MARCH MADNESS
Caitlin Clark made nine 3-pointers and finished with 41 points and 12 assists in a sensational performance as top-seed Iowa knocked defending national champion, three-seed LSU, out of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 94-87 victory, advancing the Hawkeyes to their second straight Final Four. Top-seeded Iowa will play UConn in the national semifinals Friday night in Cleveland. Monday’s highly anticipated matchup was a rematch of last year’s national championship game won by LSU, which drew a record 9.9 million viewers. With the game tied at 45 after an entertaining first half, Clark took over in the third quarter. She hit four 3-pointers in the period.
After being a spectator a year ago, Paige Bueckers is headed back to the Final Four after scoring 28 points and lifting UConn to a 80-73 win over Southern California in the women’s NCAA Tournament. Bueckers outdueled fabulous USC freshman All-American JuJu Watkins, sparking a decisive run over the final five minutes that sent third-seeded UConn to its 23rd Final Four, the most of any school. Leading 65-64, the Huskies scored 11 straight points, including seven from Bueckers and a three-point play from Aaliyah Edwards to finally put away the top-seeded Trojans. Edwards finished with 24 points. Watkins scored 29 points for USC.
The NCAA says one of the 3-point lines on the court used for the women’s basketball regionals in Portland, Oregon, was 9 inches short of regulation at its apex. The mistake came from a contractor that makes the courts used throughout March Madness. The NCAA says the line at Moda Center has been corrected. UConn and USC will play the final Elite Eight game of the tournament Monday night on that court. The NCAA uses Connor Sports to supply and install the courts. It did not identify the contractor that made the mistake. The discrepancy in distance was discovered Sunday before Texas and North Carolina State played.
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark tied a women’s NCAA Tournament record hitting by nine 3-pointers, many from well beyond the arc, in Iowa’s Elite Eight win over LSU. Clark made her ninth 3 midway through the fourth quarter, tying the mark set by Purdue’s Courtney Moses in 2012 and later matched by UConn's Kia Nurse in 2017. The Iowa star quickly broke a tie with Diana Taurasi for career 3-pointers in the March Madness with her first one. When she hit her seventh 3, Clark passed Oklahoma’s Taylor Robertson for the most in a career among NCAA Division I players. Clark’s ninth gave her 540. She finished 9 of 20 from behind the arc and scored 41 points.
NBA
Jayson Tatum had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Sam Hauser poured in 25 points on seven 3s and the Boston Celtics avenged an early season loss to the Charlotte Hornets with a 118-104 victory. Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points and Derrick White had 19 points and nine rebounds for the Celtics, who’ve won 11 of their last 13 games. Hauser finished 7 of 11 from beyond the arc and the Celtics made 19 3s against the Hornets to avenge a 121-118 overtime loss on Nov. 20 when Miles Bridges hit a game-winning 3 with 6.6 seconds left. Bridges paced the Hornets with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
Tyrese Haliburton scored 27 points and had 13 assists to lead the Indiana Pacers to a 133-111 rout of the Brooklyn Nets. Despite being ejected for a flagrant foul midway through the third quarter, Pacers forward Jalen Smith had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Pascal Siakam added 15 points and Obi Toppin had 14 for the Indiana. Cam Thomas scored 22 points, Trendon Watford 21 and Mikal Bridges 19 for the Nets.
Jaren Jackson Jr. scored 40 points and the Memphis Grizzlies held on for a 110-108 victory over the Detroit Pistons. Cade Cunningham, who finished with 36 points, missed a tying 12-footer as time expired. Jackson went 13 of 23 from the floor and 12 of 14 from the free-throw line. Former Piston Luke Kennard added 19 points for Memphis, which had lost three straight and seven of eight. Detroit has lost nine of 10.
Franz Wagner scored 20 points and the Orlando Magic escaped with a 104-103 win over the struggling Portland Trail Blazers. Deandre Ayton missed an open baseline jumper at the final horn for the Blazers, who have lost 10 in a row. Three nights after losing by 60 points in Miami, the Blazers came back twice in the second half and put themselves into position to win the game with the final shot. Wendell Carter Jr. had 17 points and 13 rebounds and Jalen Suggs and Paolo Banchero each scored 15 points for the Magic. Ayton had 20 points and 12 rebounds.
