STANFORD, Calif. -- When you made your professional debut five years before one of your opponents at this weeks Bank of the West Classic was born, talk of retirement is bound to come up. For Venus Williams, the subject has been volleyed around fan sites and even mentioned by the on-court interviewer after her first match of the tournament.I get to live my dream every single day, the 36-year-old Williams responded on the court at Stanford University. Im not going to quit anytime soon.With a month like this one, why would she? After reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon -- her first Grand Slam semifinal since the 2010 U.S. Open -- Williams advanced to the final of the Bank of the West Classic, ensuring her best WTA ranking (No. 6) in five years despite Sundays 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 loss to Great Britains Johanna Konta.Williams was going for her 50th WTA title at the same event where she won her first professional match 22 years ago, a straight sets victory over former NCAA champion Shaun Stafford.I have no idea how I won the match [against Stafford], Williams said this week. I had no strategy and zero understanding on how to win a match.At her debut in 1994, Williams hadnt played a competitive game in more than three years. Father/coach Richard Williams had kept her out of the junior circuit, thinking that practicing with better opponents was more useful than dominating her peers.But Williams second pro match against world No. 2 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario showed how important veteran savvy and experience could be. After Williams went up 6-1, 3-3, Sanchez Vicario took a long bathroom break and then didnt lose another game.It was a pretty good strategy against a youngin, Williams said. But after a while, I got the hang of it.Now its her opponents who are the novices, including 17-year-old American CiCi Bellis, her quarterfinal opponent this week.Williams has gone on to win seven Grand Slam singles titles and is about to compete in her fifth Olympics. And she has seemed even more energized recently. When the Rio Games came up in an interview, Williams mentioned playing again in 2020. When she was asked if she was disappointed she couldnt win No. 50 here, Williams responded that shell have more chances.Im pretty much the most mature on tour, Williams said. There arent a lot of people older than me, but I take it as a compliment because I love being out here.Williams certainly showed signs of her age -- uh, maturity -- on Sunday, conserving energy by not going after some reachable shots. On a day that her sister Serena pulled out of the upcoming WTA event in Montreal with an inflamed shoulder, no one needed a reminder about the sports physical demands.Venus received some breaks during the week. Before the final, none of her matches started before 7 p.m. and her highest-ranked opponent was 78th-ranked American Alison Riske. But she also showed her fight. Down a set and two breaks at 1-4 in the second set and playing her third match in three days, Williams won 8 of 11 points on Kontas next two service games to delay Kontas first-ever WTA title.Five years after being diagnosed with Sjogrens Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that causes fatigue, Williams has no plans of slowing down. If anything, Venus is loading up -- shes heading from Stanford to Montreal to play in the next tournament on the WTA schedule, and then shell play singles and doubles (with Serena) at the Olympics. In the prior two Olympic cycles, Williams took a break between Wimbledon and the Games.Speaking to the crowd at Stanford after Sundays final, Williams said she hopes to see them again next year.It proves you dont have to go until youre good and ready, Williams said. When Im good and ready, Ill be gone, but now is not the time. Alan Trammell Jersey . JOHNS, N. Jose Iglesias Jersey . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. http://www.cheaptigersjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-james-mccann-jersey . Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, announced Wednesday that the team would assign Swedish forward Elias Lindholm to his nations team for the upcoming tournament. Willie Horton Jersey .Y. - New Orleans forward Anthony Davis was chosen Friday to replace the injured Kobe Bryant in the NBA All-Star game that will be played in his home city. Kirk Gibson Jersey . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Little had gone right for No. 20 Baylor when it headed to the locker room in Fridays Battle 4 Atlantis championship game, trailing at halftime for the third straight day -- though this time by a big margin.Maybe that made it easier for the Bears to shrug all that off and respond with a whopper of a comeback to claim the title.King McClure scored all 15 of his points in the second half and Baylor rallied to beat No. 10 Louisville 66-63 after trailing by as many as 22 points late in the first half.Baylor had trailed by eight at halftime in its Atlantis opener against VCU and by three to No. 24 Michigan State on Thursday before taking over each game in the second half. This time, the Bears trailed 39-24 at halftime, by 20 early in the second half and by 54-42 with 10:07 left.Weve been a second-half team all tournament, Bears coach Scott Drew said, but that one I guess took it to extremes.After getting shut down early, the Bears (6-0) shot 65 percent after halftime, a total boosted by the fact they got some easy baskets in transition and scored nine points off turnovers.They got strong play from their bench, something the Cardinals (5-1) just didnt have. McClure, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, had scored three points in the first five games but went 5 of 8 from the field with two 3s and two free throws with 1.1 seconds left to make it a three-point game.Then there was tournament MVP Johnathan Motley, who had 15 points despite drawing frequent double teams inside. He put the ball on the floor to drive by Anas Mahmoud for the go-ahead dunk with 2:49 left during the game-turning 21-5 run.A lot of teams when they get down like that they break apart, but we came together, McClure said. We came back and started chipping away. As we saw the lead go down, we started believing in ourselvesDonovan Mitchell scored 17 points for Louisville. The Cardinals shot just 33 percent (9 of 27) in the second half, with coach Rick Pitino pointing to mental fatigue as a factor in the second half after the Cardinals could not have played better basketball than we did inn the first half.ddddddddddddI saw it in their legs, Pitino said. Anytime a team doesnt get in the right defense, the right press, you know its mental and physical fatigue. You see it right away. But I didnt make the substitutions. ... Its my fault. I saw they were fatigued. I was just hoping the timeouts could overcome it but it didnt.BIG PICTURELouisville: Pitino had a clear takeaway: hell have to use bench players more.Its my fault that we lost this championship, Pitino said. Its bitter. But that being said, well learn from it, and Ill learn from it as a coach to play these guys whether I think theyre good enough or not.Baylor: Drews team is 3-0 against ranked opponents. Hard to ask for much more in November.Makes my job harder making sure they stay focused, Drew said. I think the great thing is those are great quality wins. I know when we started his season we knew we played great teams early and had chances to get off to a great start. But weve got bigger goals.POLL IMPLICATIONSExpect Baylor to climb in next weeks AP Top 25 after beating No. 24 Michigan State and No. 10 Louisville on consecutive days, not to mention last weeks win against then-No. 4 Oregon. The Cardinals could slide a bit.BENCH PLAYBaylors bench strength included Terry Maston scoring 10 of his 12 points after halftime, while Jake Lindsey had steal-and-layup conversions on consecutive plays during the 21-5 run that gave Baylor its first lead.The Bears finished with a 36-18 advantage in bench points.Its tough to admit that youre tired, Mitchell said, but at the end of the day, we just didnt make enough plays at the right time.UP NEXTLouisville: The Cardinals host Purdue on Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.Baylor: The Bears return home to face Sam Houston State on Wednesday night.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap---More AP college basketball at http://www.collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25 ' ' '