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Basketball change

POLAND — Wednesday’s Lakeview-Poland girls basketball games have been moved to Thursday at Poland High.

The junior-varsity game will begin at 6 p.m.

Christian selected

TULSA, Okla. — Former SteelHounds captain Jeff Christian has been named the Central Hockey League’s Player of the Week.

Christian totaled eight points in three games with the Tulsa Oilers.

The 2006-07 CHL Most Valuable Player had multiple points in each of Tulsa’s games scoring five goals (including the Oilers first hat trick of the season) and three assists.

The Burlington, Ontario, native has been on fire lately, notching points in each of the last six games for the Oilers.

He totaled seven goals and eight assists over that stretch. Christian’s 25 points (10-15=25) on the season has him ranked just inside the league’s top 10.

Conti all-league

ROCHESTER. N.Y. — Ashley Conti (Canfield High), a senior goalie on the Rochester Institute of Technology women’s soccer team, was a repeat selection on the Empire 8 all-star team.

Conti played in 15 games and had a 5-7-1 record.

The team went 9-8-3 and earned an Empire 8 playoff spot.

She placed seventh in the league with a 1.82 goal-against average and is third all-time in wins at RIT with 21.

nation

Comets to disband

HOUSTON — The WNBA president says the franchise that won the league’s first four championships is disbanding.

Donna Orender told Houston television station KRIV on Monday that the league-owned Houston Comets would be shut down because new owners couldn’t be found.

Houston Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, the original owner of the Comets, sold the team to Houston businessman Hilton Koch last year. The WNBA took over the franchise earlier this year and began a search for a new owner.

Orender did not rule out a WNBA team returning to Houston. Orender said a dispersal draft for Houston players would be held next week.

The Comets won the first four WNBA titles from 1997-2000.

Broyles Award

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson is one of five finalists for the Broyles Award, given to the nation’s top assistant coach.

The Broyles Award is named for Arkansas athletic director Frank Broyles. He was the Razorbacks’ football coach, and more than 25 of his assistants became head coaches. They include Joe Gibbs, Jimmy Johnson, Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill.

Wilson’s offense is scoring 53 points per game, easily the best mark in the nation. Oklahoma has scored over 60 points in four straight games.

The Broyles Award winner will be announced Dec. 9 in Little Rock. Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Heacock won it last year.

Altoona Curve sold

ALTOONA, Pa. — The Altoona Curve, one of minor league baseball’s most successful Double-A franchises, is being sold back to its original owners.

The family of Robert F. Lozinak is buying the Eastern League team from managing general partner Chuck Greenberg, who bought the team from Lozinak in 2002. Greenberg’s investors included former Pittsburgh Steelers star Jerome Bettis and Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux.

Greenberg will retain his ownership of short-season Class A State College, a New York-Penn League team that operates 45 miles east of Altoona.

Groundbreaking

CHESTER, Pa. — Major League Soccer, state and local officials broke ground on a planned $115 million soccer stadium just outside Philadelphia on Monday.

Officials at the ceremony along the Delaware River, in the shadow of the Commodore Barry Bridge, said the stadium project in Chester is on schedule despite the nationwide economic downturn.

The stadium will be home to a yet-to-be-named team that is expected to start play in 2010 as the MLS’s 16th club. MLS commissioner Don Garber called the groundbreaking a historic moment for Chester and U.S. soccer fans.

Judge rejects sale

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Ownership of reigning Horse of the Year Curlin remained divided Monday after a judge’s surprise ruling rejecting a proposed sale that would have consolidated control of the horse under winemaker Jess Jackson.

Vindicator staff/wire reports