Vit Krejci set career highs with 18 points and six 3-pointers, Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 20 and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Chicago Bulls 113-101 in a matchup between potential play-in tournament opponents. Krejci made all six field-goal attempts and surpassed his previous highs of 16 points and four 3s, helping Atlanta win for the fifth time in six games. Dejounte Murray scored 17 points and Clint Capela added 15 points and 11 rebounds as the 10th-place Hawks moved within a half-game of the ninth-place Bulls in the Eastern Conference. Chicago owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after taking two of three from Atlanta. DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 31 points.
Devin Booker scored 52 points, the fifth-highest scoring game of his career, to power the Phoenix Suns to a 124-111 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night, bringing them within a game of the Pelicans for the No. 6 playoff spot in the Western Conference. Kevin Durant scored 20 points and Jusuf Nurkic added 19 for the Suns, who led by as many as 25 points. The Suns built a wall around Zion Williamson who finished with 30 points and five assists. Trey Murphy III added 21 points for New Orleans.
After the Boston Celtics beat the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, the focus of the NBA’s best team quickly turned to something else: watching Caitlin Clark and the final minutes of Iowa’s victory over LSU in the Elite Eight of the women’s NCAA Tournament. With the volume on the television cranked up, 10 Celtics players sat in a row at their lockers icing their feet, and intently watching Clark make nine 3-pointers and score 41 points to lead Iowa to the Final Four with a 94-87 win. Celtics forward Sam Hauser says he can't remember NBA players being so locked in to a women's game. He says Clark “is stealing the show of basketball.”
MLB
Luis Gil had a successful outing in his return from Tommy John surgery and the New York Yankees started the season on a five-game winning streak for the first time in 32 years, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-2. Anthony Volpe had his first career four-hit game and an RBI. The Yankees also started the year with five wins in five games in 1933, 1988 and 1992. The 1927 Yankees started 6-0, but also had a tie in their third game.
Carson Kelly hit a three-run homer to cap a five-run 10th inning, and the Detroit Tigers extended their best start in almost a decade with a 5-0 victory over the New York Mets, who fell to 0-4 for the first time since 2005. Jason Foley struck out two in the ninth before Shelby Miller tossed a perfect 10th for the Tigers, who are 4-0 for the first time since going 6-0 in 2015. The Mets lost their first five games 19 years ago. The teams combined to get just two runners — one apiece — into scoring position in the first nine innings before the Tigers broke the tie in the 10th.
Enmanuel Valdez hit a three-run homer, Garrett Whitlock pitched five effective innings and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 5-1. Valdez, a fill-in second baseman for the injured Vaughn Grissom, hit a drive to right in the fourth after starting the season 0 for 8. Tyler O’Neill connected for a solo shot in the second against Seattle’s Bryce Miller, who was charged with four runs and six hits in five innings. Whitlock helped Boston to a split of the four-game series after it dropped two straight one-run games. The big right-hander allowed three hits, struck out eight and walked none.
Spencer Steer hit a grand slam in the 10th inning to lift the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night. Steer clubbed a 2-1, 91 mph fastball off Connor Brogdon. Bryce Harper was hitless again in his return to Philadelphia’s lineup after an off day. He was in his usual spot, batting third and playing first base, after being off in Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Atlanta Braves. He went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts, falling to 0 for 11 with five strikeouts in three games.
Austin Riley hit a three-run homer, Charlie Morton threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings and the Atlanta Braves beat the Chicago White Sox 9-0 in a game shortened to eight innings because of rain. The 40-year-old Morton allowed three hits, walked two and struck out six in his season debut to hand Chicago its fourth loss in as many games. Riley’s homer, off reliever Dominic Leone, came one pitch after the end of a 44-minute rain delay. He finished the day with four RBIs. The game on Monday was halted again after the eighth and called a few minutes later.
Mike Trout hit two solo homers and the Los Angeles Angels rallied from an early four-run deficit and beat the Miami Marlins 7-4 on Monday. Trout’s second shot — a 473-foot blast in the sixth — landed in the walkway high above the wall in left-centerfield. It was the 26th multihomer game of Trout’s and the two blasts put him at 371 in his career, surpassing Gil Hodges for 81st on the all-time list. Trout’s bid for a third homer ended when Miami reliever Tanner Scott walked him to load the bases in the eighth. Brandon Drury then reached on a fielder’s choice that scored Anthony Rendon from third and snapped a 4-4 tie. Luis Arraez had two singles and three walks for the Marlins, who lost their season-starting fifth straight.
Jordan Westburg hit a tiebreaking, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to carry the Baltimore Orioles past the Kansas City Royals 6-4. Westburg’s opposite-field drive to right came on an 0-2 pitch from Nick Anderson after the Royals rallied to tie the game in the top of the inning. Ryan Mountcastle homered and drove in three runs for the Orioles. Bobby Witt Jr. and Salvador Perez homered for the Royals, the second straight game in which each went deep. Making his Kansas City debut after signing a two-year, $32 million contract in December, Michael Wacha gave up three runs in five innings.
