U.S./World Sports category, Page 56
Analysis: Hendrick celebration, milestone came at complicated track
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — No detail had been overlooked as Hendrick Motorsports spent more than a year planning its 40th anniversary celebration. The first employees hired by Rick Hendrick were invited, special throwback paint schemes designed and Hendrick was to drive the pace car. The extravaganza was to be held at...
South Carolina-Iowa women’s national championship game breaks viewership records
The Gamecocks’ third NCAA women’s basketball championship under coach Dawn Staley was won as part of the most-watched sporting event since 2019, apart from football or the Olympics. South Carolina’s national championship game on ABC Sunday against Iowa was the most watched women’s basketball game in history, ESPN announced on...
NAIA all but bans transgender athletes from women’s sports; NCAA vows to ensure ‘fair competition’
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced a policy Monday that all but bans transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports at its 241 mostly small colleges across the country. The NAIA Council of Presidents approved the policy in a 20-0 vote at its annual convention in Kansas City, Missouri....
NBA Playoffs 2024: Playoff positioning battles continue, and see what games matter most
The last week of the NBA season has arrived. With no games Monday — the league typically tries to not play on the night of the NCAA men’s championship game — the schedule resumes Tuesday with 14 games, 13 of which have at least some form of playoff implications. The...
Dawn Staley, South Carolina in good place to keep dynasty rolling
CLEVELAND — Dawn Staley and South Carolina have cemented their place as the next dynasty in women’s basketball. With two NCAA titles in the past three seasons and 109 wins in the last 112 games, it’s hard to argue with that. It doesn’t look like it’s going to end any...
Caitlin Clark’s college career is over but her impact on the game is not
Most points. Highest scoring average. Most 3-pointers in a season. Most 3-pointers in a career. Most national scoring titles. And so on, and so on, and so on. Caitlin Clark’s college career is over. And the stats she leaves behind are going to be in the record books — the...
Kentucky’s John Calipari in talks to become the next basketball coach at Arkansas
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky’s John Calipari has been in talks with Arkansas to become the school’s next men’s basketball coach. The Lexington Herald-Leader was told Sunday that Arkansas reached out to Calipari regarding the position following last week’s departure of Eric Musselman, who left Fayetteville after five seasons to become...
Perfect ending: South Carolina’s Dawn Staley wins 3rd national title as Gamecocks down Clark, IowaVideo
CLEVELAND — With the championship secured, Dawn Staley released a year’s worth of pent-up frustration and pain. The tears flowed freely. The burden lifted. South Carolina got past Caitlin Clark this time. A year after their perfect season crashed with a semifinal loss to Clark in the Final Four, the...
Nelly Korda wins 4th straight LPGA Tour start, beating Maguire in T-Mobile Match PlayVideo
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Nelly Korda is on a roll not seen on the LPGA Tour in 16 years. She won four of the first seven holes, largely making the rest of the final Sunday in the T-Mobile Match Play a formality in beating Leona Maguire 4 and 3...
UConn, Purdue set to collide in NCAA title game after dominating March Madness
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The NCAA Tournament has reached its finish line, down to one game pairing the two best teams that routinely win in romps and boasting a marquee post matchup that features a two-time national player of the year. Maybe that will make this version of March Madness something...
Bhatia loses 6-shot lead and wins Texas Open in a playoff. The next stop is the MastersVideo
SAN ANTONIO — Akshay Bhatia nearly celebrated too soon Sunday, hurting his left shoulder while pumping his arms on a 12-foot birdie to force a playoff. He recovered to make birdie on the first extra hole and win the Texas Open over hard-luck Denny McCarthy to earn a trip to...
William Byron leads Hendrick to 1-2-3 Martinsville finish
William Byron took the lead with 73 laps to go and held onto it during a two-lap overtime finish Sunday to enhance Hendrick Motorsports’ celebration of its 40-year anniversary of its first victory in racing with a victory in the NASCAR Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway. Byron, the first of...
Augusta National’s 8th hole has uphill climb, blind shot
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bruce Devlin hit the best shot he never saw at the Masters. It was the first round in 1967, and the Australian was 240 yards away on the par-5 eighth hole at Augusta National. He took a lash with his 4-wood. The ball landed on the front...
