WNBA suspends 10 players, Mahorn
The WNBA swiftly suspended the Detroit and Los Angeles players and Shock assistant coach Rick Mahorn for their role in a skirmish at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Shock forward Plenette Pierson was suspended Thursday for four games for initiating and escalating the altercation in what was the harshest penalty.
Mahorn was suspended for two games as were Shannon Bobbitt and Murriel Page of the Sparks.
Players suspended for one game included: Detroit’s Kara Braxton, Tasha Humphrey, Elaine Powell and Sheri Sam along with Los Angeles’ Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker and DeLisha Milton-Jones.
•U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski says injured forward LeBron James is a “95 percent no-go” for today’s exhibition against Canada in Las Vegas.
James, who has a mild right ankle sprain, was held out of a scrimmage for the second straight day.
•The Detroit Shock signed 50-year-old Nancy Lieberman, a Hall of Famer and one of their former coaches, to a seven-day contract.
She became the oldest player in WNBA history at 39 while playing for the Phoenix Mercury in 1997. She played nine minutes, missed her only shot, had two assists and two turnovers in the Shock’s 79-61 loss Thursday to the Houston Comets .
•A professional gambler linked to disgraced referee Tim Donaghy will spend more than a year in prison for his role in the betting scandal that rocked the NBA.
James Battista was sentenced in New York to 15 months in prison for making bets based on inside tips.
Another defendant, Thomas Martino, also was to be sentenced for paying the referee thousands of dollars for the tips.
•Kelenna Azubuike will return to the Golden State Warriors after the club matched the Los Angeles Clippers’ three-year, $9 million contract offer for the shooting guard.
•The Nuggets signed Chris Andersen, bringing the forward-center back to Denver after three seasons with New Orleans.
Soccer
MLS bests West Ham
Chicago midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored one goal and helped set up another, and Houston midfielder Dwayne DeRosario snapped a tie with a penalty kick to give the MLS All-Stars a 3-2 victory over English Premier League team West Ham United 3-2 in Toronto.
Los Angeles midfielder David Beckham played the entire game and earned an assist in his first MLS All-Star appearance.
•Major League Soccer intends to add two expansion teams in time for the 2011 season, boosting membership to 18.
MLS, which currently has 14 teams, has already announced expansion teams for Seattle, beginning in 2009, and Philadelphia in 2010.
Tennis
Roddick upset by Cilic
Andy Roddick followed Roger Federer out of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.
The sixth-seeded Roddick was upset by 44th-ranked Marin Cilic 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Top-ranked Federer was knocked out with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 loss to France’s Gilles Simon in a second-round match Wednesday night.
Miscellany
Iraq to miss Olympics
The International Olympic Committee says Iraq will not compete at Beijing because of Iraqi government interference.
The IOC Charter forbids political interference in the Olympic movement.
Four Iraqi athletes were expected to compete in archery, judo, rowing and weightlifting.
•Motor racing boss Max Mosley has won a landmark privacy-invasion lawsuit against a tabloid newspaper’s claims he took part in a “Nazi” orgy.
•Lawyers for a former Alabama football booster who is suing the NCAA say they handed a subpoena to Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer as he arrived at Southeastern Conference football media days in Hoover, Ala.
•Former Penn State football player Chris Bell pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making terrorist threats.
Bell in April stormed into a campus dining hall and threatened teammate Devon Still with an 8-inch knife.
•Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is suing Duke University, claiming he was wrongfully kicked off the golf team.
•Brazilian swimmer Rebeca Gusmao received her second two-year doping suspension after a positive test for testosterone at a 2006 competition.