EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Iowa star Caitlin Clark moved into second on the NCAA women’s basketball career scoring list, finishing with 35 points, 10 assists and six rebounds in the No. 3 Hawkeyes’ 110-74 victory over Northwestern. Cheered on by a sellout crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena filled with Iowa colors and dotted with Clark shirts, the senior guard went 11 for 22 from the field. It was her 13th game this season with at least 30 points. Hannah Stuelke had 17 points and nine rebounds for Iowa, which earned its second straight win since a 100-92 overtime loss at Ohio State on Jan. 21.
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (AP) — Jesse Edwards made a resounding return to the starting lineup with a 25-point, 10-rebound effort and for once a fully healthy West Virginia squad beat Cincinnati 69-65. The game became even more noteworthy when Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins showed up. He resigned last June at West Virginia following a drunken driving arrest. He took Cincinnati to the Final Four in 1992 and West Virginia in 2010. It was the first meeting between Cincinnati and West Virginia in 12 years. The two schools were once rivals in the Big East Conference. Lukosius made a 3-pointer with 1:29 left to give Cincinnati a 63-62 lead. But Battle responded with a 3 14 seconds later and West Virginia led the remainder. Reserve Dan Skillings Jr. led Cincinnati with 15 points.
UNDATED - Superstar Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, have become the focus of a raft of false claims and political conspiracy theories on social media this week as the team advances to the Super Bowl on Feb. 11. Baseless posts range from allegations that Swift has played a part in Pentagon psychological operations to the idea that she and Kelce, a two-time Super Bowl champion, are key assets in a secret plot to help President Joe Biden get reelected in 2024, and that the Chiefs’ success was rigged as part of the plan.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The early money is heavily on Kansas City to repeat as Super Bowl champion when the Chiefs face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Feb. 11. That caused sportsbooks to drop the opening number that favored the Niners by 2 or 2 1/2 points to 1 or 1 1/2 points. FanDuel Sportsbook opened the Niners as 2 1/2-point favorites. That number was 1 1/2 on Tuesday night.
UNDATED-The attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA that challenged its ban on the use of name, image and likeness compensation in the recruitment of college athletes. The legal challenge comes in response to the NCAA's investigation of University of Tennessee athletics for potential recruiting infractions. The lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Tennessee claims the NCAA is enforcing rules that unfairly restrict how athletes can commercially use their name, image and likeness. The NCAA already is facing other antitrust suits challenging transfer rules, employment status for athletes and athlete compensation rules.
NEW YORK (AP) — Kevin Durant scored 33 points in his return to Brooklyn, leading the Phoenix Suns to a 136-120 victory over the Nets on Wednesday night. Durant added eight assists in his first game in Brooklyn since being traded to Phoenix nearly a year ago. He got a mixed reception early in the game before helping take the crowd out of it with 11 points in the third quarter, when the Suns outscored the Nets 42-26 after leading by just three at halftime. Jusuf Nurkic added 28 points and 11 rebounds for the Suns, overwhelming an undersized Nets team as the Suns won for the ninth time in 11 games.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Anfernee Simons scored 24 points, including a key floater with 17.1 seconds left, and the Trail Blazers spoiled former teammate Damian Lillard’s return to Portland with a 119-116 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Lillard finished with 25 points for the Bucks in their second straight loss under new coach Doc Rivers. Giannis Antetokounmpo added 25 points and eight rebounds. Deandre Ayton had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who have won two straight.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The PGA Tour is getting a $3 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group. The deal gives players access to more than $1.5 billion as equity owners in the new PGA Tour Enterprises. The launch of PGA Tour Enterprises comes eight months after the PGA Tour signed a framework agreement with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf. That led to private equity groups wanting to join. The tour still is negotiating with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. The PIF is not yet part of the new venture. The tour says its partnership with SSG allows for the Saudis to be co-investors.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — This is a new version of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with a small field and a big purse. What hasn't changed is the weather. Pleasant conditions have given way to extreme wind and rain. The views aren't as pretty. The golf is entertaining. In a practice round on Wednesday, Tony Finau hit driver on the 106-yard seventh hole. This features an 80-man field and the amateurs leaving after two days. The purse is $20 million. Jordan Spieth will miss playing with country singer Jake Owen. But he says the field and Pebble make it feel like a major.
UNDATED-Cal Ripken Jr. and Grant Hill are part of the investor group that has agreed to buy the Baltimore Orioles. So are former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke. The group is headed by Baltimore native David Rubenstein. He is co-founder of the Carlyle Group. Additional investors were revealed in a news release announcing the agreement between Rubenstein and the Angelos family, which has run the team for the past three decades. The Angelos family is selling a control stake in the team to Rubenstein for $1.725 billion. The sale is subject to a full vote of Major League Baseball ownership.
UNDATED-Joe Dumars went to an NBA game a couple of weeks ago that came down to the very last shot, and he thought it was one of the best games of the season to this point. The final score was Denver 102, Boston 100. It was a reminder that defense still can get played in the NBA. Amid a flurry of big individual performances — Luka Doncic scoring 73, Joel Embiid scoring 70, Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns each scoring 62 — in the last two weeks alone, Dumars said Wednesday that NBA officials aren’t alarmed by such numbers because the league’s scoring average is up only slightly compared to last season.