South Carolina finishes off perfect season with NCAA championship, beating Clark and Iowa 87-75Video
CLEVELAND — Kamilla Cardoso delivered again for Dawn Staley and South Carolina. A perfect finish. A dynasty. A team too big for Caitlin Clark and Iowa this time around. Cardoso had 15 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, and South Carolina completed its perfect season with an 87-75 victory over...
Tennessee hires Marshall’s Kim Caldwell as the Lady Vols’ 4th coach in NCAA era
Tennessee athletic director Danny White has moved quickly and gone outside the historic Lady Vols’ program in hiring Marshall coach Kim Caldwell as only its fourth head coach in the NCAA era. White announced the hiring Sunday, within a couple of hours of the women’s national championship game. It’s a...
Defending champ UConn gets past Alabama to return to title game
GLENDALE, Ariz. — UConn kept its bid to repeat as national champion intact by surviving its first true test of the NCAA Tournament, getting 21 points from freshman Stephon Castle while clamping down defensively in the second half of an 86-72 win over Alabama in the Final Four on Saturday...
Zach Edey, Purdue power way into NCAA title game past N.C. State
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Purdue kept its March Madness dream alive while snuffing out North Carolina State’s, getting 20 points and 12 rebounds from Zach Edey in a 63-50 victory Saturday that placed the Boilermakers a win from their first NCAA title. N.C. State poked and jabbed at the 7-foot-4 Edey...
Cup Series drivers seeking more consistency from NASCAR
More consistency. That’s what NASCAR Cup Series drivers want, not only from their pit crews and engineers but also from the governing body and how decisions are made in the race command center. After NASCAR said Denny Hamlin jumped the overtime restart at Richmond Raceway last Sunday night and won...
South Carolina tries to finish off perfect season vs. Caitlin Clark
CLEVELAND — Dawn Staley knows Sunday’s national championship game is a big moment for women’s basketball. South Carolina is looking to finish a perfect season with the program’s third NCAA title. Standing in the way of Staley and the Gamecocks is a generational player in Caitlin Clark and an Iowa...
Iowa-UConn women’s Final Four semifinal most-watched hoops game in ESPN history
BRISTOL, Conn. — Iowa’s 71-69 victory over UConn at the women’s Final Four on Friday night averaged 14.2 million viewers on ESPN, making it the most-viewed women’s basketball game on record and the largest audience for an ESPN basketball broadcast. The previous women’s hoops mark was 12.3 million for last...
South Carolina women stay perfect, surge past N.C. State 78-59 to reach NCAA title gameVideo
CLEVELAND — All-America center Kamilla Cardoso scored 22 points, and unbeaten South Carolina avoided a second straight stumble in the women’s Final Four, surging past N.C. State, 78-59, on Friday night. The talented and tenacious Gamecocks (37-0) led by one at halftime before putting their full arsenal on display in...
Akshay Bhatia stretches lead to 5 shots at windy Texas OpenVideo
SAN ANTONIO — Akshay Bhatia survived a rocky start Friday in the Valero Texas Open by rallying with a pair of late birdies for a 2-under-par 70 that stretched his lead to five shots and raised hopes of getting the final spot in the Masters next week. Bhatia started with...
Crimson Tide trying to slow down the UConn juggernaut in the Final FourVideo
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Alabama coach Nate Oats had to rebuild his roster and replace three assistant coaches. The pieces ended up fitting perfectly. The fast-and-furious Crimson Tide were among one of the nation’s best offenses all season and rolled into the program’s first Final Four. The run has taken Alabama...
At Final Four, they turn back the clock with Purdue, N.C. State and an old-school matchup of big menVideo
GLENDALE, Ariz. — The opener at the Final Four on Saturday might feel like a trip through a time machine. Yes, those are Purdue and N.C. State, one program here for the first time since 1980, the other trying to write a 21st-century version of college basketball’s greatest story ever...
Houston coach Kelvin Sampson edges UConn’s Dan Hurley for AP coach of the year
There was a moment during the NCAA Tournament, when top-seeded Houston was well on its way to a 40-point rout of No. 16 seed Longwood, that helps to capture why the Cougars have become so dominant under Kelvin Sampson. It was late in the game, and Mylik Wilson was late...
