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WACO, Texas -- Lauren Cox learned very quickly that Natalie Chou has a voracious appetite, will sing along to anything that comes on the radio and wont put a skateboard down until she has learned how to skate.Before they became roommates at Baylor this summer, Cox and Chou mostly knew each other as highly competitive, decorated rivals in Dallas.It was always us two, me against Lauren in seventh and eighth grades, Chou said. And then in high school, we were in the same district so we would play against each other at least two times. That would always be a big game.Cox and Chou, ranked the No. 1 and No. 8 recruits in the country by ESPN, will play in many more massive games for the next four years as teammates. The prized freshmen, along with No. 40 prospect Calveion Juicy Landrum, take their first road trip on Thursday, and it will surely will be one they wont forget.No. 2 Baylor visits No. 3 UConn with the Huskies looking to extend their 76-game winning streak with a victory in Storrs. The Huskies (1-0) will be Baylors second top-10 opponent this week after the Bears (2-0) beat ninth-ranked UCLA at home, 84-70.Usually, UConn has the star-studded recruiting class. But Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey might have her best crop of freshmen in her 17 seasons at Waco, and thats saying a lot.While Cox and Chou had been teammates once before on the 2014 USA U17 World Championship team -- they helped USA go 7-0 and bonded half a world away in the Czech Republic -- the two never really considered playing together at the collegiate level.At least not until Mulkey had the two in her office for a visit at Baylor.Mulkey made a detailed, eye-opening pitch of seamless pick-and-rolls, perhaps allowing Cox and Chou to fantasize about becoming the Green and Gold version of Stockton and Malone. The coach also talked about the 6-foot-1 Chous perimeter shooting, passing and versatility to play three positions -- and how that would fit nicely with the 6-foot-4 Coxs stellar post game.Apart, the two would be just fine wherever they went. Together, however, Cox and Chou could be a championship-caliber combination in the future.When I recruited them, I talked about together, Mulkey said. The combination of a post player and a perimeter player and what they could mean to each other.Their personalities are similar in that they are very basketball savvy. They grew up in homes where their parents are very involved in their careers, and now they can go to the next level and do it together.Cox stunned Mulkey by committing as she posed for a photo shoot in a Baylor uniform on her official visit, and Chou signed two weeks later.(Mulkeys pitch about teaming up) was eye-opening, Chou said. She put everything into reality. Lauren is like the best post power forward, and I am a really good shooter, so having her would help me a lot, and we know each others games so well so it would be great.The two McDonalds All-Americans joined Landrum to give Mulkey whats considered the best recruiting class in the country by some and the second-best class?according to ESPN. All three have deep basketball roots, too. Chous mother, Quanli Li, played professional basketball in China. Coxs parents, Dennis and Brenda, played college basketball, and Landrums sister, Porsha Roberts, plays professionally.How much Mulkey will play her freshmen remains to be seen. Cox logged just four minutes and missed all four of her shots against UCLA as Mulkey relied on an impressive frontcourt with the likes of preseason All-American forward Nina Davis and Kalani Brown. Brown had 25 points, 19 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks against the Bruins.Chou and Landrum play behind a veteran backcourt of Alexis Jones, Alexis Prince and Kristy Wallace. Chou logged 12 minutes and went scoreless, while Landrum did not play against UCLA.Of course, the freshmen trio came to Baylor knowing they would try to support a Bears squad that returned four starters from a 36-2 team last season.I am really hard on myself, so I do have high expectations for myself, said Cox, who is Baylors first No. 1 recruit in the country since Brittney Griner in 2009. If I do want to have that playing time and contribute to the team, I will have to work hard because we have really good returning posts on the team.In Baylors first non-exhibition game of the season, the three freshmen saw extended playing time in a 118-43 blowout over Houston Baptist. Chou led the freshmen with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 1 block, while Cox had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 blocks. Landrum added 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 points, 2 steals and 1 block.Mulkey hopes her freshmen will wreak havoc on opponents in the future. For now, she wants them to find enough harmony on the court to be the pieces that make this Baylor juggernaut a championship team.The three Texas girls havent come up with a nickname for their class, but their goal and the teams motto is clear and catchy: Destination Dallas. Baylor hopes to return to the Final Four for the first time since 2012, when the Bears went 40-0 and won the national championship.Once local rivals, Cox and Chou would love nothing more than to come home and compete for a championship together.From over the years, we would know how each other play, and we knew each others strengths and what we liked to do, Chou said. So having that connection already and history really, I think, helps.We have a lot of Dallas girls on this team. 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The lawsuit had accused Biogenesis and Bosch of conspiring with players to violate their contracts by providing them with banned performance-enhancing substances.TORONTO -- Guess it was a bit too early to start printing those Team North America championship T-shirts after all.And conversely, maybe the Russians dont need to book their flight back to Moscow just yet.In the space of 24 hours, the storylines for both teams went through the blender as Russias frenzied, hair-on-fire 4-3 victory over the talented young North Americans evened both their records at 1-1.The Russians, coming off an emotional 2-1 loss to Sweden in their first game, which included an overturned last-second potentially tying goal, looked lost for most of the first half of Mondays game. And the young stars, coming off a 4-1 mauling of Finland, looked early on like they just might be capable of racing right to the finals.Before the game was six minutes old, Auston Matthews scored his first goal in what will soon be his NHL home after Connor McDavid swept by Detroit Red Wings legend Pavel Datsyuk in the neutral zone to set up a 2-on-1. But the North Americans couldnt extend the lead, and midway through the second period, the Russians, historic underachievers at these international best-on-best tournaments, came alive. They chased Team North America goalie Matt Murray with a four-goal barrage in just over six minutes to take a 4-1 lead.But credit the youngsters with not caving. And the explosive to and fro that had been anticipated by these two high-octane teams was delivered with Team North America closing the deficit to one with goals by Morgan Reilly late in the second period and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the third.ddddddddddddBut a Russian team that looked like they were ready to fold up their World Cup of Hockey tent early on held fast, especially during an excruciating 1:34 of 5-on-3 for Team North America midway through the third period and then a frenzied final minute when the North Americans were once again on the power play.Three Stars1. Sergei Bobrovsky, G, Russia: Playing on consecutive days, the Columbus Blue Jackets goalie was key in keeping the game within reach until his teammates emerged from hibernation. His play during the 5-on-3 was likewise key. He stopped 43 of 46 shots including 17 of 18 in the third period.2. Auston Matthews, RW, North America: Hey, this team had a handful of forwards who were once again dynamic bringing fans out of their seats, but the first overall draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs continues to show hes the real deal.3. Evgeny Kuznetsov, C, Russia: The talented Washington center didnt have a great start, taking two minor penalties in the first period and then appearing out of sorts when he wasnt in the box. But he scored Russias third goal on an incredible individual effort blowing by Reilly and beating Murray. Better yet, he followed it up with a celebration in which he looked like a bird flapping its wings. ' ' '