No. 6 Stanford sweeps two in return home to Maples Pavilion
STANFORD >> Stanford completed a triumphant return to its home court in Maples Pavilion after more than two months away from campus.
Kiana Williams found her shooting stroke early on the way to 13 points making all three of her 3-point tries, leading the sixthranked Cardinal to their sixth straight win since a rare two-game skid with an 83-41 victory against Utah on Sunday.
Santa Cruz resident Haley Jones bounced back from a tough 2-of-10 shooting performance two days earlier to score 12 points on 6-for-10 from the floor and freshman Cameron Brink also added 12 points as Stanford (17-2, 14-2 Pac-12) finished 52% on field goals. It was the largest margin of victory in 28 meetings between the schools.
Lola Pendande scored 11 points for Utah (5-11, 4-11) with seven of those coming at the free throw line. The Utes, coming off a 6251 road win against California on Friday in Berkeley, dropped its fourth straight to Pac-12 power Stanford.
Holding on for a 62-54 win over Colorado on Friday night, Stanford went without a field goal over the final 8:53 of the game during which the Cardinal were0for6.TheBuffaloes outscored the Cardinal 2813 in the fourth.
Coach Tara VanDerveer stressed the importance of sustaining energy and effort for 40 minutes, taking better care of the ball and improving shooting — and the Cardinal committed only seven turnovers on a day everyone got significant playing time.
Golf
KOEPKA RALLIES TO WIN PHOENIX OPEN >> Brooks Koepka chipped in from 32
yards for eagle on the 17th hole to break a tie for the lead and then parred the last for a one-stroke victory in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Five strokes behind Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele entering the round, Koepka shot a 6-under 65 to finish at 19-under 265. The four-time major champion also won in 2015 at TPC Scottsdale for the first of his eight PGA Tour titles.
On the 334-yard 17th, Koepka hit a fairway wood 305 yards to the fairway short and left of the green, then holed out to the largest roar of the day from the crowd limited to 5,000 a day — a fraction of the usual size but the most on tour during the COVID-19 pandemic.
JOHNSON WINS SAUDI INTERNATIONAL >> Top-ranked Dustin Johnson won the Saudi International for the second time in three years after shooting a 2-under 68 in the final round to finish two strokes clear of Justin Rose and Tony Finau.
Johnson, who was also runner-up in 2020, recorded his highest scoring round of the tournament at Royal Greens Golf Club but still finished top of the leaderboard on 15-under overall.
Scotland’s Calum Hill eagled the par-five 18th to finishinatieforfourthwith France’s Victor Perez. FORMER DIES won Olympic >> Leon CHAMPION gold Spinks, and SPINKS then who shocked the boxing world by beating Muhammad Ali to win the heavyweight title in only his eighth pro fight, has died. He was 67.
Spinks, who lived his later years in Las Vegas, died Friday night, accordingtoareleasefromapublic relations firm. He had been battling prostate and other cancers.
His wife, Brenda Glur Spinks, and a few close friends and other family members were by his side when he passed away.
A lovable heavyweight with a drinking problem, Spinks beat Ali by decision in a 15-round fight in 1978 to win the title. He wasunrankedatthetime, and picked as an opponent because Ali was looking for an easy fight.
Boxing Tennis
CROWDS RETURN TO AUSTRALIAN OPEN >> Novak Djokovic was about to re
spond to a question about Australian Open crowds when he paused, thought for a moment, and then asked an official if fans were still allowed into Melbourne Park for the year’s first major.
That was still the plan on the eve of the tournament: up to 30,000 daily — about 50% of capacity.
But it’s been such a crazy 12 months since Djokovic won his eighth Australian Open title, right up to this week’s 24-hour shut down of matches during the tuneup tournaments because of a coronavirus scare, that it was only prudenttocheck. “Is crowd still allowed? I don’t know, things are changing day-to-day,” he said, asking the moderator at his news conference Sunday.
There was no certainty until last month that the Australian Open would even be staged. There was no certainty until recent weeks of how many fans would be allowed in. All those decisions rest with the state government and health officials, and can change quickly.
NBA KNICKS ACQUIRE ROSE >> Derrick Rose is reuniting with Tom Thibodeau after a trade that brings him back to New York.
The Knicks agreed to acquire the former NBA MVP from the Detroit Pistons, a person with knowledge of the details said. The Knicks will send Dennis Smith Jr. and a second-round pick to the Pistons, the person told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the trade was not yet official.
Once it is, it reunites Rose with Thibodeau, his coach in Chicago when the guard became the youngest MVP in NBA history at 22 in 2011.