Digest: Hurrican Mathew still looming
NCAA: Fear of the damage that powerful Hurricane Matthew may cause prompted two college football postponements Thursday, and had the NFL plotting just-in-case scenarios for games scheduled in Tampa and Miami this weekend.
A pair of college games set to be played Saturday – LSU at No. 18 Florida, as well as Charlotte at Florida Atlantic – were postponed. The Tigers-Gators game that was scheduled for Gainesville is off indefinitely, and the Charlotte-FAU game scheduled for Boca Raton is now tentatively planned to be played Sunday.
Saturday night’s game that has No. 23 Florida State visiting No. 10 Miami remains on as scheduled, though officials remain somewhat cautious. The fate of Saturday’s Georgia at South Carolina football game also remained unclear, because Matthew is expected to head that way this weekend.
A major issue with games in Florida this weekend isn’t the weather forecast for Saturday and Sunday, because those days look to be generally fine around the state. It’s whether police, first responders and other key personnel needed at football games that draw massive crowds will be deployed to assist in areas that will take the brunt of Matthew’s wrath.
“This is a potentially catastrophic event for the state,” Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said, “and public resources need to be employed where they’re most needed.”
Matthew has prompted three FBS postponements this weekend, all in Florida. The Tulane at Central Florida game, scheduled for Friday, will be played next month. Also in Virginia, Massachusetts’ game at Old Dominion has been moved up a day to Friday night.
Women’s hoops tourneys moved because of Zika: Two women’s college basketball tournaments in Puerto Rico have been moved because of concerns about the Zika outbreak.
The San Juan Shootout held during Thanksgiving weekend will be played in Daytona, Florida. The Puerto Rico Classic will move to Las Vegas on Dec. 19-21.
The San Juan Shootout participants are Penn State, Georgetown, American, Clemson, Georgia State, Loyola Chicago, Troy, VCU, Villanova and Wright State. The Las Vegas field includes Cal, Oklahoma, Xavier, Arkansas State, Kennesaw State, Northern Kentucky, Portland State and Southern Mississippi.
Yokomine leads LPGA Taiwan Championship
golf: Sakura Yokomine bogeyed the final hole for a 5-under 67 and a one-stroke lead over Brooke Henderson, Paula Creamer and Amy Yang at the LPGA Taiwan Championship in Taipei, Taiwan.
Yokomine eagled the par-5 12th – hitting a 5-wood to 15 feet – and had three back-nine birdies at windy Miramar before dropping the stroke on the par-5 18th. The 30-year-old Japanese player is winless in two seasons on the LPGA Tour after winning 23 times on the Japan LPGA Tour.
“My shots were good,” Yokomine said. “It was a strong, strong wind today. Each shot I had to concentrate.”
Henderson birdied three of the final four holes, playing in the last group of the day.
Kerber loses to Svitolina in China
Tennis: Elina Svitolina beat a No. 1-ranked player for the second time this season, ousting U.S. Open champion Angelique Kerber from the China Open 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals in Beijing.
The 16th-seeded Svitolina defeated top-ranked player Serena Williams at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August, and now has beaten the player who replaced her at No. 1.
Kerber, who had strapping on her upper right leg, was on a run of 22 wins from 26 matches on the tour. The German player had a break to lead in both sets but Svitolina produced four breaks of serve to keep control and set up a quarterfinal match against Daria Gavrilova, who beat Caroline Garcia 6-4, 6-3.
“I was trying to think about my next step, what I should try to do,” said Svitolina, who held her composure as Kerber saved match points in the last game.
Harvick wins pole for opening race
nascar: Kevin Harvick won the pole for the opening race of the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs in Concord, North Carolina.
Harvick turned a lap at 196.029 mph to earn the top starting spot Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He edged Alex Bowman, the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Chase Elliott qualified third and was followed by Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and AJ Allmendinger.
Martin Truex Jr., winner of two of the first three Chase races, qualified seventh.
He was followed by Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson as Chase drivers took eight of the top 11 spots in Thursday night qualifying.
Woman weeps in Rose testimony
miscellany: The ex-girlfriend accusing NBA star Derrick Rose and his friends of rape battled her emotions in Los Angeles as she tried to piece together a night she remembers only in “flashes.”
Her vague recall and testimony that contradicted what she told lawyers during her deposition left her vulnerable to combative cross-examination by Rose’s lawyer as the Knicks player looked on with little reaction.
In a soft voice that at times couldn’t be heard by lawyers or jurors, the woman behind the $21.5 million lawsuit said she was intoxicated and felt like she had been drugged after a visit to Rose’s mansion in Beverly Hills in August 2013.
“I’ve never felt like that before,” the 30-year-old said. “I just felt I was less in control, more goofy.”
As she began to connect a night of drinking at Rose’s place on Aug. 26, 2013, with the disputed incident early the next morning at her apartment, she took a long pause in her testimony and wept quietly, hiding her face behind a computer screen at the witness stand.
Lab director to AP: Anti-doping discord harms clean sports: One of the world’s leading anti-doping scientists cringes at finger-pointing toward the World Anti-Doping Agency by leaders in international sports and tells The Associated Press that with so much conflict, “the only people who can be happy these days are the dopers and the cheaters.”
Christiane Ayotte, the director of the WADA-accredited anti-doping laboratory in Montreal, said in an interview with AP this week that she is wary of the anti-doping summit the International Olympic Committee is holding Saturday – a meeting at which the future of the drug-fighting movement will be discussed.