January leaves game with knee injury
WNBA: Indiana’s excitement over 91-86 win over the Phoenix Mercury in a WNBA game on Tuesday night at Indianapolis was tempered because the Fever’s starting point guard, Briann January, went down clutching her right knee early in the fourth quarter.
“We won’t know anything until tomorrow when she has an MRI,” Fever coach Lin Dunn said of January, a graduate of Lewis and Clark High School. “We’re hoping for the best.”
Katie Douglas led the Fever (7-3) with 26 points with six 3-pointers and Tamika Catchings added 14 points, seven assists, four steals and three blocks for Indiana, which won its fourth straight.
But the difference-maker was 6-foot-5 center Jessica Davenport, who made 10 of 11 field goals and didn’t miss until 26.9 seconds remained. She made two key baskets in the final 2:09, including a three-point play. She finished with a career-high 25 points.
“It was a great team win,” Indiana forward Tamika Catchings said. “Down the stretch, one man down, we have players coming off the bench who played well.”
Now, Indiana is left to wait and see what happens with January.
“It’ll be point guard by committee, but I don’t really want to talk about that until I know that for sure,” Dunn said. “Right now, Briann January is our point guard, and she will continue to be our point guard until we know more information.”
Talks to continue as deadline looms
NBA: Representatives for NBA players and owners will meet Thursday, hours before the collective bargaining agreement expires, and Commissioner David Stern says that’s still enough time for a deal.
Owners did not vote to authorize a lockout during their meeting Tuesday, but have given the labor relations committee the go-ahead to do whatever is necessary.
If a deal is not reached, owners could lock out the players when the CBA expires at the end of the day, though both sides have said negotiating could extend past the deadline if progress is being made.
“Nothing in this world is absolute,” Stern said.
Yet Stern wouldn’t discuss the possibility of an extension.
Flight could signal breakthrough
NFL: The day began with the NFL commissioner and the union’s head starting another round of talks, this one set to run through Friday, aimed at ending a lockout that is now in its fourth month.
By sundown Tuesday, Roger Goodell and DeMaurice Smith were on a plane to Florida where they planned to speak to rookies today before heading back to Minneapolis to continue negotiations.
A signal that an end to the labor strife was in sight?
That was still to be determined, but with the traditional start of training camps just three weeks away, every move has taken on a heightened sense of importance.
Spokesmen for the league and the players’ association confirmed that the two power brokers were on the same plane from Minnesota to address the NFLPA’s rookie symposium this morning.
Fiesta Bowl asks for reimbursement
College football: The Fiesta Bowl is asking 31 Arizona politicians who received free trips or game tickets to repay more than $160,000.
The action comes more than a month after the bowl sent similar letters to more than two dozen politicians seeking the repayment of nearly $50,000 in campaign contributions they received.
Bowl employees and their families made the contributions between 2000 and 2009, and were then reimbursed by the bowl.
The charitable group says it must try to recover the money to maintain its tax-exempt status.
Williams reaches Publinx match play
Golf: Chris Williams of Moscow, Idaho, who will be a junior at the University of Washington in the fall, advanced to match play at the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship after finishing tied for sixth in the stroke play portion of the tournament on the par-71 Old Macdonald Course at Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon.
Williams carded two rounds of 72 to finish stroke play at 3-over 144. Corbin Mills of South Carolina leads at 138.
On the Bandon Trails course, Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, shot a 2-under 69 to finish first in stroke-play qualifying at the Women’s U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.
• Campbell misses out on qualifying: Former U.S. Open champion missed an opportunity to qualify for the British Open. Campbell failed to finish in the top three at Prince’s in Sandwich, England, – one of four courses hosting qualifying for the year’s third major – after finishing at 4-under 140 over two rounds.