Texas slugger Josh Jung homered and drove in four runs before leaving Monday night’s 9-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays with a fractured right wrist. The All-Star third baseman left in the ninth inning when he was struck by a pitch he swung at and missed. In a rematch of clubs that met during the World Series champion Rangers’ postseason run last fall, Dane Dunning limited the Rays to Jose Siri’s third-inning double until Richie Palacios homered with one out in the seventh. Jung ruined right-hander Ryan Pepiot’s debut for the Rays, who acquired the 26-year-old in an offseason trade that sent Tyler Glasnow to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ronel Blanco of the Houston Astros threw the first no-hitter in the major leagues this season, blanking the Toronto Blue Jays 10-0. The right-hander struck out seven and walked two. He walked George Springer to start the game and again with two outs in the ninth. When Vladimir Guerrero Jr. grounded out to end it, Blanco smiled broadly before raising his arms above his head just before being mobbed by teammates. It was the 17th no-hitter in Astros history and the first in the majors since Philadelphia’s Michael Lorenzen threw one against the Washington Nationals on Aug. 9 of last year.
Dominic Canzone hit a three-run homer and Julio Rodríguez thrilled the crowd with a pair of highlight-reel catches as the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-4 on Monday night. Canzone’s big fly came in the bottom of the second inning against Guardians starter Triston McKenzie. Ty France put the Mariners on the board earlier in the inning with an RBI single, and Canzone made it 4-0 with a 411-foot home run to center field, his first of the season. Mariners starter Emerson Hancock pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs for his first MLB win.
Shota Imanaga pitched six sparkling innings in his major league debut, and the Chicago Cubs used another defensive mistake by Nolan Jones to beat the Colorado Rockies 5-0. Working in short sleeves on a cold, gray afternoon, Imanaga struck out nine in Chicago’s home opener. The Japanese left-hander, who signed a $53 million, four-year contract with the Cubs in January, allowed two singles and walked none. Dakota Hudson also was impressive in his first start for Colorado, but a pair of errors on Jones on one play in the sixth sent the right-hander to the loss.
Let other folks downplay the way the Pittsburgh Pirates have begun 2024. Manager Derek Shelton is thrilled that his club is 5-0 for the first time in 41 years. Pittsburgh also has scored at least a half-dozen runs each time out this deep into a season for the first time in at least 124 years. The Pirates opened a three-game series at the Washington Nationals with an 8-4 victory Monday night. That followed a four-game sweep at the Miami Marlins to open the season. Pittsburgh is coming off a 76-86 record a year ago and a fourth-place finish in the NL Central.
Willson Contreras and Brendan Donovan each hit a two-run home run, Kyle Gibson was dominant in his St. Louis debut and the Cardinals won 6-2 against their former manager Mike Schildt and the San Diego Padres. Shildt managed the Cardinals from August 2018 until 2021, when he was fired suddenly despite leading them to three straight playoff berths and winning the 2019 NL Manager of the Year Award. He worked in the Padres’ organization the last two seasons before being promoted to manager in October after Bob Melvin left for his hometown San Francisco Giants with one year remaining on his contract in San Diego.
Freddie Freeman had three hits, Teoscar Hernández homered for the second straight game and the Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants 8-3 Monday night. James Paxton threw five scoreless innings in his debut for the Dodgers, who have won four of their last five. San Francisco’s Michael Conforto had a solo shot down the right-field line in the sixth. Keaton Winn allowed three runs and struck out six in five innings. Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freeman and Will Smith accounted for eight of the nine hits and five RBIs.
NHL
Brock Nelson scored 1:25 into overtime and the New York Islanders preserved their playoff hopes with a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Anders Lee, Bo Horvat and Matt Martin also scored for the Islanders, who moved within four points of Philadelphia for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. New York has two more games remaining on their schedule than the Flyers. Semyon Varlamov stopped 29 shots to help the Islanders get their third win in 11 games. Morgan Frost, Noah Cates and Travis Sanheim had goals for the Flyers, who have lost three straight and eight of their last 10. Sam Ersson started and gave up two goals on six shots in the first period. He was replaced by Ivan Fedotov, who had 24 saves in his NHL debut.
Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist and Alex Nedeljkovic made 28 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat New York 5-2, snapping the Rangers’ five-game winning streak. Bryan Rust also scored twice and Emil Bemstrom added a goal for Pittsburgh, which ended a four-game losing streak in New York and improved to 14-9-3 in its last 26 games against Rangers. The Penguins lost both previous games this season at home against the first-place Rangers and were making their lone appearance at Madison Square Garden. Kaapo Kakko and Jack Roslovic scored goals for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin finished with 16 saves.
Alex Nylander scored twice and the Columbus Blue Jackets used a three-goal second period to beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 for their second straight home win. Kirill Marchenko had a goal and an assist, Cole Sillinger also scored and Eric Gudbranson had two assists for last-place Columbus, which won consecutive games for just the fourth time this season. Daniil Tarasov stopped 46 shots in his first game against the Avalanche. Chris Wagner scored and Justus Annunen had 21 saves for the Avalanche, who remain tied at 100 points with the Vancouver Canucks, three points behind the Dallas Stars for the Western Conference lead.
Auston Matthews scored his NHL-leading 61st and 62nd goals of the season to go along with an assist as the Toronto Maple Leafs built a four-goal lead before hanging on late to down the Florida Panthers 6-4. Nicholas Robertson and Matthew Knies also had a goal and an assist each for Toronto, while Tyler Bertuzzi and David Kampf provided the rest of the offense. Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves for the Leafs. Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists for Florida. Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett and Brandon Montour also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 16 shots through two periods before getting the hook. Anthony Stolarz made six saves in relief.
David Perron scored the go-ahead goal with 2:40 remaining and the Detroit Red Wings ended a four-game winless streak with a 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Perron shoveled a rebound past Andrei Vasilevskiy to break a 2-2 tie as the Red Wings won the finale of a five-game road trip. Patrick Kane, Robby Fabbri and Lucas Raymond also scored and Alex Lyon made 34 saves to end a personal 0-8-2 streak and help the Red Wings move within one point of the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Anthony Cirelli and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning, who had been 8-0-1 in their previous nine. Vasilevskiy finished with 28 saves.
Cole Perfetti scored twice and Kyle Connor contributed a trio of assists as the Winnipeg Jets snapped a six-game losing skid with a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Monday. Josh Morrissey had a goal and assist and Sean Monahan also scored for the Jets. Perfetti registered a helper on Morrissey’s second-period tally. Laurent Brossoit made 25 saves for Winnipeg. Viktor Arvidsson, Kevin Fiala and Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings. Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov had two assists and Talbot stopped 28 shots for Los Angeles.
Brandon Saad scored 2:09 into overtime, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2. Brayden Schenn scored twice and Jordan Binnington stopped 35 shots to help St. Louis improve to 8-2-1 in its last 11 games. The Blues are three points behind Los Angeles for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Mattias Ekholm and Leon Draisaitl scored, and Stuart Skinner made 26 saves for Edmonton, which had won three straight.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored his 20th goal of the season and added an assist as the Seattle Kraken beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2. Jared McCann, Matty Beniers and Shane Wright also scored for Seattle, and Jordan Eberle had an assist for his 700th NHL point. Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves to earn the win. Fabian Zetterlund had a goal and an assist for San Jose, which lost for the 19th time in its last 21 games. Klim Kostin also scored for the Sharks, and Mikael Granlund had an assist to extend his point streak to five games. Mackenzie Blackwood finished with 28 saves.
NFL
Former NFL cornerback Vontae Davis has been found dead in his South Florida home. Police in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Davie say the body of the 35-year-old Davis was found Monday morning, but no foul play is suspected. No cause of death has been released pending an autopsy. Davis played for 10 seasons in the NFL after being drafted 25th overall by the Dolphins in 2009 out of Illinois. He played three seasons for Miami before being traded to Indianapolis just before the 2012 season. He played six seasons with the Colts. He signed with the Buffalo Bills for 2018 but retired after the season’s second game, saying injuries no longer allowed him to play.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
LSU and 10 former students who sued the school over alleged mishandling of sexual assault and domestic violence complaints against football players and others at Louisiana’s flagship state university have settled the case. US District Judge Wendy Vitter says in an order dismissing the case that the parties have settled “amicably.” Four of the plaintiffs accused former star running back Derrius Guice of sexual misconduct. Another plaintiff was former LSU women’s tennis player Jade Lewis. She's said LSU failed to properly respond to reports that she was being beaten by former Tigers receiver Drake Davis. The civil lawsuit alleged that LSU failed to fully comply with federal Title IX laws banning gender-based discrimination, harassment or violence. Settlement terms have not been disclosed.
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