OLYMPICS
Canada's Kelsey Serwa has raced to victory in women's skicross, giving her a gold medal to go with the silver she won in Sochi four years ago.
Serwa raced to the lead early in the final and was well in front by the time she reached the bottom of the course at Phoenix Snow Park. Canadian teammate Brittany Phelan made an impressive pass late in the run to finish second.
Serwa's victory came two days after Canada's Brady Leman took gold in the men's event
In other Olympic action:
Alina Zagitova has won the women's figure skating competition to become the first Russian gold medalist at the Pyeongchang Olympics. The 15-year-old Zagitova edged her friend and training partner Evgenia Medvedeva to end the gold drought for the Olympic Athletes from Russia. Kaetlyn Osmond has won bronze, giving Canada four overall medals in figure skating.
Other news from the Winter Games:
Canadian defenseman Jocelyne Larocque says she wishes she hadn't taken off her silver medal almost immediately after it was placed around her neck at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Larocque issued a statement through Team Canada apologizing to the IOC, International Ice Hockey Federation, the Pyeongchang Olympic Organizing Committee, the Canadian Olympic Committee, Hockey Canada and her teammates and fans. She says her emotions got the best of her Thursday after a 3-2 shootout loss to the United States and she meant no disrespect.
NBA SCHEDULE
Dwight Howard grabbed a season-high 24 rebounds and added 15 points, Kemba Walker scored 31 and the Charlotte Hornets beat the Brooklyn Nets 111-96 on Thursday night.
Dante Cunningham had 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Nets, who lost their eighth straight game and fell to 19-41.
D'Angelo Russell, starting for the first time since November knee surgery, scored 19 points on 7-of-16 shooting.
All five Charlotte starters scored in double digits and the Hornets hit 52.4 percent from 3-point range. Charlotte improved to 25-33 with its second straight victory.
Howard had a double-double — 10 points and 11 rebounds — after 10 minutes of play in the first quarter. But the Hornets still needed Walker's big fourth quarter, when he had 14 points on 5-for-6 shooting, to secure the victory.
In other NBA games:
Trey Burke came off the bench with a season-high 26 points and six assists to help the New York Knicks break an eight-game losing streak with a 120-113 victory over the Orlando Magic. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 23 points and six assists for the Knicks, who won for the first time since Jan. 30 and the first time since losing Kristaps Porzingis for the season to a torn ACL.
Bradley Beal scored 18 points, Kelly Oubre Jr. added 17 and the Washington Wizards spoiled the home debut for Cleveland's four new players with a 110-103 win over the Cavaliers. Washington is 8-2 since losing star guard John Wall with a knee injury. LeBron James scored 32 points to pace the Cavs.
Ben Simmons scored 32 points, making two free throws with 5.6 seconds left to complete Philadelphia's rally from five points down in the final minute, and the 76ers beat the Chicago Bulls 116-115. Joel Embiid had 30 points and 13 rebounds, and Simmons added 11 assists and seven rebounds as Philadelphia won its sixth straight and snapped a four-game road losing streak.
Stephen Curry swished a beautiful buzzer-beater from way back early and hit another timely 3-pointer late on the way to scoring 44, and the Golden State Warriors returned from the All-Star break and had to hold off the Los Angeles Clippers 134-127. Kevin Durant had 21 points and eight assists,
Russell Westbrook made a 3-pointer as time expired, lifting the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 110-107 victory over the Sacramento Kings. The Thunder blew a 23-point lead and trailed 105-102 with 4 ½ minutes remaining before closing the game on an 8-2 run.
Other news from around the league:
— Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. will wear his father's retired No. 22 jersey with the Cavaliers. The younger Nance was recently acquired in a trade from the Los Angeles Lakers and is wearing No. 24 for Cleveland. But starting next week he will wear No. 22, the number his dad wore for eight seasons with Cleveland.
The NBA is establishing a confidential hotline for league and team employees to report concerns about misconduct in their workplace. The move comes after a Sports Illustrated report that described a hostile environment for women in the Dallas Mavericks organization. Commissioner Adam Silver sent the memo to teams detailing hotline plans and asking them to review its respect in the workplace policies. The league says "respect and integrity are core NBA values."
TOP25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
Killian Tillie scored 17 points, Rui Hachimura added 16 and No. 6 Gonzaga beat San Diego 77-72 on Thursday night to clinch at least a share of the West Coast Conference title.
The Bulldogs defeated the Toreros for the eighth straight game and for the 19th time in their last 20 meetings.
Olin Cater III led San Diego with 21 points.
