Griner makes appeal to Biden

Brittney Griner made an appeal to President Joe Biden in a letter passed to the White House through her representatives saying she feared she might never return home and asking that he not “forget about me and the other American Detainees.”

Griner’s agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas said the letter was delivered Monday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and WNBA star is in the midst of a trial in Russia that began last week after she was arrested Feb. 17 on charges of possessing cannabis oil while returning to play for her Russian team. The trial will resume Thursday.

More basketball

Nneka Ogwumike had 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting as the host Los Angeles Sparks edged the Phoenix Mercury, 78-75, in WNBA action

• Xavier Munford scored 24 points and the U.S. team defeated Cuba, 87-64, in Havana to close the first round of qualifying for next year’s Basketball World Cup — improving to 31-1 all time against the island nation.

Golf

Ian Poulter, Adrian Otaegui of Spain and Justin Harding of South Africa, each of whom signed up for the Saudi-funded LIV series, won a stay from a British court that allows them to play in the Scottish Open. The players challenged their suspension from the Scottish Open and two other tournaments, the penalty for playing a LIV event outside London

without a release from the European tour.

Baseball

A Hector Roa two-run double and an Alex Alvarez home run sparked a sevenrun first inning as the Washington Wild Things overcame a 4-0 deficit in the top of the inning to roll past the visiting Windy City ThunderBolts,

14-6, in Frontier League action.

Elsewhere

Hank Goldberg, a longtime South Florida radio host and TV personality, passed away Monday in his Las Vegas home on his birthday after a long battle with kidney disease. He was 82. Obituary, Page B-4.