Published: November 16, 2008 12:08 am      

Local Sports Briefs 11/16/08

BASKETBALL

UPJ women open with loss

KUTZTOWN – LeMoyne College broke open a five-point halftime lead en route to a 70-52 victory over Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday in the first round of the Kutztown University Golden Bear Classic.

Sheena Aden scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds as the Lady Cats opened their season with a loss. She was 5-of-14 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line while senior guard Lindsay Cale was the only other Lady Cat to score in double figures. Cale had 10 points on a pair of 3-pointers and four free throws.

The Cats outrebounded LeMoyne 56-41, but had 25 turnovers and struggled from the field, going just 17-of-61 and 2-of-15 from 3-point range. The Dolphins sank 24 of 59 field-goal attempts.



VOLLEYBALL

Red Flash fall to CCSU

LORETTO – Central Connecticut State beat St. Francis 3-1 in a Northeast Conference match at DeGol Arena.

The Blue Devils won 25-19, 25-23, 16-25 and 25-18.

Keshia Gibbs led the way for the Red Flash with 12 kills on .286 hitting. Kristin Buter also had 11 kills for the Flash and a team-leading 22.

Gibbs and teammate Kayla Greenwalt each had four blocks.

Rikki Myers chipped in with 40 assists, and Christine Breisch had the team’s two service aces.

The Flash will observe Senior Day at 2 p.m. today, when they host Quinnipiac.



FOOTBALL

Obama to push for playoff

NEW YORK – It’s not exactly at the top of his agenda, but President-elect Barack Obama says there should be a college football playoff to determine a national champion. In fact, he knows exactly what he wants – an eight-team playoff.

In an interview with “60 Minutes,” Obama addresses a subject college football fans have debated for many years, and says he will use his influence to create such a system.

“If you’ve got a bunch of teams who play throughout the season, and many of them have one loss or two losses, there’s no clear decisive winner. We should be creating a playoff system,” he tells CBS’ Steve Kroft in an interview to be broadcast tonight.

According to Obama’s proposed system, eight teams would play over three rounds to settle the national champion.

“It would add three extra weeks to the season,” he said at the conclusion of a wide-ranging interview. “You could trim back on the regular season. I don’t know any serious fan of college football who has disagreed with me on this. So, I’m going to throw my weight around a little bit. I think it’s the right thing to do.”

Simon’s squad eliminated

CALGARY, Alberta – Geroy Simon won’t be adding a second Grey Cup title to his collection.

The Greater Johnstown graduate, who was named to the CFLAll-Star team on Thursday, had five catches for 118 yards in the CFL’s West final on Saturday, but it wasn’t enough as Calgary beat British Columbia 22-18.

Henry Burris threw for 236 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score as the Stampeders reached the Grey Cup for the first time since winning the 2001 title.

They will meet host Montreal on Nov. 23. The Alouettes beat Edmonton 36-26 in the East final.



TENNIS

Davydenko to meet Djokovic

SHANGHAI, China – Nikolay Davydenko reached the Masters Cup final with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Andy Murray, who seemed exhausted from his upset of Roger Federer a day earlier.

Davydenko will meet Novak Djokovic, who earlier rallied to oust France’s Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.