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Texas Tech fires coach Candi Whitaker
Texas Tech has fired women’s basketball coach Candi Whitaker.
The Lady Raiders are 6-7 on the season. They started out Big 12 play with a 41-point loss to Oklahoma and a 97-49 defeat to No. 6 Baylor on Sunday.
Whitaker, who graduated from the school in 2002, was hired by Texas Tech in 2013. She had a 54-82 record as head coach, with her best season coming in 2014-15 when the Lady Raiders were 15-16.
As a player, Whitaker helped the Lady Raiders make the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons.
Texas Tech’s next game is Wednesday against Kansas.
Assistant coach Shimmy Gray-Miller will take over as the interim coach and lead the program for the remainder of the season.
James Harden to miss two more weeks
Rockets star James Harden will miss at least two weeks with a left hamstring strain.
The team announced that the NBA’s leading scorer has a grade 2 strain and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Harden was injured on a missed layup late in the fourth quarter of Houston’s 148-142 double-overtime win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. He said after the game that he didn’t think the injury was serious, but the guard was walking with a pronounced limp.
The Rockets have the secondbest record in the Western Conference behind Golden State at 26-9, and Harden leads the NBA with his scoring average of 32.3 points per game. He also is averaging 9.1 assists, ranking third in the league.
Kenyan Drake prepared for fine for helmet fling
Miami Dolphins running back Kenyan Drake says it was stupid for him to throw a helmet and get tossed from his team’s season finale, and he’s bracing for a possible fine or other punishment from the NFL.
Drake and teammate Jarvis Landry were ejected following a brawl in the final minutes of Miami’s 22-16 loss to Buffalo. Drake became involved in a wrestling match in the bottom of a pile, and when Bills defensive end Ryan Davis’ helmet came off, Drake picked it up and threw it 20 yards.
In retrospect, he said, not smart. Landry had just scored a touchdown to put the Bills’ lead to 22-9 with 6:21 left. Drake said he let the situation get the best of him, and the flying helmet could have hurt someone.