In women’s games
NO. 3 TEXAS A&M 65, NO. 5 SOUTH CAROLINA 57 » Aaliyah Wilson scored 17 points and N’dea Jones added 16 to lead No. 3 Texas A&M to a win over fifthranked South Carolina, giving the Aggies their first regular-season Southeastern Conference title.
NO. 4 STANFORD 72, CALIFORNIA 33 » Tara VanDerveer presented flowers to each of her Stanford three seniors and told them sorry their parents or family members couldn’t be at Maples Pavilion for senior day.
Kiana Williams scored 12 points in her final home game and defensive stopper fifth-year senior Anna Wilson added three steals playing for the final time on The Farm, and the fourthranked Cardinal used a big second half to beat California.
Alvarez outlasts Yildirim
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez outclassed Avni Yildirim and retained his world super-middleweight titles with a technical knockout after Yildirim failed to answer the bell for the fourth round Saturday night.
Alvarez, of Mexico, dropped the Turkish challenger with a left right combination to the head midway through the third round. Alvarez followed with additional combinations, pinning Yildirim on the ropes.
Yildirim survived the round but absorbed sufficient punishment that forced his trainer Joel Diaz to stop the fight.
With the victory, Alvarez (55-1-2, 37 KOs) successfully defended his World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association belts.
“I came and did what I had to do,” Alvarez said. “I had to win by knockout and I accomplished it.”
The fight headlined the first boxing event at 34-year-old Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins.
‘Flying Finn’ Mikkola dies at 78
Hannu Mikkola, the 1983 rally world champion and one of Finland’s rally greats who earned the nickname the “Flying Finn” and international renown in a driving career spanning more than 30 years, has died. He was
78.
Mikkola’s son Vesa Mikkola, a former rally driver, tweeted Saturday that “we lost my father Hannu to cancer this weekend. Most knew him as a rallying great who ushered in the golden years of the sport. To me he was dad.”
Mikkola started his driving career in Volvo cars in the early 1960s but made his reputation driving a series of Ford Escorts in world rally events in the 1970s, including a win in the East African Safari Rally in Kenya in 1972 and a British Rally Championship in 1978.
• Second-seeded David Goffin of Belgium rallied to beat top-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to win the Open Sud de France on Sunday and clinch his fifth career title.
• Atlético Madrid got back to winning, beating Villarreal 2-0 to halt its slump and restore a five-point lead at the top of the Spanish league.
An own-goal by Alfonso Pedraza in the first half and a goal by forward João Félix in the second helped Atlético end a three-game winless streak and rebuild its lead over second-place Barcelona, which won 2-0 at fourthplace Sevilla on Saturday. Atlético has a game in hand compared to the Catalan club.