SPORTS DIGEST || YSU women’s hoops losing three players

YSU women’s hoops losing three players

YOUNGSTOWN

Guards Shar’Rae Davis, Amanda Barger and Taylor Hvisdak are leaving the Youngstown State women’s basketball team.

Davis, a Grand Haven, Mich., native, made the Horizon League’s all-newcomer team in 2012-13 but missed last season with colitis.

Hvisdak, a Lowellville High graduate, walked on before the 2012-13 season and earned a scholarship this year, averaging 1.3 points in 2.6 minutes this season. Barger, of Gurnee, Ill., appeared in just eight games this season, scoring five points in 21 total minutes.

All three were recruited by former coach Bob Boldon.

Wooster, Hiram to play at Cene, Eastwood

NILES

Hiram College’s baseball team will play host to Wooster for a pair of doubleheaders on Saturday at Cene Park and Sunday at Eastwood Field.

Both doubleheaders begin at noon, followed by 2 p.m. games.

Both rosters feature several Valley natives.

Craft goes it alone in Eastwood appearance

NILES

Former Ohio State basketball star Aaron Craft, the national defensive player of the year, will appear Sunday at the Everything Buckeyes store at the Eastwood Mall. Craft was scheduled to appear with another former Buckeye Lenzelle Smith, but Smith will not be there.

Tickets are $20 for a Craft autograph and inscriptions are $10. Call 330-349-9014 for more information.

TV viewership down for NCAA title game

NEW YORK

The NCAA men’s basketball national championship game’s television viewership was down from last year. UConn’s 60-54 win over Kentucky on Monday on CBS averaged 21.2 million viewers. That’s down 9 percent from the 2013 Louisville-Michigan game.

Pens’ Vokoun to go to AHL for conditioning

PITTSBURGH

More than six months after undergoing a procedure to dissolve a blood clot in his pelvis, Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun will return to professional hockey this weekend when he plays for the team’s American Hockey League affiliate. The Penguins on Tuesday announced that Vokoun, 37, will be re-assigned to the AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for a conditioning stint.

After being put on blood thinners last fall, Vokoun was cleared to practice in February and has done so regularly but is experiencing soreness. The initial time frame for a return was 3-6 months.

Chelsea, Real Madrid advance to semifinals

LONDON

With Chelsea facing Champions League elimination, Demba Ba scored just his sixth goal of the season in the 87th minute Tuesday night, evening the total-goals series at 3-3. The Blues’ 2-0 win enabled them to advance to the semifinals on away goals following a 3-1 loss in the French capital last week.

In the night’s other match, Real Madrid reached the semifinals for the fourth consecutive season with a 3-2 aggregate win following a 2-0 defeat at Borussia Dortmund.

MLS nears deal for new team in Atlanta

ATLANTA

Major League Soccer is closing in on a deal with Falcons owner Arthur Blank to bring an expansion franchise to Atlanta’s new downtown stadium. The team would likely begin play in 2017, when the $1 billion retractable roof stadium is set to open next to the Georgia Dome to provide a new home for the NFL Falcons.

The MLS has long coveted the Atlanta market, the largest in the U.S. without a team, as it moves toward its goal of expanding to 24 franchises. The 19-team league has already announced expansion franchises in New York City and Orlando that are scheduled to begin play next season, in addition to a provisional franchise in Miami owned by a group that includes David Beckham.

Staff reports/Associated Press