PAC-12 ANSWERS COULD BE AVAILABLE IN NEXT MONTH

The leadership at Washington State and Oregon State believe they will have information within the next 30 days that they need to evaluate whether it makes sense to rebuild under the Pac-12 brand while also proceeding with a legal case to take control of the future direction of the conference.

“I don’t think it’s going to take us months to get the full picture,” Washington State President Kirk Schulz said Thursday. “I’m optimistic that in the next 30 days or so we’re going to have a pretty decent idea of a lot of this and that’ll help our decisionmaking and our legal strategy.”

The presidents and athletic directors of both schools held a joint news conference two days before No. 14 Oregon State and No. 21 Washington State meet on the football field in a Top 25 showdown.

While they’ll be competitors Saturday, the two schools are unified in how they’re moving forward after they were left out in the most recent round of conference realignment.

Washington State AD Pat Chun said the Cougars’ band will perform the Oregon State fight song before kickoff on Saturday.

Except for a few hours this weekend, they are partners in solving the puzzle of what comes next.

“Just to be clear that the partnership has been super strong, but it’s on pause come kickoff,” Oregon State AD Scott Barnes said.

Golf

South Korean Tom Kim handled difficult weather conditions to card a 7-under 64 and take a one-shot firstround lead at the French Open. Englishman Matthew Southgate bogeyed the final hole to post a 65 along with countryman Richard Mansell, Spaniard Alfredo Garcia-Heredia and Swede Joakim Lagergren, although Lagergren did not have time to play the 18th hole.

• The PGA Tour is returning to Maui to start the new season with the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, five months after deadly wildfires destroyed nearby Lahaina and claimed at least 97 lives.

Locally

San Diego Loyal SC finished a grueling road stretch in dramatic fashion late Wednesday night with a 3-2 come-from-behind win against Monterey Bay F.C. The victory was catapulted by two goals in the dying moments of the match from San Diego native and Loyal Select product Xavi Gnaulati.

• UC San Diego women’s soccer (1-5-3) wrapped up non-conference play with a 4-0 setback at Pepperdine (3-2-5).

Soccer

Two-time Women’s World Cup winner Julie Ertz played her final match for the United States, an emotional 3-0 victory over South Africa in an exhibition on Thursday night at Cincinnati. Ertz announced last month that she was retiring after a 10-year career. She started against South Africa, wearing the captain’s armband for her 123th appearance for the United States. Lynn Williams

scored twice as the U.S. did all its scoring in the first half. Ertz subbed out in the 35th minute to a standing ovation from the crowd at TQL Stadium, shorty after Trinity Rodman’s goal that made it 2-0.

• Liverpool marked its return to the Europa League with another come-from-behind 3-1 victory, this time over Austrian club LASK in Linz. Luis Díaz had a clinical finish into the roof of the net in the 63rd minute to put the visitors ahead after receiving a low cross from midfielder Ryan Gravenberch,

who was given his first start for the Reds since his summer transfer from Bayern Munich.

• One month after Spanish soccer was rocked by a sexism scandal, players from Spain’s Women’s World Cupwinning team said a turning point has been reached in their fight for equality. Spain star Alexia Putellas said that the deal reached after a marathon meeting this week it would lead to real reform inside their beleaguered national soccer federation.

Tennis

Returning to China for the first time in four years,

Andy Murray won his firstround match at the Zhuhai Championships, beating local wild card Mo Ye Cong 7-5, 6-3. The 36-year-old Murray next plays 63rd-ranked

Aslan Karatsev, who defeated Matteo Arnaldi 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-2.

• At the Chengdu Open, American Marcos Giron defeated fifth-seeded Alexander Bublik 7-6 (6), 6-3, and Australian Jordan Thompson

beat sixth-seeded compatriot Max Purcell 6-2, 7-6 (8). Giron, ranked No. 64, will next play Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who beat Tu Li 7-6 (5), 7-6 (6).

Also

The sale of the Ottawa Senators is finally official. The NHL announced that the transfer of the club to a group led by Michael Andlauer has been unanimously approved by the league’s board of governors, and that the transaction has been completed.

• Satou Sabally of the Dallas Wings was named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player after averaging career bests with 18.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.

• Georgetown women’s basketball coach Tasha Butts is taking time away from the team to focus on her health in her ongoing battle against breast cancer, the school announced.