In Brief
basketball
Woman convicted in Pitino
case gets 87 months in prison
Karen Cunagin Sypher, who threatened to reveal a 2003 sexual tryst with Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino unless he paid her millions in cash, luxury cars and a house, was sentenced Friday to more than seven years in prison.
Sypher cried intermittently and gave a short, incoherent statement during the hearing in Louisville, Ky., before being sentenced to 87 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III. He also ordered two years of supervised release after she serves her prison term.
A jury convicted Sypher in August of extortion, lying to the FBI and retaliation against a witness. The charges carried a maximum sentence of 26 years, but federal sentencing guidelines called for a shorter term.
Also: Nigel Williams-Goss hit two key 3-pointers with a little more than five minutes remaining to help Findlay Prep to a 95-84 victory over Rise Academy (Pa.) at Henderson International.
The Pilots (26-3), ranked 12th nationally by USA Today, saw a 14-point lead whittled to one before Williams-Goss drained the two 3-pointers. The Pilots iced the game from the free-throw line, where they finished 33 of 43.
Amir Garrett and Nick Johnson each had 18 points for Findlay Prep. Williams-Goss scored 17, Anthony Bennett 15 and Myck Kabongo 14.
pro football
Ex-NFL safety Duerson, 50,
found dead in Florida home
Dave Duerson, a four-time Pro Bowl safety who played on Super Bowl winners with the Chicago Bears and New York Giants, has died. He was 50.
The Bears released a statement saying they were "stunned and saddened" by the news and called Duerson "a great contributor to our team and the Chicago community."
A Miami-Dade police detective said the body of a Dave Duerson was found Thursday in a home in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla. Computer records showed that the Duerson who lived at the address was born the same month and year as the player. Investigators have not determined the cause of death.
Also: The Pittsburgh Steelers placed the franchise tag on linebacker LaMarr Woodley. The 26-year-old, who just finished his third season with Pittsburgh, made $550,000 last season, the final year of his rookie contract. Now he stands to make more than $10 million next season if the Steelers don't sign him to a long-term contract.
Safety Bob Sanders, the 2007 NFL defensive player of the year who has battled injuries most of his career, was released by the Indianapolis Colts. After winning the league's top defensive honor, Sanders signed a five-year, $37.5 million contract but played in only nine regular-season games in the next three seasons.
Washington Redskins kick returner Brandon Banks was released from an Arlington, Va., hospital, six days after a stabbing outside a nightclub left him with a collapsed lung. A tube in Banks' left lung was removed and the lung is now inflated. He should be able to resume normal activities in three to four weeks, his agent said.
The Detroit Lions violated the NFL's policy against tampering and must forfeit their upcoming seventh-round draft pick and exchange fifth-round picks with the Kansas City Chiefs. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued the ruling for violations last year involving players under contract with the Chiefs.
miscellaneous
Hitting streak ends at 56 for
Florida International's Wittels
Florida International junior shortstop Garrett Wittels went 0-for-4 to end his hitting streak at 56 games in a 10-2 loss to Southeastern Louisiana in Miami in the season opener for both teams.
Wittels finished two games shy of matching Robin Ventura's 58-game Division I record set in 1987 with Oklahoma State and four short of the NCAA all-divisions mark of 60 by Damian Costantino of Division III Salve Regina from 2001 to 2003.
Wittels' best chance for a hit came in the eighth inning in his final at-bat, but his sharp grounder to third was snared by a diving Jonathan Pace, who scrambled to touch the base in time for the second out of the inning.
Also: Prosecutors in Washington said that former baseball star Roger Clemens was "wrong legally and factually" when he argued that a judge should dismiss his indictment on charges of lying to Congress.
Clemens argued in a motion filed last month that his indictment is vague and contains too many separate accusations of lying in one count -- 15 in all. Prosecutors replied in a court filing that the accusations can be charged in a single count because they were part of one continuing scheme to obstruct a congressional investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
The Wranglers netted four goals in the final 12 minutes to claim a 5-2 victory over the Utah Grizzlies in an ECHL game at West Valley City, Utah.
Las Vegas (31-17-3) fell behind 2-1 eight minutes into the third period, but Barry Goers tied it up just 25 seconds later on a short-handed goal. Two minutes later, Aaron Power scored what proved to be the game winner. Blake Gallagher made it 4-2 with three minutes left, and Colin Long closed it out with his second goal of the night.
The NHL board of governors approved the $189 million sale of the Buffalo Sabres to Pennsylvania billionaire Terry Pegula, clearing the way for him to take control of the franchise next week from outgoing owner Tom Golisano. Pegula has ties to western New York and is committed to keeping the franchise in Buffalo as part of the deal.
Freshman Cassy Herkelman, an Iowa high school wrestler who became the first girl to win a state tournament match when her opponent refused to face her, was eliminated from contention after losing two 112-pound matches Friday in Des Moines. Herkelman's opponent on Thursday, sophomore Joel Northrup, refused to wrestle her because of religious beliefs.
Ted Ligety produced a clean second run under declining conditions and gave the U.S. skiing team its first gold medal of the world championships when he won the giant slalom title in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Teammate Bode Miller had the fastest second run but finished 12th after an error-filled first heat.
Caroline Wozniacki regained the No. 1 WTA ranking after beating Shahar Peer 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Dubai Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The 20-year-old Dane lost the top spot Monday to Kim Clijsters but will officially reclaim it when the new rankings are released next week.
Top-seeded Andy Roddick overcame a shaky start and beat Lleyton Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, Tenn.
The UNLV men's tennis team's four-match winning streak was snapped in a 4-3 loss to Oklahoma State at the Fertitta Tennis Complex. The Rebels (8-4) split the six singles matches, getting victories from Mehdi Bouras, Tamas Batyi and Rene Ruegamer, but lost two of three doubles matches.
The 35th-ranked UNLV women's tennis team posted 7-0 victories over Denver and Utah State at the Fertitta Tennis Complex to improve to 6-1 this season.
The UNLV softball team split two games on the second day of the Desert Classic, beating Arkansas 3-2 in eight innings and then losing to Utah State 14-9 at Eller Media Stadium.
Jaexie Balilea's RBI single scored Paige Emerson to lift the Rebels (3-4) over Arkansas. In the nightcap, UNLV got third-inning homers from Christina Montoya and Balilea to erase a 5-0 deficit, but Utah State piled up nine runs over the final four innings.
