BASKETBALL
Jules Bernard had 30 points and 10 rebounds as the Capital City Go-Go beat the Maine Celtics in the NBA G League opener for both teams, 137-127, on Friday night in Washington, D.C.
Hamidou Diallo added 28 points and 10 rebounds for Capital City.
JD Davison, in his second season as a two-way player for Maine, finished with 23 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Jordan Walsh, who the Boston Celtics selected in the second-round of the 2023 NBA Draft, had 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists in his debut.
Maine will wear a ribbon on the left shoulder of its uniforms this season to show its support for Lewiston, where 18 people were killed in a mass shooting in October. The blue ribbons stretch across the left shoulder of the Celtics jersey and say “LEWISTON.”
HOCKEY
ECHL:Trois-Rivieres scored three straight goals after allowing Maine to take an early lead and beat the Mariners, 4-3, in an ECHL game at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.
Maine, which has lost three times to the Lions this season, took a 1-0 lead when Tyler Drevitch scored 4:35 into the game. Justin Ducharme and Anthony Beauregard scored in the first and Jakov Novak in the second as Trois-Rivieres took a 3-1 lead. Cameron Askew cut it to one for Maine, but Ty Smilanic scored three minutes later to stretch it back to a two-goal game.
Alex Kile scored in the third for Maine.
NHL: Jaromir Jagr’s familiar No. 68 is heading to the rafters at PPG Paints Arena.
The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they will retire Jagr’s number before a visit from the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 18.
Jagr spent the first 11 of his 24 seasons in the NHL in Pittsburgh, helping the Penguins win the Stanley Cup in 1991 and 1992.
SOCCER
NWSL: North Carolina Courage forward Kerolin was named the National Women’s Soccer League’s most valuable player.
The speedy Brazilian-born attacker scored a career-high 10 goals and added three assists in 19 games with the Courage this season. She was instrumental in North Carolina’s 9-7-6 finish this season, good for third in the NWSL standings.
PREMIER LEAGUE: Crystal Palace midfielder Eberechi Eze has signed a contract extension to stay with the Premier League club until 2027.
The 25-year-old England international scored 10 goals last season and has one this campaign. He joined the south London club from Queens Park Rangers in 2020.
• Promising young striker Evan Ferguson has extended his contract at Brighton to June 2029, the Premier League club said.
The 19-year-old Ireland international has scored five league goals this season including a hat trick in a victory over Newcastle.
OLYMPICS
FIGURE SKATING: A verdict in the Beijing Olympics doping case of Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva should be given by the end of January, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said after a fifth day of appeal proceedings.
The new deadline set by CAS should resolve the case nearly two years after the then-15-year-old’s doping test rocked the 2022 Winter Games in China.
Valieva’s positive test for a banned heart medication was revealed only after she helped the Russians win Olympic team gold in Beijing – and more than six weeks after the sample was taken at the national championship she won in St. Petersburg. The testing laboratory in Stockholm, Sweden, cited staffing issues during the COVID-19 pandemic for the delayed result.
TENNIS
BILLIE JEAN KING CUP: Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova sent the Czech Republic into the semifinals of the Billie Jean King Cup by beating American duo Danielle Collins and Taylor Townsend 6-3, 7-5 in their decisive doubles match in Seville, Spain.
Siniakova and Krejcikova completed a 2-1 comeback against the U.S. team on the indoor hard court in Seville to eliminate the Americans. The Czechs will face Canada in Saturday’s semifinals. Italy will face Slovenia in the other semifinal on the indoor hard court in Seville.
Siniakova had started the day by losing to Collins, who won their opening singles match 6-3, 6-2 to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead in a matchup to decide which teams would advance from Group A. But Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova pulled the Czechs level at 1-1 after she brushed aside Sofia Kenin 6-1, 6-1.
GOLF
PGA: Alex Noren started with three birdies and then he wondered if he would make another. He picked up two more late in the second round and posted a 5-under 66 for a two-shot lead going into the weekend at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in Southampton, Bermuda.
Noren finally got a putt to fall on the par-4 15th, added a birdie on the par-5 17th and wound up setting the tournament tournament record at 15-under 127.
He had a two-shot lead over Ryan Moore (64), and Satoshi Kodaira and Ryan Brehm, who each shot a 65, as the wind at Port Royal began to at least cause some doubt.
LPGA: Emily Kristine Pederson had six birdies in her opening 10 holes and held on for a 5-under 65 in Belleair, Florida, giving her a two-shot lead in The Annika and moving the Danish player two rounds closer to earning a spot in the LPGA Tour season finale.
Minami Katsu of Japan had a 67 and was two shots behind, followed by Jasmine Suwannapura of Thailand, who had a 65 and was four behind.
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