Aces vs. Storm in WNBA Finals
A’ja Wilson had 23 points and 11 rebounds, Angel McCoughtry added 20 points and the top-seeded Aces held off the No. 7 seed in the Sun 66-63 on Tuesday night in Bradenton, Florida, to advance to the franchise’s second WNBA Finals.
The Aces will play Friday against the Storm, who advanced to their second championship series in three seasons Sunday after sweeping the Lynx. The Aces franchise hadn’t reached the finals since doing so as the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2008.
Carolyn Swords and Danielle Robinson each grabbed 10 rebounds for the Aces, who overcame 18 turnovers.
Auto racing: Hendrick Motorsports will promote crew chief Chad Knaus to VP of competition at the end of the NASCAR Cup playoffs. Knaus, who guided Jimmie Johnson to a recordtying seven Cup championships, will oversee the technical development of Hendrick’s entire Chevrolet stable of race cars and lead the implementation of the “Next Gen” car set to debut in 2022. Knaus will also oversee all crew chiefs, pit crews, engineering, fabrication, assembly and other team-related staff. Hendrick split Knaus and Johnson at the end of 2018 and Knaus has spent the last two years as crew chief for William Byron and the No. 24 team.
College football: South Alabama postponed Saturday’s scheduled home game against Troy after pausing its workouts because of
COVID-19 issues. South Alabama, which also paused football activities in July to do an additional round of COVID-19 testing, said the latest pause will be temporary. This is the second postponement for Troy, which had its season opener against Louisiana-Monroe moved to Dec. 5 because of COVID-19 issues with ULM.
NFL: The Broncos named thirdstringer Brett Rypien their starting QB for Thursday night’s game against the Jets. The nephew of former Washington QB Mark Rypien will make his first career start after taking over for Jeff Driskel on the final drive of a 28-10 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday. Driskel had started in place of injured No. 1 QB Drew Lock. ... The Texans don’t plan to sign free agent S Earl Thomas after meeting with the 31-year-old threetime All-Pro and conducting a physical, ESPN reported. ... The Chargers placed former All-Pro CB Chris Harris Jr. on IR with a foot injury. There’s no timetable yet for his return, but he will miss at least three games. ... The Eagles placed TE Dallas Goedert on IR with a small fracture in his ankle, ESPN reported. Goedert will miss at least three games.
Soccer: Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara has tested positive for the coronavirus. The 29-year-old Alcantara, who joined the Premier League champions from Bayern Munich this month, will now self-isolate for at least 10 days as required by authorities.