Terps suffer first loss in Big Ten
Maryland women’s lacrosse falls in regular-season Big Ten play for first time
The No. 8 Maryland women’s lacrosse team suffered its first Big Ten regular-season loss since joining the conference in 2015, falling 15-13 to No. 16 Penn State on Sunday in its season opener.
The Terps, who have won three Big Ten tournament titles, are now 29-1 all-time in regular-season conference play. It’s also Maryland’s first season-opening loss since 2006 and first loss to the Nittany Lions since 2005.
Freshman Olivia Dirks scored five goals to lead Penn State (2-0), which was aided by 16 Maryland turnovers.
Sophomore Libby May had a careerhigh six points (four goals) to lead the way for Maryland while fifth-year senior Brindi Griffin, senior Catie May and sophomore Hannah Leubecker each had two goals apiece.
In her first game back after missing the shortened 2020 season because of a torn ACL, Lizzie Colson had four caused turnovers to lead the defense. Maryland was down 8-4 at halftime before rallying to tie the game at 9. The teams traded goals until Penn State scored the final two with four minutes left.
Libby May tied the game twice, redshirt freshman Victoria Hensh scored her first career goal to tie the game at 12 and Leubecker evened the score at 13.
The Terps host No. 9 Michigan on Friday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at noon.
Rutgers 13, Johns Hopkins 10: The Scarlet Knights closed the game on an 8-2 run to earn their first victory over the Blue Jays, who entered Sunday with a 5-0 lead in the all-time series.
Sophomore Cassidy Spilis recorded a career-high eight points on seven goals and an assist, including four goals in the second half, to lead Rutgers (1-1).
Shelby Harrison had three goals and an assist, and Maeve Barker, Lexi Souder and Mackenzie Heldberg each scored two goals for Johns Hopkins (0-1).
Men’s basketball
MountSt.Mary’s74,FairleighDickinson 61: MezieOffurumscoredacareer-high22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and the Mountaineers topped the host Knights.
Nana Opoku had 16 points and three blocks for Mount St. Mary’s (9-10, 8-7 Northeast Conference). Damian Chong Qui added 14 points and 11 rebounds and Josh Reaves had 11 points.
Mount St. Mary’s totaled 52 second-half points, a season best for the team.
Jahlil Jenkins had 13 points for the Knights (8-14, 7-9) and Elyjah Williams scored 12.
Navy 69, American 60: Greg Summers matched his career high with 21 points as the Midshipmen defeated the host Eagles.
Cam Davis had 17 points for Navy (13-2, 10-1 Patriot League), which earned its fifth straight road victory. Richard Njoku added eight points with seven rebounds. Tyler Nelson also had seven rebounds. The Midshipmen were 53% shooting in the game (28 of 53).
Jamir Harris had 30 points for the Eagles (2-4, 2-4), the only scorer in double figures. Josh Alexander added eight points with five assists. Connor Nelson had eight rebounds.
Lehigh 76, Loyola Maryland 72: Reed Fenton scored 19 points to lead four players in double figures as the visiting Mountain Hawks beat the Greyhounds.
Evan Taylor and Dominic Parolin each scored 15 points and Ben Li added 10 for Lehigh (4-8 overall and in Patriot League), which shot 44.6% from the field.
Women’s basketball
Mount St. Mary’s 87, Bryant 49: Five players scored in double figures as the host Mountaineers ran away from the Bulldogs (6-9, 4-7 Northeast Conference) to complete the weekend sweep.
Mount St. Mary’s senior Kendall Bresee led all scorers with 18 points and added 10 rebounds for her eighth double double of the season. She went 11-for-12 from the free-throw line, helping the Mount (11-4, 10-2) go 17-for-20 at the stripe.
American 62, Loyola Maryland 52: The visiting Eagles outscored the Greyhounds 22-11 in the fourth quarter to pull away for a fourth straight win.
