WNBA’s Fever all kneel before anthem
Diana Taurasi scored 20 points and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Indiana Fever 89-78 on Wednesday night in a single-elimination game of the WNBA playoffs in Indianapolis.
Tamika Catchings, who played in her final game, and the entire Indiana team knelt with their arms intertwined during the national anthem. Two members of the Mercury also took a knee.
Angel McCoughtry scored 37 points and the Atlanta Dream beat the Seattle Storm 94-85 in the night’s other game. Soccer: Barcelona says Lionel Messi will be out for three weeks with a groin strain in his right leg after he left in the 58th minute of Barca’s 1-1 draw with visiting Atlético Madrid.
Sidelined since March by injury, Arjen Robben needed only seven minutes of his comeback match to find the net as Bayern Munich swept to a 3-0 win over Hertha Berlin. Hockey World Cup: Jonathan Toews had two goals and an assist and Team Canada easily beat Europe 4-1 to win Group A in its final preliminaryround game at the tour- nament in Toronto . ... Henrik Lundqvist made 45 saves and Sweden wrapped up the top seed in Group B by reaching overtime in a 4-3 loss to Team North America. College basketball: The Stanford men will be part of a 16-team field in the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland, Ore., over Thanksgiving week in 2017.
The event honors Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who received an MBA from Stanford in 1962.
Also playing will be Arkansas, Butler, Connecticut, Duke, Florida, Georgetown, Gonzaga, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Portland, Portland State and Texas.
The Cardinal will play three games over the four days, Nov. 23-26, 2017.
— Tom FitzGerald