SPORTS digest

Mahoning Valley Lanes to host fundraiser

YOUNGSTOWN

Helping Other Women, a Youngstown-area non-profit that donates furniture and other housewares to primarily underprivleged women with children, is hosting a bowling fund raiser at Mahoning Valley Lanes on May 20.

The fund raiser runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. and features door prizes and a chinese auction.

Spoelstra, D’Antoni share coaching award

Miami’s Erik Spoelstra and Houston’s Mike D’Antoni are the co-winners of the National Basketball Coaches Association’s coach of the year award.

The inaugural award, named for longtime NBCA executive director Michael H. Goldberg, is decided in a vote by the league’s 30 head coaches. The winners were announced Sunday. The award will be presented to Spoelstra and D’Antoni at the NBCA’s annual meeting in September.

Other coaches who received votes from their peers were Washington’s Scott Brooks, Memphis’ David Fizdale, Golden State’s Steve Kerr, Milwaukee’s Jason Kidd, San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Doc Rivers and Utah’s Quin Snyder.

The NBA’s Coach of the Year award will be announced June 26.

Cause of bobsledder’s death remains unclear

The cause of U.S. Olympic bobsledder Steven Holcomb’s death will remain unclear until more tests are completed.

An autopsy performed at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake, New York, showed that the 37-year-old Holcomb died with fluid in his lungs, Essex County coroner Francis Whitelaw said Sunday. However, that alone was not enough to draw a conclusion as to why Holcomb died — and no determination will come until toxicology tests are completed.

That process can typically take several weeks.

Whitelaw said preliminary toxicology results did not show drugs in Holcomb’s system. Whitelaw also said there is “no suspicion of foul play,” concurring with what USA Bobsled and Skeleton and the U.S. Olympic Committee said shortly after Holcomb’s body was discovered Saturday afternoon in his room at the Olympic Training Center — where many athletes reside when they are training or competing in Lake Placid.

Holcomb was a three-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist, including a four-man gold medal from the 2010 Vancouver Games.

Sharapova advances at Madrid Open

MADRID

Maria Sharapova recovered from a shaky opening to defeat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni of Croatia 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in the first round of the Madrid Open on Sunday, getting off to a good start in her second tournament since returning from a doping ban.

Sharapova took control of the match after struggling early against the 20th-ranked Lucic-Baroni, cruising to victory in the final set after more than two hours on the center court in Madrid.

Sharapova had 16 winners and only 10 unforced errors in her opening-round victory, her fourth since a controversial return to tennis.

It was Sharapova’s fifth match since a 15-month ban for testing positive for meldonium at last year’s Australian Open.

Keller’s hat trick helps U.S. beat Denmark

COLOGNE, GERMANY

The United States bounced back from its surprise opening loss at the ice hockey world championship with a 7-2 rout of Denmark on Sunday.

Left wing Clayton Keller of the Arizona Coyotes scored a hat trick and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 23 shots as the Americans got their first win after Friday’s 2-1 loss to Germany in Cologne.

Anders Lee of the New York Islanders scored twice, opening the scoring on a power play. The 18-year-old Keller got off the mark when it was four on four before Morten Madsen pulled one back for the Danes on a power play.

Staff/wire report