Thursday Sports In Brief

Thursday Sports In Brief
By The Associated Press
BASKETBALL
EAGLE, Colo. (AP) -- A decision on whether to charge Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman will not be announced until next week, a prosecutor's spokeswoman said.
Eagle County District Attorney Mark Hurlbert did not return a phone call, but a statement from his office said he was awaiting more information before making his decision.
Bryant is accused of attacking the woman at a resort on June 30. Bryant's attorney has said his client, who was in Colorado for knee surgery at a Vail clinic, is innocent.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Free agent Karl Malone, the NBA's second-leading all-time scorer, committed to join the Los Angeles Lakers.
Malone joins Gary Payton, a nine-time All-Star who agreed earlier this week to play for the Lakers.
Even though Payton and Malone have reached agreements with the team, the first day free agents can sign contracts is Wednesday.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Draft pick Maciej Lampe practiced with the New York Knicks after receiving clearance from his European basketball team.
The 6-foot-11 Lampe was taken with the first pick of the second round, but remained under contract to Real Madrid.
PHILADERPHIA (AP) -- Former NBA coach Chris Ford joined the Philadelphia 76ers as an assistant to new coach Randy Ayers.
BASEBALL
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Pirates first baseman Randall Simon was cited by the sheriff's department for disorderly conduct and fined $432 for hitting one of the Brewers' sausage mascots with his bat on Wednesday.
Simon said he didn't mean to knock down the woman, who tumbled to the ground and got a few scrapes but wasn't seriously hurt during the popular costume race at Milwaukee Brewers games.
CYCLING
NEVERS, France (AP) -- Lance Armstrong finished 53rd in the fifth stage of the Tour de France and remained second overall behind U.S. Postal Service teammate Victor Hugo Pena.
Alessandro Petacchi won for the third time in five stages, completing the 121.8-mile leg from Troyes in 4 hours, 9 minutes and 47 seconds.
Pena celebrated his 29th birthday by retaining the overall leader's yellow jersey, finishing 63rd in the stage.
GOLF
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Annika Sorenstam played six holes then withdrew from the Canadian Women's Open.
Sorenstam, the LPGA's top money-winner, has been bothered by a cold since last week's U.S. Open. She teed off at 12:30 p.m., and was 1-over par through six holes.
She walked off the course after hitting her second shot on the par-4 7th into a greenside bunker.
Sorenstam said she was worn out from both the U.S. Open and the attention she has received since playing in the Colonial on the PGA Tour in May.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
NEWARK, N.J (AP) -- Connecticut will become a full-time football member of the Big East Conference next year, and the league won't add any new schools before the 2005-06 season.
The decisions were made after meetings of presidents and athletic directors of the Big East's football playing schools.
With Miami and Virginia Tech off to the Atlantic Coast Conference beginning with the 2004 season, the Big East will have seven football-playing schools -- one short of the required eight needed by the 2005 season to remain a I-A conference.
WEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) -- Army's football team will leave Conference USA after the 2004 season to play as an independent again.
The U.S. Military Academy is making the move, in part, to have more scheduling flexibility, superintendent Lt. Gen. William Lennox Jr. said.
Army joined the conference as its sole football-only member in 1998 after having been an independent since the sport began at the academy in 1890. The departure will leave Conference USA with 10 football schools. FOOTBALL
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) -- Michael Bennett said Wednesday he will miss the Minnesota Vikings' training camp with a slow-healing foot injury that could also keep him out for the season.
Bennett injured his left foot in March when he came down on it awkwardly while running on a treadmill. He had surgery a few weeks later.
BOXING
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Once-beaten Erik Morales will fight Guty Espadas in a rematch to headline an October boxing card at Staples Arena.
Morales, the WBC featherweight champion from Mexico, will face countryman Espadas in a WBC 12-round super featherweight elimination bout on Oct. 4.
Morales beat Espadas two years ago on a close decision in a WBC title fight. Morales is 44-1, with 33 knockouts. Espadas is 37-5, with 23 knockouts.
HOCKEY
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- The New York Islanders re-signed veteran defenseman Kenny Jonsson to a two-year contract.
Financial terms were not released.