Pierce Breezes Into Semifinals

Top-seeded Mary Pierce of France defeated Jelena Dokic of Australia, 6-3, 6-1, on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Fourth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain also advanced, defeating eighth-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 7-6 (12), 3-6, 6-3.

“Amanda and I, we always have tough matches and we always play longer matches,” Sanchez-Vicario said. “In the end, I started being a little bit more aggressive and I made it through.”

Sanchez-Vicario will face second-seeded Conchita Martinez of Spain, a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Jana Nejedly of Canada. Pierce, who has lost only nine games in three matches, will face third-seeded Monica Seles, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania.

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Eighth-seeded Cedric Pioline downed Karol Kucera of Slovakia, 6-2, 6-4, and is on course to become the first French champion of the Monte Carlo Open. He is the only seeded player to reach the semifinals.

College Basketball

Steve McClain, who has a 37-22 record in two seasons as the Wyoming men’s basketball coach, received a two-year contract extension that will carry through the 2004-05 season.

Senque Carey, a two-year starter at Washington who averaged 10.4 points and 4.6 assists a game as a sophomore, will transfer to another school. . . . Ernest Brown, a 7-foot, 255-pound center who helped Indian Hills Community College of Iowa to a 28-5 record, said he will make himself available for the NBA draft.

Jan Gangelhoff, who admitted doing coursework for basketball players at Minnesota, is recovering from quadruple bypass surgery in Minneapolis. The 51-year-old former office manager in the university’s academic counseling unit was the chief accuser in a Saint Paul Pioneer Press report last year that detailed academic misconduct in the basketball program, leading to a $1.5-million contract buyout of former coach Clem Haskins.

Three junior college players from Texas have signed letters of intent to play for the UCLA women’s team. Shalada Allen, 6 feet 2, and Stacy Robertson, 6-0, are from Kilgore College; Malika Leatham, 6-2, is from Blinn College. All will be juniors next season.

Miscellany

Two bowl games were added to the college football lineup for next season--the galleryfurniture.com Bowl at Houston and the Silicon Valley Classic at San Jose. Another game, the New Orleans Bowl, received initial approval for the 2001 season from an NCAA panel. Two other bowls are trying to get on board for 2001: the Hoosier Bowl at Indianapolis and the Freedom Bowl in San Francisco.

Stray bullets fired by celebrating fans wounded five people during all-night partying by Turkish soccer fans, Istanbul police said. Galatasaray qualified for the UEFA Cup final after its 2-2 tie with Leeds United on Thursday, becoming the first Turkish team to reach a major European final. . . . Algeria became the first African nation to advance to the second round of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, defeating the Cape Verde Islands, 2-0, at Annaba, Algeria.

Mark Dismore won the pole for the Vegas Indy 300 in Las Vegas, then met with defending champion Sam Schmidt, who was paralyzed in a January training accident. Dismore apologized for not coming to visit Schmidt after Schmidt’s accident. . . . Defending champion Greg Biffle took the pole position for today’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Line-X 225 at Portland (Ore.) International Raceway with an average speed of 91.435 mph, a track record.

Former Angel pitcher Mark Langston, 39, will replace John Malmquist as baseball coach at Orange Lutheran High next season, Lancer Athletic Director Jim Kunau said.

The father of Detroit Lion linebacker and former USC standout Chris Claiborne was shot to death early Friday, Detroit police said. Emmett Claiborne, 51, was shot shortly before 2 a.m. outside a bar on Detroit’s northwest side, the Detroit Free Press reported. Witnesses said Claiborne walked a woman to her car and went to his own car when a man approached him and, after an exchange of words, shot him.

St. Mary’s College basketball Coach Othell Wilson was acquitted in Leonardtown, Md., of charges he kidnapped and raped his former girlfriend.

The Washington Redskins, eager to clear room under the salary cap, released quarterback Casey Weldon and signed undrafted free-agent quarterback Leon Murray from Tennessee State. . . . Safety Greg Jackson re-signed with the San Diego Chargers, agreeing to a one-year contract. . . . Defensive end Jamal Duff signed with the Oakland Raiders. . . . Free-agent receiver Bobby Engram re-signed with the Chicago Bears, agreeing to a three-year contract.

Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the International Cricket Council, acknowledged that some matches are fixed, but rejected the accusation of widespread rigged play in international competition.

Samuel V. Merrick, a former director of the U.S. Olympic committee who led the United States in 1984 to its best finish in Olympic yachting, died Monday at his home in Medford, N.J. He was 86.