bowling

PBA returning to Portland for league event in April

The PBA League will return to Bayside Bowl in Portland next April for the Xtra Frame Maine Shootout and Elias Cup finals.

It will be the fourth straight season that Bayside Bowl has hosted a Professional Bowlers Association event.

The Maine Shootout will be held April 17-19, with a PBA Tour title on the line in the open-entry individual event.

The PBA League’s Elias Cup playoffs will be held April 20-22, with qualifying for the team event on Friday, quarterfinals Saturday, and the semifinals and final on Sunday.

The Elias Cup playoffs will be live streamed on ESPN3 and telecast on ESPN over four Sundays.

COLLEGES

FIELD HOCKEY: Olivia Madore and Vonde Saunders scored in the first 10 minutes, and the University of New England downed the Nichols 3-1 in a Commonwealth Coast Conference field hockey game at Dudley, Massachusetts.

Sydney Liptak rounded out the scoring for the the Nor’easters (7-3, 4-1) in the 39th minute, on a feed from Saunders. Erin Jillson scored for the Bison (3-7, 0-6) in the 57th minute.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY: Abby Cleary and Randi Marcon scored second-period goals and ninth-ranked Quinnipiac sent Maine to a 2-1 loss in a season opener at Orono.

Anna Zikova scored for the Black Bears with 1:37 remaining in the first period on a feed from Michelle Weis.

Cleary answered at 3:38 of the second, then helped set up Marcon for the go-ahead goal at 18:13.

Carly Jackson had 20 saves for Maine. Abbie Ives stoped 16 shots for Quinnipiac.

BASKETBALL

NBA: Reigning MVP Russell Westbrook signed a contract extension to remain with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team announced Friday. ESPN first reported the agreement and said it would be for five years and worth $205 million.

Westbrook averaged a triple-double last season and was the league scoring champion. He averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists and broke Oscar Robertson’s single-season record for triple-doubles with 42.

• Cavaliers star LeBron James missed his second straight practice with a sprained left ankle.

• Hawks guard Dennis Schroder was charged with battery after a fight at a late-night restaurant near Atlanta.

Brookhaven police reported that Schroder and three other men were arrested in an altercation around 2 a.m. Friday at the 6am restaurant. A review of video from the scene led to the misdemeanor charges.

HOCKEY

NHL: Ottawa Senators goalie Craig Anderson agreed to a two-year, $9.5 million contract extension Friday that will pay him $5.5 million in 2018-19 and $4 million in 2019-20. The 36-year-old American was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

TENNIS

WUHAN OPEN: Ashleigh Barty of Australia reached her biggest WTA final when she beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-0 at Wuhan, China, on Friday.

Barty will play Caroline Garcia in the final after the Frenchwoman beat qualifier Maria Sakkari of Greece 6-3, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

TASHKENT OPEN: Former world No. 2 Vera Zvonareva fell short in her bid to make a second successive WTA final in her comeback to professional tennis, retiring against Kateryna Bondarenko while trailing 7-6 (7), 4-1 in the semifinals at Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

– Staff and news service report

Copy the Story Link