Seattle trio sparks U.S. to World Cup victory
With not much going right offensively, U.S. coach Dawn Staley turned to the Seattle Storm trio to help jumpstart the offense.
The move worked as Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird sparked a 14-3 run to close the first half and rally the U.S. to a 7140 win over pesky Nigeria on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Basketball World Cup at San Cristobal De La Laguna, Spain.
“I don’t know if it was conscious, but I did recognize that you did have three of the WNBA champions on the floor,” Staley said. “You put a team together like this, the more chemistry you can have on the floor by them playing together on respective WNBA teams it always helps.”
The U.S. trailed 20-13 midway through the second quarter before Stewart and her Seattle teammates took over. The Americans closed the half by scoring the final eight points to go up 27-23 at the break. Stewart’s 3-pointer with 2:04 left in the half gave the U.S. its first lead of the game. The Americans eventually opened up a doubledigit lead early in the third quarter.
College basketball
UCLA’S O’NEAL WILL MISS
SEASON BECAUSE OF HEART CONDITION >> UCLA freshman Shareef O’Neal will sit out the 2018-19 basketball season because of a heart condition that will require surgery.
“Thank God the UCLA medical staff found it early,” O’Neal told TMZ Sports about a condition he did not specify.
O’Neal, the son of former Lakers great and Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal, said doctors discovered the condition after he “felt funny” during summer practices. The 6-foot-10 power forward wore a heart monitor attached to a button that he pressed whenever he felt unwell. He received the diagnosis a few weeks after pressing the button during a practice. LSU PLAYER DIES IN SHOOTING >> LSU basketball player Wayde Sims has died after he was shot during a fight involving several men early Friday near the campus of another university in his hometown of Baton Rouge. Sims, 20, was shot around 12:25 a.m. and died from his wounds at a hospital, Baton Rouge police Sgt. Don Coppola Jr. said.
The shooting happened near Southern University’s A.W. Mumford Stadium. FORMER UCONN COACH OLLIE
NOTIFIED OF VIOLATIONS >> Former UConn coach Kevin Ollie confirmed he received a letter from the NCAA, accusing him of violations while at the school. The allegations were first reported Friday by ESPN, which says the most serious is an unethical conduct charge for allegedly provided false or misleading information about phone calls between Hall of Famer Ray Allen, San Antonio Spurs player Rudy Gay and a recruit.
Motors
KURT BUSCH MASTERS NEW TRACK >> Kurt Busch won the pole for the NASCAR playoff race at the new “roval” at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, a hybrid of the road course and oval that has drivers concerned with the complexity of the circuit. Busch, who is eighth in the playoff standings, will be joined by non-playoff contender A.J. Allmendinger on the front row Sunday.
Golf
73-YEAR-OLD IRWIN STROKE
BACK AT PEBBLE BEACH >> Hale Irwin shot a 5-under 67 at Pebble Beach in the Pure Insurance Championship, leaving the 73-year-old Hall of Famer a stroke behind leader David Frost in the PGA Tour Champions event. Irwin played his final nine holes in 6-under 26. He birdied the par-4 first, eagled the par-5 second and added birdies on the par-3 fifth, par-5 sixth and par-3 seventh. Marco Dawson, Ken Tanigawa and Olin Browne were a stroke back with Irwin, also opening at Pebble Beach. Irwin won the PGA Tour event at Pebble Beach in 1984 and took the senior tournament in 2005
NBA
HAYWARD BACK IN ACTION >> Gordon Hayward finally returned to the court, and Kyrie Irving got to play at North Carolina. Hayward scored 10 points in his first game in nearly a year for the Boston Celtics, who fell to the Charlotte Hornets 104-97 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on the opening night of the NBA preseason schedule. Irving played his lone college season at Duke in 2010-11 but was limited to 11 games by injury and never played against North Carolina.