Sports

March 9, 2010

WIU SPORTS NEWS:

The fighting Leatherneck women's basketball team fell to South Dakota State,
67-39, in the conference semifinals on Monday at the Sioux Falls Center.

NATIONAL SPORT HEADLINES:

Ben Roethlisberger's attorney is disputing a 20-year-old woman's claim that
Pittsburgh Steeler's quarterback sexually assaulted her early Friday in
a Georgia nightclub. Ed Garland says there was "no criminal activity"
and Roethlisberger is "completely innocent of any crime," but the
investigation continues.

Saint Mary's beat Gonzaga 81-62 for the first time in 10 West Coast Conference
tournament meetings and earned the automatic bid into the NCAA tourna-
ment. Mickey McConnell scored 26 points and Ben Allen added 20 for the
Gaels, who will be making their sixth NCAA tournament appearance.

Three other teams played their way into the 65-team NCAA field last night.
Edwin Ubiles scored 27 points and Siena rallied from a double-digit half-
time deficit and beat Fairfield 72-65 in overtime to win the Metro Atlantic
Athletic Conference, Wofford beat Appalachian State 56-51 to win the
Southern Conference tourney and Old Dominion beat William and Mary
60-53 to win the Colonial Athletic Association tournament.

Already in the record books for breaking its own NCAA women's record with its
71st straight victory last night with a 59-44 win over Notre Dame, the
Connecticut women's team goes for its 16th Big East tournament cham-
pionship tonight against West Virginia. Next up on the UConn record watch
would be the all-time college record of 88 straight set by John Wooden's
UCLA men's team from 1971 through 1974.

Shawn Marion had a season-high 29 points and 14 rebounds and the Dallas
Mavericks stretched the NBA's longest active winning streak to 12 games
with a 125-112 victory over Minnesota last night. Dirk Nowitzki scored
24 points and Caron Butler had 23 for Dallas,which has flourished since
acquiring Butler and Brendan Haywood from the Washington Wizards at the
trade deadline.

Paul Konerko and Alex Rios have connected for their first home runs of spring
training for the Chicago White Sox. The solo shots weren't enough to
overcome Seattle's 11 hits in a 5-4 victory for the Mariners' split squad
in Arizona.

Ryan Dempster has made his string debut with two perfect innings in the Chicago
Cubs' 10-3 victory over the Oakland Athletics in Phoenix. Derrek Lee and
Aramis Ramirez each drove in a run for the Cubs yesterday. Ryan Theriot
had two hits, walked once and scored twice.

The St. Loius Cardinals lost an exhibition game to Boston in Fort Meyers, Florida.
The Red Sox won 7-6. Chris Carpenter went two innings for St. Louis in his
first appearance this spring. He gave up a run on four hits with a strikeout
and no walks.