Sports Digest: Sun routs Sky 104-80 to force Game 5 in WNBA semifinals

BASKETBALL

DeWanna Bonner and Courtney Williams each scored 19 points to help the Connecticut Sun route the Chicago Sky 104-80 on Tuesday night and force a deciding Game 5 in their WNBA Semifinals series.

Alyssa Thomas added 17 points for Connecticut, who travel to second-seeded Sky for the win-win game Thursday night.

It’s the second consecutive playoff series for each team that has gone the distance. Chicago and Connecticut had to go on the road in Game 3 of their first-round series and win to reach the semifinals due to the new playoff format which saw the higher-seeded team host the first two games. of this set to the best of three. .

The Sun took a 22-6 lead, scoring 10 of the first 12 points. Thomas was a big reason with seven points, four rebounds and two assists in the first five minutes.

AMERICUP TOURNAMENT: Halftime lasted two days, which was about the only tough game for the United States in their final group match at the AmeriCup tournament on Tuesday in Recife, Brazil.

Everything else seemed easy.

Craig Sword scored 19 points, Anthony Lamb added 15 and the United States advanced to the AmeriCup quarterfinals by beating Venezuela 101-49 in a match that started on Sunday but was called off due of leaks caused by rain, then resumed 48 hours later – with the two teams playing a separate game in between.

The American lead was 48-21 when play was stopped on Sunday; the Americans then beat Panama on Monday and Venezuela beat Mexico. And on Tuesday, to clinch a three-team tiebreaker atop Group C with Mexico and Venezuela, all the United States needed was to complete a victory by seven points.

The Americans won by 52 instead.

For the United States, the 52-point margin was the largest in an AmeriCup game since a 123-59 win over the Virgin Islands in 2007. That team included NBA players – Kobe Bryant, LeBron James , Carmelo Anthony and Jason Kidd among them – preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

This AmeriCup team is made up mostly of G Leaguers and players who have played or will continue to play internationally this coming season.

TENNIS

WTA FINALS DISPLACED: The Women’s Professional Tennis Tour will hold its season-ending 2022 WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, moving the event outside of China for the second consecutive year.

The Florida-based WTA announced on Tuesday that Dickies Arena will be the tournament site from October 31 to November 7 for the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams in the standings. The 2021 WTA Finals were originally scheduled to be held in Shenzhen, China, but were moved to Guadalajara, Mexico amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Then, late last year, the tour said it would have no tournaments in China in 2022 – and possibly beyond – due to concerns over the safety of champion Peng Shuai. of the double Grand Slam who accused a former government official of this country of sexual assault. As part of Tuesday’s announcement, the WTA called Fort Worth’s plans a “one-year deal” and said the year-end event “must then return to Shenzhen.”

DOPING: Ecuadorian Juan-Carlos Osorio Hernández has been provisionally suspended for failing doping control during a competition, the International Tennis Integrity Agency announced on Tuesday.

Osorio Hernández, 39, tested positive for the anabolic steroid methasterone while competing in a tournament in his home country in June, the ITIA said.

Unranked Osorio Hernández is suspended from playing or attending events while the case is pursued.

SOCCER

AMERICAN WOMEN: Rose Lavelle scored the go-ahead goal and the United States Women’s National Team won its 13th consecutive match with a 2-1 win over Nigeria in Washington.

The United States also capitalized on an own goal to extend the team’s unbeaten streak on American soil to 71 games.

Both teams are preparing for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: United States international Gio Reyna scored twice and Borussia Dortmund opened their Champions League campaign with a convincing 3-0 win over Copenhagen in Dortmund, Germany.

After Copenhagen’s Carlos Zeca hit the post in the first minute, Dortmund captain Marco Reus and Raphael Guerreiro scored in quick succession towards the end of the first half. England teenager Jude Bellingham added another late in the second half.

Reus completed a counterattack for his 22nd goal in 57 Champions League appearances and then Guerreiro completed a swap deal with Reyna seven minutes later. Bellingham, 19, found the target after a series of quick passes, with the final cross coming from Reyna.

• Mislav Orsic raced in from the halfway line and produced a fine 13th-minute finish to lead Dinamo Zagreb to a surprising 1-0 victory over Chelsea.

• Eden Hazard scored once and set up two more after replacing the injured Karim Benzema as Madrid began to defend their Champions League title with a comfortable 3-0 victory at Celtic.

• Benfica beat Maccabi Haifa 2-0, making a good start in their quest to repeat their good run of a season ago.

Rafa Silva scored with a volley in the 49th minute and Alejandro Grimaldo with a long rage shot right into the top corner in the 54th to give the hosts the first win.

