Lynx lead 2-0 as Augustus fuels victory
WNBA: Seimone Augustus scored 20 points and Lindsay Whalen had 14 points and five assists to push the Minnesota Lynx to the brink of their second title in three seasons with an 88-63 victory over the Atlanta Dream in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals on Tuesday night at Minneapolis.
Rebekkah Brunson had 12 points and 10 rebounds and Maya Moore chipped in 14 points and eight boards for the Lynx, who lead the best-of-five series 2-0.
Angel McCoughtry scored 15 points for the Dream, but she made just 5 of 18 shots and was in foul trouble for most of the night.
Game 3 is on Thursday night in Georgia.
The series is taking on a similar tone to the first time these two met in the finals two years ago, when the Lynx swept the Dream for the franchise’s first title. Minnesota was upset by Indiana in the finals last year, and entered this series determined to show last year’s disappointment was a fluke.
Moore had an emphatic swat of McCoughtry on a drive midway through the first quarter, and Moore glared at Atlanta’s combustible star, who is 11 for 42 from the field in the first two games.
New Flyers coach has winning debut
NHL: Brayden Schenn and Braydon Coburn scored goals to make Philadelphia’s Craig Berube a winner in his coaching debut, leading the host Flyers past the Florida Panthers 2-1.
Berube was on the bench a day after Peter Laviolette was fired after a 0-3 start. Laviolette dealt with rumors of his firing last season, a year in which the Flyers missed the playoffs after the lockout-shortened season.
With Berube calling the shots, the Flyers scored their season high for goals. So, there’s still work ahead.
• Johnson scores in Lightning win: Alex Killorn scored 2:50 into overtime to lift the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning to a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over the winless Buffalo Sabres.
Teddy Purcell, with the tying goal 5:43 into the third period, and former Spokane Chief and Central Valley High School grad Tyler Johnson also scored for the Lightning (2-1), who have two wins after regulation.
• Canucks win in overtime: Jason Garrison scored at 2:18 of overtime and the Vancouver Canucks defeated the visiting New Jersey Devils 3-2.
Garrison’s shot from the point through traffic beat Cory Schneider in the goaltender’s first game against his former team.
Orozco replaces injured Gonzalez
Soccer: With defender Omar Gonzalez sidelined by a strained left hip, Michael Orozco has been added to the U.S. roster for the Americans’ final two World Cup qualifiers.
Gonzalez, Major League Soccer’s top defender in 2011, was forced out of the Los Angeles Galaxy’s game Sunday at halftime because of the injury. Orozco joined the team in Kansas City, Kan., where they play Jamaica on Friday night.
• U.S. women will face Brazil: The U.S. women’s soccer team will finish the year with a game against archrival Brazil.
The top-ranked Americans will play Brazil on Nov. 10 in Orlando, Fla. It’s the first time the teams have met in the United States since July 2008, when the Americans won 1-0 in a tuneup game for the Beijing Olympics.
The U.S. is 24-2-3 against Brazil.
• Ghana Federation says Cairo too dangerous: Ghana wants a neutral venue for next month’s crucial World Cup playoff against Egypt, saying it’s too dangerous to play in Cairo.
The Ghana Football Federation says in a letter to FIFA that the venue should be changed because of the “alarming and fast deteriorating security situation in Egypt.”
Stanford, BYU agree to four-game series
College football: Stanford and BYU have agreed to play a four-game series beginning in 2020.
Stanford will host the first two games of the series in 2020 and 2022. BYU will host the next two in 2023 and 2025.
• Clowney says he’s committed: Injured South Carolina All-American Jadeveon Clowney says he’s fully committed to the 14th-ranked Gamecocks and does not spend time considering his pro prospects
Clowney has a strained muscle near his rib cage and said he’s receiving treatment several times a day in hopes of getting back on the field as soon as possible, maybe playing against Arkansas on Saturday.
The defensive end says miscommunication led to coach Steve Spurrier’s anger after he pulled himself out of the Kentucky game, saying he was in too much pain.
• Aggies lose defensive tackle: No. 9 Texas A&M has lost senior defensive tackle Kirby Ennis for the season to a knee injury.