Huskies Stay On Top

Tennessee stole another first-place vote from No. 1 Connecticut, but otherwise stability ruled among the top positions Monday in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll.

The first seven were unchanged from last week and only one new team got in at the bottom, where No. 25 Oklahoma returned after falling out for one week.

No. 2 Tennessee (25-1) got two firstplace votes this time from a nationwide media panel - one more than last week. Connecticut still had a big edge in points, 798 to 770.

Washington had the biggest drop going from 10th to 14th after a 74-70 loss to No. 21 Oregon State.

Davy Fortson, 19, a star guard on the Santa Monica College basketball team, was shot to death during an argument at a hamburger stand hours after helping his team to the conference title Friday night.

“I think the facts were that he was young and black and in the wrong place at the wrong time,” head coach Marvin Menzies said. “There’s a major war going on in Santa Monica that’s been kind of swept under the carpet, and it’s time somebody did something about it.”

But a Santa Monica police department spokesman said he hadn’t heard the crime was gang related. A 16-year-old was arrested on suspicion of committing the crime.

At Manchester, Conn., embattled Massachusetts guard Mike Williams got an assist from his parents as the clock winds down on his collegiate career.

Alphonza and Sarah Williams emotionally implored Minutemen coach John Calipari to reinstate their son two games into an indefinite suspension for a team rule violation.

At Fabriano, Italy, former Michigan and Cleveland State basketball player Sam Mitchell, 24, was found dead in his apartment after complaining to teammates about feeling ill, authorities said. He had arrived in Italy in December to join the Fabriano-Turboair team.