Isabella Therien recorded her fourth career double double on her Senior Day with 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Loyola (0-10 overall and in Patriot League). Fellow senior Dulaney Connolly added five points and a pair of steals while making her 64th career start.
Jade Edwards led the Eagles (5-3, 5-3) with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Howard 67, Coppin State 45: Jayla Thornton scored a game-high 17 points to lift the visiting Bison (12-3, 8-2 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) over the Eagles (2-10, 2-8).
Through the first week of workouts for pitchers and catchers in Sarasota, Florida, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and his pitchers have often been asked to confront the challenges of keeping players healthy while managing nearly three times as many innings from a season ago.
This is often presented in the context of shortening pitchers’ outings or even seasons to keep their innings counts low. But Hyde on Saturday outlined that it might actually be having more pitchers — especially relievers — prepared to pitch longer in spring training.
“I think you’re going to see some of our guys throw more innings in spring than normal,” Hyde said. “I would like to build all of them up to be multiple-inning guys. I’d like to see them all at least become one-plus, some guys two-plus, maybe even three out of the ‘pen starting the year.”
The benefits for the Orioles with such a plan are manifold. It might allow them to better manage their starter’s innings knowing there are relievers available on a given night to cover more than just a few innings.
It will also give them more starting options on the roster. It’s a lot easier to ask a long reliever who might not have pitched for a few days to start on short notice than going with an opener and needing to mix-and-match the entire game.
But it could also make players more valuable as the rotation behind former All-Star John Means could feature rookies Dean Kremer and Keegan Akin and possibly veterans Matt Harvey, Félix Hernández or Wade LeBlanc.
Having an emphasis on long relief could also help others gain roles on the major league roster out of spring training. César Valdez, who was the Orioles’ surprise closer at the end of 2020 and pitched well in winter ball in the Dominican Republic as a starter, will be one of several pitchers stretched out this spring, Hyde said.
“I think that he’s a candidate to do a number of different things just because he’s got the ability to start, he pitched the ninth inning for us there at the end of the year,” Hyde said. “He can go long out of the bullpen as well. So, we’re going to build him up innings-wise and then see where we are toward the end of camp.”
It would also be a path for Bruce Zimmermann (Loyola Blakefield), who pitched twice for the Orioles in 2020, to be on the team as a bulk-innings option out of the bullpen.
“We have high hopes for him and we’re going to make that decision,” Hyde said of Zimmermann. “If he’s on the club, he’s going to pitch bulk innings. We’re going to make sure that he gets experience and he stays stretched out.”
They aren’t the only ones. Jorge López is out of minor league options and thus faces a pivotal spring, but if the Orioles want to keep him in the bullpen, he has experience pitching several innings in relief.
So does nonroster right-hander Thomas Eshelman, who always proves his value and finds a way onto the team in some form or fashion.
Rule 5 draft picks Mac Sceroler and Tyler Wells, who have made a good first impression
on Hyde, might also have a path onto the team this way.
It could also be an easy transition for the Orioles’ current relievers. Some, such as Hunter Harvey and Dillon Tate, were starters as recently as 2019 and developed under multi-inning relief plans.
Cole Sulser made 19 appearances for the Orioles last year, and eight were for four outs or more. Paul Fry had seven such outings, with Tate, Eshelman and Travis Lakins each having six apiece. Tanner Scott and Shawn Armstrong had five, and Valdez had four.
Many of that group still have minor league options, so it’s possible the Orioles could build in longer rest periods after particularly long outings, with some
chances for breathers in the minor leagues.
However the Orioles decide to play it come April, it won’t have much impact on pitchers as they prepare in spring. Every pitcher who has spoken to the media said they went through a normal offseason despite having such a disjointed 2020. Hunter Harvey said he prepared for the season by doubling up on his throwing from previous winters.
Kremer said he felt as if pitchers would be able to dictate how often they took the mound by both performing well and being honest about how they feel in between outings to prevent any lingering soreness from getting worse.
