBA.

She led Iowa to the national championship game, was the top pick in the WNBA draft and captured rookie of the year honors in the league.

Fans packed sold-out arenas and millions of television viewers followed her journey on and off the court.

Clark's exploits also put other women's sports leagues in the spotlight.

A group of 74 sports journalists from AP and its members voted on the award.

Other athletes who received votes included Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and boxer Imane Khelif.

Clarks only the fourth womens basketball player to win the award since it was first given in 1931.

Wemby at The Garden.

LeBron vs.

Steph.

The NBA's Christmas Day lineup, as always, has star power LeBron James made his Christmas debut in 2003.

Victor Wembanyama was born 10 days later.

Thats right: James has been featured on the NBAs big day for longer than Wembanyama has been alive.

And on Wednesday the leagues oldest player and brightest young star will be big parts of the holiday showcase.

Its another Christmas quintupleheader, with Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs visiting the New York Knicks, Minnesota going to Dallas for a Western Conference finals rematch, Philadelphia heading to Boston to renew a storied rivalry, James and the Los Angeles Lakers taking on Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, and Denver playing at Phoenix.

Packers clinch playoff berth with 1st shutout in NFL this season, 34-0 over Saints GREEN BAY, Wis.

(AP) Josh Jacobs gained 107 yards from scrimmage and scored a touchdown for a sixth straight game as the Green Bay Packers clinched a playoff berth while producing the first shutout of the NFL season, 34-0 over the hapless New Orleans Saints.

Green Bay improved to 11-4 and earned its fifth postseason appearance in six years.

New Orleans played without injured quarterback Derek Carr and running back Alvin Kamara.

Rookie Spencer Rattler started and went 15 of 30 for 153 yards with an interception and a fumble.

The Packers have won nine of their last 11 games.

Lindsey Vonn thinks her new titanium knee could start a trend in skiing.

And pro sports in general ST.

MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) Lindsey Vonn thinks her new titanium knee could be the start of a trend in ski racing.

The 40-year-old American standout had replacement surgery in April and returned to the World Cup circuit after nearly six years last weekend.

She says her knee feels amazing" and that "its something to seriously consider for athletes that have a lot of knee problems.

Her surgery was the first of its kind in World Cup skiing.

Vonn had a robot-assisted surgery in April with part of the bone in her right knee cut off and replaced by two titanium pieces.

She was planning her comeback a month later.

Embiid ejected after drawing 2 technicals in game against Wembanyama and Spurs PHILADELPHIA (AP) Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was ejected in the first half of Monday nights game against San Antonio after drawing two technical fouls.

Referee Jenna Schroeder ejected Embiid with 2 minutes, 59 seconds left in the second quarter.

The seven-time All-Star received the first technical for arguing with Schroeder, and received another technical and ejection from Schroeder before any more game time elapsed.

Embiid was close to Schroeder, but it wasnt clear from replays whether he made contact with the official.

An enraged Embiid charged toward the officials after the ejection and was restrained by teammate Kyle Lowry, head coach Nick Nurse and several assistants.

Nikki Glaser uses Prime Video's NFL postgame show appearances to help prepare for Golden Globes INGLEWOOD, Calif.

(AP) Nikki Glaser has become a familiar face to football fans this season.

Her breakthrough performance at the Tom Brady Roast on May 5 paved the way for five appearances on Amazon Prime Videos Thursday Night Football postgame show.

Glaser said before last Thursdays game between the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers that doing her Late Hits segment was a no-brainer following her success at the Brady roast.

Tales from the tour in a year filled with medals and tears and a few digs The one week of the year where golf tours around the world go silent is always a good time to reflect on some of the tales from the tours.

This year's edition includes the pride and reflection of Tommy Fleetwood's father to Xander Schauffele and his best friend on the bag.

It also includes Steve Stricker's hopeless battle to keep his emotions in check.

And there's a tale from Ted Scott, and a tough but special moment at the Olympics that led Scottie Scheffler to give him a medal of his own.

Leaving Thunder, Bucks off the NBA's Christmas game list has those teams feeling snubbed Oklahoma City leads the Western Conference and has a MVP candidate in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Milwaukee has the NBAs leading scorer in Giannis Antetokounmpo.

They were the teams that made their way to the NBA Cup final.

By any measure, theyre both very good teams.

And neither will play on Christmas Day this year.

Bah, humbug.

The NBA faces the same challenge every summer, figuring out which 10 teams will get the honor of playing on Christmas Day.

But the Bucks and Thunder are right to feel snubbed.

Shohei Ohtani wins 3rd AP Male Athlete of the Year award, tying Michael Jordan for 1 shy of record LOS ANGELES (AP) Shohei Ohtani has been named The Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the third time.

That ties the two-way superstar with Michael Jordan, an athlete Ohtani followed while growing up in Japan.

He trails only Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods and LeBron James, who each won the award four times.

Ohtani received 48 votes in balloting by 74 sports journalists from the AP and its members.

He earned his third National League Most Valuable Player award after helping the Dodgers win their eighth World Series title.

Ohtani hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases as the first player with a 50-50 season.

His dog, Decoy, became a celebrity, too, helping Ohtani deliver a ceremonial first pitch at a game.

Eight new WNBA coaches now in place.

In 2025, 7 women and 6 men will be in charge on the bench The WNBA now has all of its head coaching spots filled after there were eight open positions this offseason.

Dallas named Chris Koclanes as its head coach on Monday and then an hour later Washington hired Sydney Johnson as its new head rounding out the seven hirings.

in 2025, seven women and six men will be in charge on the sidelines.

Theres no common thread among the new hires.

Three of the hires are former college head coaches (Karl Smesko, Lynne Roberts and Johnson), two are WNBA assistants (Koclanes and Tyler Marsh) and one is an international coach (Rachid Meziane).

Stephanie White is the only former WNBA head coach to get one of the open positions as she moved from Connecticut to Indiana..

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