In other Top 25 games:
Carsen Edwards scored career-high 40 points and Dakota Mathias added 18 to help No. 9 Purdue outlast Illinois in a 93-86 victory on Thursday night. The Boilermakers were without their second-leading scorer Vincent Edwards but had no problem scoring. Purdue shot 58.3 percent from the field and 47.8 percent from beyond the 3-point line. Edwards and Mathias each had four from behind the arc.
Gary Clark scored 10 of his 17 points during Cincinnati's decisive spurt, and the 11th-ranked Bearcats shook off consecutive losses by beating short-handed Connecticut 77-52 for their fifth straight win over the Huskies. The Bearcats recovered from a loss at Houston that ended their 16-game winning streak and a 76-72 loss to Wichita State that snapped their 39-game winning streak at home.
Deandre Ayton had 19 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, and No. 14 Arizona, minus one of its star players, beat Oregon State 75-65 in overtime. Guard Allonzo Trier was declared ineligible by the NCAA after a trace amount of a banned substance was found during a late January drug screening.
Jordan Ford had 18 points and a career-high 10 rebounds, and No. 22 Saint Mary's rolled to a 75-61 victory over Pepperdine. Calvin Hermanson scored 14 points and Tanner Krebs added 12 for the Gaels.
Jimario Rivers and Raynere Thornton each scored 21 points, helping Memphis beat No. 23 Houston 91-85. Rivers also grabbed nine rebounds and Thornton made four 3-pointers as Memphis (17-11, 8-7 American Athletic Conference) earned its third straight victory.
NCAA
In men’s college basketball Monmouth upset the MAAC leader, Rider, 91-77 at home and Cincinnati got past UConn 77-52.
In women’s college basketball UAlbany defeated Binghamton 57-53, Hartford topped UMBC 61-54, Maine crushed Vermont 79-47 and New Hampshire beat UMass Lowell 70-49.
TOP25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL NEWS
The NCAA has declared No. 14 Arizona's Allonzo Trier ineligible for the reappearance of the banned substance that led to a 19-game suspension last season.
The school said the NCAA notified the Wildcats on Thursday that the junior guard had a trace amount of the substance from a drug test late last month. Arizona did not specify the drug, saying only it was a banned substance.
Arizona says the amount detected was minuscule by scientific standards and appeared to be a remnant of the performance-enhancing drug Trier unknowingly ingested last season. The school says the NCAA agreed.
Arizona is appealing the decision and hoping Trier will regain his eligibility soon.
In other college basketball news:
Duke center Marques Bolden is not expected to miss any time after he had surgery on a broken nasal bone. He got hurt Sunday in a win at Clemson and played 16 minutes Wednesday night against Louisville. Bolden has started two of his 20 games this season for the fifth-ranked Blue Devils . The 6-foot-11 sophomore averages 4.1 points in about 13 minutes per game.
NHL SCHEDULE
Nolan Patrick scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period and Petr Mrazek made 19 saves in his Philadelphia debut, leading the streaking Flyers to a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.
Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist and Shayne Gostisbehere added two assists for the Flyers, who won their fourth straight game while improving to 8-0-2 in the last 10. The Flyers, now 32-19-10, began play comfortably in a playoff position, three points behind first-place Washington and two back of Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division.
Artemi Panarin scored for Columbus, now 30-26-5, which entered Thursday clinging to the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Blue Jackets were just one point ahead of idle Carolina and the Islanders, who played at Toronto.
Elsewhere on the ice:
Pekka Rinne made 33 saves in his 300th career win and the Nashville Predators routed the San Jose Sharks 7-1. Nick Bonino, Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson each had a goal and an assist, and Scott Hartnell, Kevin Fiala and Mattias Ekholm also scored for Nashville, which has won three straight.
Joel Eriksson Ek and Chris Stewart scored in a 39-second span during Minnesota's three-goal second period, and the Wild rallied from two down to beat the New Jersey Devils 4-2. Wild defenseman Mike Reilly also scored in the second period and Eric Staal iced the game with an empty-net goal with 1:18 to go, his 900th NHL point.
Tyler Bozak scored the shootout winner and the Toronto Maple Leafs edged the New York Islanders 4-3. Auston Matthews tipped in Jake Gardiner's shot to tie it 3-all with 3:29 remaining in the third period, but later left the game favoring his right side after taking a hit from Cal Clutterbuck and did not return. The 20-year-old Toronto star missed six games in December with a concussion and another four games with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
Marco Scandella scored with a second left in overtime, lifting the Buffalo Sabres to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Justin Abdelkader pulled the Red Wings into a 2-all tie with 1:25 left in the third period. Buffalo's Evander Kane scored a go-ahead wraparound goal late in the second period.