“Although they’re going to have strict limits, I think they’re also going to ask how
guys are feeling and how they’re performing,” Kremer said. “I think there’s going to be a little bit of a longer leash than maybe they seem to say. But I don’t know, I’m not the coach.”
Around the horn
Orioles position players must report to camp by Sunday for physicals ahead of their first full-squad workout on Monday.
While Hyde had said every pitcher and catcher was in camp and reported earlier this week, he clarified Saturday that Australian left-hander Alexander Wells had travel delays because of coronavirus protocols in his efforts to get to Florida from his home country and is still in the intake process.
Harry Owings qualified for the inaugural state wrestling tournament in 1970 and placed second in his weight class.
That meant a little more across the wrestling landscape back then, when far fewer postseason spots were up for grabs and all classifications competed against each other. Owings finished his junior season at Francis Scott Key High School with a flourish, and with one more year to go expectations were likely high for the Eagles’ top grappler.
Owings did himself one better the following year when he won a state championship at 132 pounds. In doing so, the farm boy from New Windsor became the first Carroll County wrestler to be crowned a state champ.
The county has produced 98 state titles since the tournament’s inception, with several wrestlers winning multiple times. But Owings was the first, and 50 years later he holds fond, if not faded, memories of his varsity career at FSK.
“It was good knowing that I did it for the school,” Owings said while enjoying a recent lunch in Westminster with his wife Nancy, who brought high school yearbooks and photographs dating back a half-century.
The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association held its state tournament in 1971 for the second time.
Owings and teammate Dick Harbaugh competed for the Eagles, who placed sixth out of 77 teams according to a March 11, 1971 Times article.
This much is certain — Owings defeated Tim Stewart of Churchill in the 132-pound final. Other details are fuzzy and conflicting when looking through record books and publications.
The MPSSAA’s site shows Owings winning the match 6-0 at what was then called Towson State College. Another site, mdhighschoolwrestling.com, has the final
score listed as 6-3. The Times article went with a 7-0 decision.
Owings doesn’t waste much time on specifics. The 68-year-old is more proud of how he got there.
“If it wasn’t for the team, I would have never made it because we wrestled each other,” Owings said. “For the state tournament, me and Dick were the only two in it but everybody stayed for practice ... We wrestled in practice, a lot of times you were wondering whether you were going to make it home or not after practice.”
The grueling workouts were more than enough to get Owings and Harbaugh prepared for whatever was coming at the state tournament level.
FSK coach Peter McDowell ran a tough practice, Owings said, but there was a reason for it.
“When I was practicing for [states], I had a different partner every period,” said Owings, who remembered sparring with teammates and coaches alike.
The Times article lists Owings as beating Valley High’s John Buckholtz, a district champion, 8-3 in his first state tourney match, then defeating Tom Friday of High Point, also a district champ, with a third-period pin.
Harbaugh finished fourth at heavyweight for FSK. Bill Finch of Westminster (second place, 138) also competed at the 1971 state tourney, according to the Times article.
Carroll didn’t produce another state champ for three years, but soon established itself as one of the top counties in the state — at least one wrestler won a title every year from 1983-2017.
Nancy Owings, who has been with her husband since their high school days, described watching him wrestle as “nerve-wracking,” and recognized Francis Scott Key’s county wrestling stronghold from that era.
“When you get to the point where you keep winning and keep winning, you hate to see a loss,” she said.
A tentative settlement has been reached in a lawsuit that alleged James Franco intimidated students at an acting and film school he founded into gratuitous and exploitative sexual situations, attorneys for the plaintiffs said Saturday.
The two sides filed a joint status report in Los Angeles Superior Court telling a judge a settlement had been reached in the class-action lawsuit brought by former students at the now-defunct school, Studio 4, though elements of the lawsuit may live on.
The document was filed Feb. 11, but the settlement has not previously been reported.
