Washington State keeps rolling to upset No. 19 UCLA for Pac-12 title
>> Charlisse Leger-Walker scored 23 points and Bella Murekatete added 21 to help Washington State earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament by beating No. 19 UCLA 6561 in the Pac-12 Championship on Sunday.
It was the first-ever tournament championship for the Washington State women's basketball program.
Up by three with just nine seconds left, Washington State's Astera Tuhina got a piece of UCLA guard Charisma Osborne's 3-point attempt to tie the game. With the arrow pointing their way, the Cougars took possession after a held ball on the rebound, and Tara Wallack hit one of two free throws with 5.1 seconds left to give Washington State a fourpoint lead to ultimately seal the victory.
Tuhina had six assists and Wallack added eight rebounds for the Cougars (23-10).
Osborne led the Bruins (25-9) with 19 points. Kiki Rice chipped in with 13 points, while Emily Bessoir added 11 for UCLA.
College basketball
SUSPENDS
TEXAS TECH
COACH >> Texas Tech suspended coach Mark Adams over “an inappropriate, unacceptable, and racially insensitive comment” he made to a player.
Athletic director Kirby Hocutt said he was made aware of the incident Friday and issued a written reprimand before deciding to suspend Adams to investigate further.
The incident occurred in a meeting between Adams and a player, who wasn't identified, the school said in a news release.
“Adams was encouraging the student-athlete to be more receptive to coaching and referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters,” the statement said. “Adams immediately addressed this with the team and apologized.”
Motor sports
ERICSSON WINS IN INDYCAR >> Jack Harvey was taken to a hospital for observation and Helio Castroneves needed an ice pack and X-rays. A pair of cars went airborne, the leaders crashed each other and the entire Andretti Autosport fleet was eliminated.
Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, meanwhile, won the IndyCar season-opening race.
Ericsson outlasted the carnage on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg for a surprise victory for Chip Ganassi Racing on a swampy day in Florida. It was the fourth career IndyCar victory for the Swedish former Formula One driver. BYRON TAKES NASCAR WIN >> William Byron took the lead on the second-to-last lap of overtime to win the NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas and put an exclamation mark on a dominant day for Hendrick Motorsports.
The top three drivers were from Hendrick, with Byron beating teammates Kyle Larson and Alex Bowman. Bowman won last year's March race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Byron led 176 laps and won for the fifth time in his six Cup seasons.
VERSTAPPEN WINS FORMULA ONE OPENER >>
New season, another victory. Max Verstappen won the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position, leading almost the entire race as he opened the defense of his back-to-back Formula One titles.
Red Bull also clinched a dominant 1-2 with Sergio Perez finishing second while 41-year-old Fernando Alonso took a brilliant third place — and claimed a 99th career podium — on a stunning race debut for Aston Martin.
It was Verstappen's 36th career win but the Dutchman's first at the flood-lit Sakhir circuit, where he retired just laps from the end in last year's opening race.
Soccer
LIVERPOOL BLASTS MAN UNITED >>
For Liverpool, it was the wildest of dreams.
For Manchester United, the worst nightmare in what has been such a promising first season in charge for manager Erik ten Hag.
Liverpool's 7-0 rout of United in the Premier League has the potential to have a lasting impact.
It was United's worst competitive defeat in more than 90 years, having lost by the same scoreline on three previous occasions — the last time coming in 1931 against Wolverhampton.
The result also eclipsed Liverpool's previous best victory against arguably its fiercest rival, which was a 7-1 win in 1895.
Golf
KITAYAMA BREAKS THROUGH >>
Kurt Kitayama let an All-Star cast of contenders back into the tournament with a triple bogey, only to beat them all with a clutch birdie and the best lag putt of his life to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
With five players tied for the lead with only three holes left, Kitayama pulled ahead with a birdie putt from just inside 15 feet on the par-3 17th hole for the lead. Then, his 50-foot putt on the last hole stopped an inch from the cup.
The tap-in par for an even-par 72 might have been the easiest shot he had all day.
KO WINS IN SINGAPORE >> Defending champion Jin Young Ko of South Korea closed with a 3-under 69 to win the LPGA's Women's World Championship by two shots.
Overnight leader Ko had a 72-hole total of 17-under 271 to finish two clear of American Nelly Korda with a group of three players tied for third place at 14-under.
ROOKIE WINS IN PUERTO RICO >> Colombian rookie Nico Echavarria seized control with two straight birdies on the back nine and closed with a 4-under 68 for a two-shot victory in the Puerto Rico Open for his first PGA Tour title.
Echavarria was soaked on a sunny day at Grand Reserve, with friends and family dousing him with champagne after he tapped in for par.
MLB
CLEVINGER WON'T FACE DISCIPLINE >> Major League Baseball said it will not discipline Chicago White Sox right-hander Mike Clevinger after completing its investigation of domestic abuse allegations.
In a statement, the commissioner's office said its investigation included interviews of more than 15 people, including Clevinger and a woman who said she is the mother of Clevinger's child, as well as thousands of electronic communications and other documents.
Clevinger has voluntarily agreed to submit to evaluations by the joint treatment boards under the CBA and to follow any recommendations, according to the statement.
Skiing
ODERMATT WINS SUPER-G >> Marco Odermatt of Switzerland wrapped up another World Cup super-G title by winning the race in Aspen with a smooth run through a challenging course.
Odermatt has been dominant all season in the super-G, taking five of the seven World Cup races. He also finished on the podium in the two other races.
SHIFFRIN'S QUEST GOES ON >>
Mikaela Shiffrin's quest to tie Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark's record of 86 career World Cup victories now moves to his home country.
Her next race is a giant slalom in Are on Friday, as she seeks one victory to match Stenmark's total on the all-time overall winners list — between men and women. The Swede competed in the 1970s and 80s.
Shiffrin ended a threerace weekend by finishing seventh at a super-G. She was fourth in a super-G Friday and fifth in a downhill the next day for her fifth World Cup overall title.