Vincent Trocheck scored the winning goal with 19.1 seconds left to lift the Florida Panthers over the Washington Capitals 3-2, hours after victims of last week's shooting at nearby Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were honored with a somber video tribute. With the score tied at 2, Trocheck redirected a shot by Jonathan Huberdeau past goalie Braden Holtby during a power play.
Antti Niemi made 31 saves and the Montreal Canadiens beat the struggling New York Rangers 3-1 to snap their six-game losing streak. Tomas Plekanec, Jeff Petry and Phillip Danault scored for Montreal, which avoided matching its longest skid of the season.
Nikita Kucherov had two assists to reach 80 points this season and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3. Tyler Johnson, Victor Hedman, Vladislav Namestnikov and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who leapfrogged expansion Vegas to regain the top spot in the overall NHL standings with 85 points.
Connor McDavid scored at 2:19 of overtime and had an assist to lead the Edmonton Oilers past the Colorado Avalanche 3-2.
Jon Gillies rebounded from a first-minute goal to make 35 saves in his first NHL start of the season, helping the Calgary Flames beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-2.
Tyler Seguin broke a scoreless tie with 8:27 remaining and the Dallas Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 in a matchup of teams fighting for a Western Conference playoff spot.
NHL NEWS
Montreal Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber will miss the rest of the season because of a foot injury that will require surgery.
The team says he has a torn tendon in his left foot. Weber has missed the last 26 games, and surgery is needed because the injury didn't heal as expected.
Other NHL news:
The Boston Bruins have dealt forward Frank Vatrano to the Florida Panthers on Thursday for a third-round pick in the June draft. Vatrano has appeared in 25 games with Boston this season, scoring two goals. Vatrano had career highs in all offensive categories last season with 10 goals and eight assists in 44 games.
The Arizona Coyotes have signed Darcy Kuemper to a two-year contract extension, a day after acquiring the goalie from the Los Angeles Kings for speedy forward Tobias Rieder and goalie Scott Wedgewood.
MLB-NEWS
Pitcher Chris Tillman and the Baltimore Orioles have finalized a $3 million, one-year contract that allows him to earn an additional $7 million in performance bonuses.
Tillman would earn $1 million each for 125 and 150 innings, $1.5 million apiece for 175 and 190 and $2 million for 200 as part of the deal announced Wednesday. The first $1 million in performance bonuses earned is due Nov. 20, but any amounts above that are deferred, due each Jan. 20 in increments of $1 million. If he is traded, any bonuses earned after the deal are payable this Nov. 20
He was 1-7 with a 7.84 ERA in 19 starts and five relief appearances last year.
In other baseball news:
The Tampa Bay Rays have traded All-Star designated hitter Corey Dickerson to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for relief pitcher Daniel Hudson, minor league infielder Tristan Gray and cash. The 28-year-old Dickerson was the AL's starting DH in last summer's All-Star game, but struggled at the plate the second half of the season. Hudson went 2-7 with a 4.38 ERA in a career-high 71 appearances in 2017.
San Diego Padres manager Andy Green says newly acquired first baseman Eric Hosmer won't play in at least the first two spring games.. Hosmer agreed late Monday to a $144 million, eight-year contract.
NFL NEWS
Adam Vinatieri has signed a one-year contract extension with the Indianapolis Colts.
At 45, Vinatieri will again be the league's oldest player. The kicker has 2,487 points and needs 58 to pass Morten Andersen.
Vinatieri has played most of his career with the Colts. They signed him as a free agent in 2006 after he won three Super Bowl rings with New England.
PGA
Alex Noren and Webb Simpson each shot a 4-under 66 to lead the Honda Classic on a day so tough for scoring that Tiger Woods had his best day in his return and didn't break par.
Woods had only one bad hole, a double bogey on the par-5 third round, and was four shots behind.
Only 20 players managed to break par at PGA National.
PGA champion Justin Thomas and Louis Oosthuizen were among those at 67. Rory McIlroy played Thursday afternoon and after salvaging a par on the 16th hole when he thought his ball was in the water, he wasn't so lucky on the 18th hole. He hit into the water and made double bogey for a 72.
TENNIS
The United States Tennis Association has been found mostly liable for when Canadian player Eugenie Bouchard slipped on a wet locker room floor and hit her head at the 2015 U.S. Open in New York.
A jury on Thursday found Bouchard was partially at fault. It determined the USTA was 75 percent to blame, Bouchard 25 percent to blame. Damages will be determined in another phase of the trial, starting Friday.
Bouchard had sued the USTA for unspecified damages and testified its negligence led to her "serious head injury."
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