Sports Digest: Hall of Fame women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer retires

COLLEGES

Hall of Fame coach C. Vivian Stringer announced her retirement Saturday after 50 years in college basketball.

She finished with 1,055 wins – fourth all-time among Division I women’s basketball coaches. Stringer made four Final Four appearances and reached the NCAA Tournament 28 times while leading Cheyney State, Iowa and Rutgers. Stringer was emotional when she talked to her team Friday night on a Zoom call.

“I am officially announcing my retirement,” Stringer in a statement. “My life has been defined by coaching and I’ve been on this journey for over five decades. It is rare that someone gets to do what they love for this long and I have been fortunate to do that. I love Rutgers University for the incredible opportunity they offered me and the tremendous victories we achieved together. ”

The 74-year-old coach had been on leave this past season because of COVID-19 concerns. She signed a five-year extension before going on leave last April. Her retirement becomes effective on Sept. 1, and she agreed to an $ 872,988 retirement buyout. Rutgers will name its basketball court in her honor next season.

HOCKEY

NHL: The Detroit Red Wings fired Jeff Blashill, moving on from the coach tabbed to guide the storied NHL franchise through a long rebuilding process.

Advertisement

General Manager Steve Yzerman said the team was not renewing the contracts of Blashill, assistant Doug Houda and goaltending coach Jeff Salajko.

Blashill spent the past seven seasons behind the bench for the Red Wings, who have missed the playoffs the past six seasons while transitioning into a youth movement. They last qualified for the postseason in 2015-16 when they lost in the first round.

SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Manchester City remained the front-runner in the English Premier League title race after winning at Leeds 4-0.

Liverpool won at Newcastle 1-0 in an early kickoff to keep the pressure on City, which responded.

Rodri headed City into a halftime lead, and further goals from Nathan Ake, Gabriel Jesus and Fernandinho lifted it back above Liverpool by a point.

Advertisement

SPANISH LEAGUE: Real Madrid clinched a record-extending 35th Spanish league title after its reserve squad comfortably defeated Espanyol 4-0.

Rodrygo scored twice and Marco Asensio and substitute Karim Benzema added a goal each to give Madrid its second league title in three seasons, and third in six years.

The victory gave Madrid an insurmountable lead with four rounds to go. It was 17 points in front of Sevilla, which drew with Cádiz 1-1 on Friday, and 18 points ahead of Barcelona, ​​which hosts Mallorca on Sunday.

TENNIS

BMW OPEN: Danish teenager Holger Rune will play Botic van de Zandschulp in the final in Munich after they came through the semifinals.

Rune defeated home favorite Oscar Otte 6-4 6-4 in both players’ first ATP Tour semifinal, and Van de Zandschulp rallied to defeat Miomir Kecmanovic 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Advertisement

MADRID OPEN: Simona Halep played some of her best tennis in Madrid again in defeating home crowd favorite Paula Badosa in straight sets to reach the last 16 on Saturday for the seventh time in 11 appearances.

The two-time Madrid Open champion had 21 winners as she defeated No. 2-ranked Badosa 6-3, 6-1 on the Caja Mágica center court.

Another former No. 1, Victoria Azarenka, rallied past Tamara Zidansek 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in 2 hours, 20 minutes in her first match since the third round in Miami, when she retired for personal reasons.

AUTO RACING

INDYCAR: Rinus VeeKay led an upset in IndyCar qualifying to position himself to race for the win at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama.

The Dutchman was the surprise pole-winner for Sunday’s race following a qualifying session that saw most of IndyCar’s top names fail to advance through the rounds.

Advertisement

The first round on Saturday bounced both Will Power, a two-time winner at Barber, and six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon. The two are among the best active drivers in IndyCar, but both struggled around the picturesque permanent road course that is considered one of the most physical tracks on the circuit.

«Previous

Next »

Related Stories