Basketball
USA routs Angola by 75 to finish pool play 3-0
ISTANBUL – After winning the most lopsided game in United States’ women’s basketball history at the world championship, the players posed for photo after photo with the Angola players.
The players from the African nation didn’t care that they had just lost by 75 points to the Americans, they just wanted a chance to take pictures with their basketball idols.
“It was definitely something I’ve never experienced before,” said Brittney Griner, who had 15 points for the U.S. in a record 119-44 rout Tuesday night.
The victory was the biggest for the Americans in the worlds, surpassing the 70-point rout of Senegal in 1990. The 119 points also tied the most ever for the U.S., matching the total the team had against China in 2006.
Nneka Ogwumike scored 18 points to lead a balanced U.S. offense that had five players in double figures and three more with nine points each.
The U.S. (3-0) will face the winner of Canada and the Czech Republic on Friday night.
Skiing
Avon honors Shiffrin with a street called Mikaela Way
AVON – In addition to her Olympic gold, Mikaela Shiffrin now has a street named after her.
The community of Avon, near her home in Eagle-Vail, dedicated Mikaela Way on Monday.
The Vail Daily reported Shiffrin rode in an antique fire truck during a parade in heavy rain and then tore down a gold tarp covering the road sign. About two dozen young ski racers followed behind her despite the weather.
At 18, Shiffrin became the youngest slalom champion in Olympic history at the Sochi Games. She’ll be headed to Austria soon to get ready for a World Cup event Oct. 24.
Vonn an ambassador for Winter Youth Games
LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Lindsey Vonn will help promote the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.
The International Olympic Committee said the American skier will serve as an ambassador for the games, the same role she held for the inaugural Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2012.
The Youth Games will run from Feb. 12-21, 2016.
Soccer
Kaka the first player to top $7M in MLS earnings
NEW YORK – Kaka is Major League Soccer’s highest-paid player.
The Brazilian attacker is earning a base salary of $6.6 million from Orlando City, according to figures released Monday by the MLS Players Union. Including a prorated share of compensation not specified to a specific year, his total earnings rise to a league-record $7,167,500.
Orlando will start play next season, along with New York City FC, and Kaka is on loan to Sao Paulo in Brazil.
Swimming
Phelps apologizes for his second DUI arrest
BALTIMORE – Olympic champion Michael Phelps apologized for his latest brush with the law, saying he is “deeply sorry to everyone I have let down” with an arrest early Tuesday on a DUI charge.
Police charged the 18-time gold medalist after officers said he was speeding and failed field sobriety tests when pulled over in his native Baltimore.
This is the second time Phelps has been arrested on drunken-driving charges, the first coming in 2004 after he competed at the Athens Olympics. He also was photographed using a marijuana pipe after the 2008 Beijing Games, which resulted in a three-month suspension from USA Swimming.
Phelps issued a statement saying he understands “the severity of my actions” and takes “full responsibility.”
Associated Press