Actresses and ex-students Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, who first filed the lawsuit in 2019, have agreed to drop their individual claims under the agreement, according to the court filing. Their lawsuit said Franco pushed his students into performing in increasingly explicit sex scenes on camera that went far beyond those acceptable on Hollywood film sets.
It alleged that Franco “sought to create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education,” and that students were led to believe roles in Franco’s films would be available to those who went along.
The lawsuit said the incidents occurred in a master class on sex scenes that Franco taught at Studio 4, which opened in 2014 and closed in 2017.
After-hours emails seeking comment from attorneys for the defendants were not immediately returned. The document does not reveal how much money may be involved in the deal.
Muppets disclaimer:
Disney Plus has added a content disclaimer to the beginning of 18 episodes of “The Muppet Show,” which started streaming on the platform on Friday.
“This program includes negative depictions and/ or mistreatment of people or cultures. These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now,” the disclaimer reads. “Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together.”
The disclaimer has been added to a total of 18 episodes throughout the show’s five seasons, including those guest hosted by Jim Nabors,
Joel Grey, Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Cleo Laine, James Coco, Spike Milligan, Crystal Gayle, Kenny Rogers, Beverly Sills, Jonathan Winters, Alan Arkin, James Coburn, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Debbie Harry, Wally Boag and Marty Feldman.
The label has been added to each episode for a different reason. For example, during Cash’s episode, he sings in front of a Confederate flag.
Travolta selling home: The Maine mansion that actor John Travolta shared with his late wife, actor Kelly Preston, has been put up for sale.
The 67-year-old star of “Grease” and “Saturday Night Fever” recently listed the home on Islesboro, an island off the coast of Maine, for $5 million, according to the Portland Press Herald.
The couple bought the home in 1991 as newlyweds and turned it from a “very dark and somber” house into a bright family home for their soon-to-beborn son, Jett, according to a 1999 feature in Architectural Digest. Built in 1903, the 10,830-square-foot home has 20 bedrooms and sits on a 48-acre estate along the ocean.
Preston died last year after a two-year battle with breast cancer. She was 57. Their first son, Jett, died in 2009 after suffering a seizure.
Feb. 22 birthdays:
Actor Paul Dooley is 93. Actor Julie Walters is 71. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 62. Actor-singer Lea Solanga is 50. Actor Drew Barrymore is 46. Actor Zach Roerig is 36.
MONDAY
BEARTOWN When a small-town Swedish junior ice-hockey team has a shot at winning the national semi-finals, the residents of their local community start putting all their own frustrated hopes and dreams on the shoulders of this handful of teenage boys in this five-episode drama series from Sweden. That heavy emotional burden eventually becomes the catalyst for a violent act that leaves a young girl traumatized and a town churning with complex emotions. The large cast includes Ulf Stenberg, Aliette Opheim, Tobias Zilliacus, Miriam Ingrid and Oliver Dufaker. (TVMA) 9 p.m. on HBO
ALL RISE Emily (Jessica Camacho) squares off against Sam (Audrey Corsa) in the courtroom over an emotionally charged case that ultimately will determine the fate of a mentally ill young man who attacked his father in the new episode “Safe to Fall.” Meanwhile, due to mounting financial pressures, Rachel (Ryan Michelle Bathe) crashes at Mark and Amy’s (Wilson Bethel, Lindsey Gort) place, where an old flame gets rekindled. Juan Carlos Cantu and Kearran Giovanni guest star. (TVPG) 9 p.m. on 9 CBS 13 CBS 16 CBS
THE GOOD DOCTOR Lea (Paige Spara) rises to the challenge when a vicious cyberattack hits the hospital, threatening to shut down life-saving machines in the new episode “Decrypt.” As she seeks a way to outwit the devious hackers, the medical team treats an inspirational cancer survivorturned-philanthropist who is hiding a dark secret. Bria Samoné Henderson, Brian Marc and Noah Galvin guest star; Freddie Highmore and Antonia Thomas also star. (TV14)