BASKETBALL

Breanna Stewart scored 37 points, including 11 to start the fourth quarter, to help the Seattle Storm beat the Las Vegas Aces 93-80 in Game 1 of the WNBA finals on Friday night in Bradenton, Florida.

Jewell Loyd added 28 points and Sue Bird had a WNBA playoff-record 16 assists.

Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Sunday.

Stewart added 15 rebounds and four blocks. She was a point short of the finals record set by Angel McCoughtry.

GOLF

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PGA: Keegan Bradley made three straight birdies on the back nine and closed with another short birdie putt Friday as he shot a 7-under 65 to take a two-shot lead over J.T. Poston and Charley Hoffman in the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi.

Bradley, whose victory in the BMW Championship two years ago is his only title in the last eight years, was at 13-under 131 at the Country Club of Jackson.

Poston made five birdies on the back nine for a 67, while Hoffman shot 69.

LPGA: Nasa Hataoka birdied two of the last three holes for a 4-under 67 and a one-stroke lead in the Shoprite LPGA Classic in Galloway, New Jersey.

Hataoka, a 21-year-old Japanese player with three LPGA Tour victories, birdied the par-4 16th and par-5 18th to get to 11-under 131.

Mi Hyang Lee (69) and Mel Reid (64) were a stroke behind

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SCOTTISH OPEN: Australian golfer Lucas Herbert carded seven birdies and one bogey in a 6-under 65 to lead by one shot going into the weekend.

Herbert contemplated quitting the game as he struggled during the middle of the 2019 season, but finds himself in contention for his second European Tour title after winning his first in January in Dubai. At 11-under par, he’s a shot ahead of Robert Rock and two ahead of Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.

SOCCER

ENGLAND: Sadio Mane has become the second Liverpool player to contract the coronavirus this week.

Liverpool described Mane’s symptoms as “minor” and said he “feels in good health overall.”

Mane, a forward who scored in a 3-1 victory over Arsenal on Monday, will miss Sunday’s game against Aston Villa. Midfielder Thiago Alcantara is also out of that game after contracting COVID-19.

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FRANCE: Neymar scored his first two goals of the season to help Paris Saint-Germain move into second place with its fourth straight win – a 6-1 rout of visiting Angers.

AUTO RACING

FORMULA ONE: Honda will withdraw from Formula One at the end of the 2021 season as it shifts to a goal of carbon neutrality, the Japanese car manufacturer said Friday.

Honda is the engine supplier for the Red Bull and AlphaTauri teams. It had resumed competition in F1 in 2015, originally with McLaren, but Honda-powered cars never managed to become regular title challengers in an era dominated by Mercedes.

Red Bull Racing said it was “disappointed” but noted the success of the partnership with Max Verstappen scoring Honda’s first victory since 2006 at the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix, followed by three other wins and 13 podium finishes.

Team principal Christian Horner said they respect Honda’s decision “to re-deploy their resources.”

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“Their decision presents obvious challenges for us as a team but we have been here before and with our strength in depth we are well prepared and equipped to respond effectively, as we have proven in the past,” Horner said in a statement.

Honda president Takahiro Hachigo addressed the decision during an online news conference Friday.

“In Formula One, we have reached our goal of scoring victories, and achieved certain results,” Hachigo said. “Now we will put our strength into innovation in the new field of power units, carbon-free energy and achieving carbon neutrality. This could be a challenge as difficult as Formula One.”

COLLEGES

MINNESOTA: The University of Minnesota plans to have 98 fewer athletes on its nonrevenue teams next school year. According to data obtained by the Star Tribune, the athletics department is trimming 41 female players from women’s athletics in addition to the 57 men cut by the elimination of men’s track and field, tennis and gymnastics.

Besides eliminating the three men’s teams pending Board of Regents approval, the Gophers expect to have smaller rosters for eight women’s and two men’s teams, according to athletic department data. Six men’s teams and one women’s team are predicted to add to their rosters.

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The Regents are expected to discuss the men’s program cuts at their next meeting Oct. 8-9. While supporters and athletes work to save the sports, Regent Michael Hsu said the cuts are being made too quickly

“I really don’t understand what they’re trying to do,” Hsu said. “I think it’s premature. I would like to see us preserve all of our sports until such time as we get back to a normal environment, and then decide what we’re going to do.”

The coronavirus pandemic is expected to cause major revenue losses for the university and officials are looking for many ways to save money.

ROAD RACING

LONDON MARATHON: Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele withdrew from the London Marathon because of a left calf injury.

Marathon officials had billed Sunday’s race as a showdown between Bekele and longtime rival Eliud Kipchoge, the world-record holder.

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The 38-year-old Bekele, a three-time Olympic champion on the track, said in a video message that he felt pain in his calf two weeks ago. He had hoped to get through it, but said Friday that he can’t.

“It’s really impossible to race on Sunday. I am not ready because of not solving this minor issue,” Bekele said. “I have tried my best to solve it.”

Bekele said he initially felt pain when he “pushed a little bit hard in training.” He said he’s “disappointed for my fans” and vowed to return next year.

Kipchoge set the world record (2 hours, 1 minute, 39 seconds) in Berlin in 2018. A year later, Bekele won the same race and was just two seconds off Kipchoge’s mark.

Athletes will compete on a closed-loop course consisting of 19.6 clockwise laps around St. James’ Park. The traditional course along the River Thames was scrapped because of the coronavirus pandemic. Only elite men and women are competing and no spectators are permitted.

ATHENS MARATHON: The Athens Marathon has been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The marathon had been scheduled for Nov. 8. It follows the legendary route purportedly run by the ancient Greek messenger Pheidippides from Marathon to Athens to announce victory over the Persians in the Battle of Marathon in 490 B.C.

The classic marathon route has grown in popularity since the 1970s and the event now includes 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer races.

The Greek track federation says it had considered holding only the marathon with fewer participants and compulsory COVID-19 tests for all runners but its proposal to Greek health authorities had not been answered.

The federation says participants will be contacted and offered a refund or to transfer their participation to 2021. It says it will organize a virtual race in November that will be open to all.

 

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