• Kylian Mbappe scored two superb goals as Paris Saint-Germain started their Champions League campaign with a dominant display in a 2-1 victory against Juventus.

• Erling Haaland scored his 12th goal in seven competitive games in his season for Manchester City after scoring twice in a 4-0 win against Sevilla.

NORWAY: The Norwegian Football Association this month expelled midfielder Mathias Normann from the national team as he joins a new club in Russia.

Norwegian sports have taken a tough stance on Russian issues since invading Ukraine in February, including refusing to accept skiers from the country in races last season.

Normann has returned to Russia with his former club Rostov after playing in the English Premier League at Norwich last season, and is reportedly close to joining Dynamo Moscow.

Norwegian FA president Lise Klaveness said on Monday that she and coach Ståle Solbakken had agreed Normann could not be selected due to his decision to join a new club in Russia.

Normann, 26, has played 12 games for Norway since making his debut in 2019.

MLS: Paulo Nagamura was fired as Houston Dynamo coach and Dynamo 2 coach Kenny Bundy was promoted to interim senior team coach for the remainder of the season.

Dynamo has eight wins, 16 losses and five draws, last in the Western Conference at 14 teams with 29 points. Of the 28 teams in the league, only DC United have fewer points with 26.

• Atlanta United’s Miles Robinson was arrested at a suburban bar on Saturday for theft.

Robinson, 25, was arrested at The Battery Atlanta — the development surrounding the Atlanta Braves baseball stadium — by Cobb County police, according to a Cobb County Jail booking file.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Robinson is accused of taking a drink from a waitress and refusing to pay for it. A Cobb County Police Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email and phone call requesting a copy of the arrest report.

Robinson was released Saturday on $150 bail, records show. It is not known if he has an attorney to speak on his behalf.

BIKE

SPANISH VUELTA: Primoz Roglic crashed out with the finish line in sight in Spain’s Vuelta on Tuesday but still made up ground on Remco Evenepoel after the overall leader suffered a puncture a few kilometers from the end.

Neither of the two drivers wasted any time because of their misadventure since they benefited from a protection zone of 1.8 miles at the end of the stage.

Roglic was bleeding from his right shoulder, arm and leg as he crossed the line on Stage 16. The three-time defending champion was aiming for victory but crashed with 75 yards to go while trying to catch the lead group of four riders.

Mads Pedersen won the stage for his second victory with the Trek-Segafredo team in this year’s Vuelta. He won over Pascal Ackermann and Danny van Poppel.

Roglic, seeking an unprecedented fourth straight Vuelta title with the Jumbo-Visma team, saw his preparation for the final Grand Tour race of the season hampered by a crash at the Tour de France.

The Slovenian would have been at least fifth in the stage. He finished 35th but was granted the lead group time. Evenepoel wasted no time with his puncture in the final kilometers either, losing just eight seconds to Roglic, who is now 1 minute and 26 seconds behind to enter the decisive final stages. Enric Mas is more than two minutes behind Evenepoel in third place.

BOXING

HEAVYWEIGHT : World heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has parked a potential unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk and turned to fellow British heavyweight Anthony Joshua.

In a video posted to social media, Fury – the WBC champion – said he was ready to offer Joshua 40% of the purse for a title fight before the end of the year.

The unbeaten Fury appears to have reversed his decision to retire after beating fellow British fighter Dillian Whyte in front of an estimated 90,000 crowd at Wembley Stadium in April.

Fury’s hopes of landing a fight with Usyk, who retained the WBA, WBO and IBF belts by beating Joshua in Saudi Arabia last month, were dashed when the Ukrainian said he had no plans to fight again this year.

GOLF

PRESIDENTS CUP: Trevor Immelman has used five of his six captain’s picks on Presidents Cup rookies to round out an international squad decimated by defections at Saudi-funded LIV Golf.

British Open champion Cameron Smith and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann signed with the rival league after qualifying ended. They played their first LIV Golf event last week, making them ineligible for the Presidents Cup.

The only choice of captain with experience is Si Woo Kim from South Korea. He played on the 2017 team at Liberty National that was beaten so badly the match was almost decided before the singles.

The only top 50 pick in the world is KH Lee from South Korea – only one other was available, Ryan Fox from New Zealand, who plays on the European tour and was overlooked by Immelman.

The other picks were Cameron Davis from Australia, Sebastian Munoz from Colombia, Taylor Pendrith from Canada and Christiaan Bezuidenhout from South Africa.

The six qualifiers were Hideki Matsuyama from Japan, Adam Scott from Australia, Sungjae Im and Tom Kim from South Korea, Corey Conners from Canada and Mito Pereira from Chile.

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