The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
51°F
Current Conditions
Few clouds
View complete weather report
Subscribe now

In brief: Allie Quigley, Chicago Sky advance to WNBA Finals

Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings, left, and Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot get tied up as they go for a loose ball. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports
Indiana Fever forward Tamika Catchings, left, and Chicago Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot get tied up as they go for a loose ball. (Associated Press)

BASKETBALL: Allie Quigley scored 24 points and the visiting Chicago Sky advanced to the WNBA Finals with a 75-62 win over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night, ending the career of Hall of Fame coach Lin Dunn.

Quigley had 10 of her points in a key second quarter stretch that gave Chicago the lead for good. Sylvia Fowles added 17 points in the decisive Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals.

The Sky will face the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA Finals which begin Sunday.

Chicago led 61-51 with 3:52 left in the fourth before Quigley hit her fourth 3-pointer to seal the win.

• U.S. beats Dominicans: Kenneth Faried kept up his sharp shooting with 16 points and the U.S. national team rolled to a 4-0 start with a 106-71 victory over the Dominican Republic in Bilbao, Spain.

The Americans led by only three points after one quarter but had no trouble extending that as the game went on, as the Dominicans’ willingness to push the pace simply played into the Americans’ hands.

The Americans will finish Group C play today against Ukraine before playing their round-of-16 game Saturday night against the fourth-place team from Group D.

• Tinkle commits to father’s program: Missoula Hellgate senior Tres Tinkle has made a verbal commitment to play basketball at Oregon State, where his father was named head coach in May.

The 6-foot-7 forward averaged 21.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.8 steals as a junior, when Hellgate finished second at the state Class AA tournament. He led Hellgate to the state championship as a sophomore and recently decided to finish his high school career at Hellgate.

NFL concussions declined in 2013

FOOTBALL: The NFL says concussions decreased by 13 percent overall during the 2013 season from the previous year, and the number of concussions coming from helmet-to-helmet contact was down 23 percent.

Those are the findings of the NFL’s Health and Safety committee. Those numbers are notable considering concussions were a particular focus for the league during the 2013 season, which included independent neurologists on the sidelines and unaffiliated athletic trainers watching for injuries from the press box.

• Seau family opts out: The family of Junior Seau has opted out of the proposed NFL settlement with former players over concussion-related injuries.

The family will continue its wrongful death lawsuit against the league. Seau committed suicide in 2012.

The NFL in June agreed to remove a $675 million cap on damages from thousands of concussion-related claims.

• UCLA RB out for season: UCLA running back Steven Manfro will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, a school spokesman said.

Manfro was taken off the practice field on a cart after injuring his knee Tuesday. The junior is part of the No. 11 Bruins’ three-man rotation at the position with Paul Perkins and Jordon James, and he was often featured as a receiver out of the backfield.

Aru wins 11th stage of Spanish Vuelta

MISCELLANY: Fabio Aru of Italy won the 11th stage of cycling’s Spanish Vuelta while Alberto Contador hung on to the overall lead.

Aru, a 24-year-old Astana Pro rider, climbed to the finish line at the summit of the Santuario de San Miguel de Aralar peak after a 153-kilometer (95-mile) ride from Pamplona in 3 hours, 41 minutes, 3 seconds.Alejandro Valverde of Spain crossed the finish 6 seconds behind Aru, followed by fellow Spaniard Joaquin Rodriguez on the same time.

Contador leads Valverde by 20 seconds overall.

Movistar says Nairo Quintana has pulled out of the Spanish Vuelta and has been taken to a hospital after crashing in the 11th stage.

Movistar says on its Twitter account that Quintana “feels pain in his right shoulder, has been moved by ambulance to a medical center.”

The Giro d’Italia winner also crashed in Tuesday’s individual time trial after hitting a guard rail and flipping over before slamming onto the road.

• Comcast to sponsor NASCAR’s second-tier series: Comcast Corp. has signed a 10-year agreement with NASCAR to replace Nationwide Insurance as the title sponsor of the second-tier series.

The series will be known as the NASCAR Xfinity Series through 2024. The deal that matches the longest single agreement around title sponsorship of any NASCAR national series in its history.Anheuser-Busch spent 26 years as title sponsor and Nationwide has been sponsor the last 11.