Arizona Basketball Star Polk Dies After Collapse

Shawntinice Polk, center on the University of Arizona’s women’s basketball team, died Monday after collapsing on the court of the school’s arena.

Richard Paige, associate media relations director, said Polk, 22 and a senior, was not working out or practicing in McKale Center when she collapsed.

Polk was taken to the University Medical Center, where she was later pronounced dead. The cause of death was not immediately known and an autopsy will be performed.

Coach Joan Bonvicini, who had been out of town, returned to the campus to meet with the team.

“This is a terribly sad, heartbreaking day in Arizona women’s basketball,” Bonvicini said. “I can’t put into words the pain and sadness that we’re all feeling right now.”

Polk, from Hanford, Calif., was 6 feet 5 and weighed more than 200 pounds. No specific weight was listed in the team media guide. Polk had asthma, but Athletic Director Jim Livengood told the Tucson Sun he did not know if that had contributed to her death.

Polk was a three-time All-Pacific 10 Conference selection, including last season, and was the team’s career leader in blocked shots, 222, and double-doubles, 46. She would have begun this season as the conference’s active leading career scorer and rebounder with 1,467 points and 914 rebounds.

Mike Terry

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Pro Basketball

The Clippers signed forward Yaroslav Korolev, their top pick in the June draft.

The 6-foot-9 Russian teenager, selected 12th overall, was slotted into a four-year, $6.8-million deal, with only the first two years guaranteed, at $1.42 million and $1.53 million, respectively.

Korolev, 18, played last season for CSKA Moscow in the Russian Junior League, averaging 15.9 points.

Ron Harper, a former Laker and Clipper who played 16 seasons in the NBA, joined the Detroit Pistons as an assistant to Coach Flip Saunders.

Rookie forward Andray Blatche of the Washington Wizards was shot once in the chest during an attempted carjacking Sunday morning and remained hospitalized in Fairfax, Va.

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Jurisprudence

A U.S. district court judge in Florida has upheld his order for a shipbuilder to stop using Tiger Woods’ name and a photograph of the golfer’s luxury yacht “Privacy” for financial gain.

The judge also denied Christensen Shipyards Ltd.’s request that Woods’ lawsuit against the company be moved from Florida to its home state of Washington.

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Tennis

The International Tennis Federation announced that American player Alex Bogomolov Jr., 22, would be suspended for 1 1/2 months for testing positive for salbutamol, and would forfeit prize money and ranking points from the Australian Open last January as well as subsequent events through early April.

Bogomolov acknowledged the presence in his body of the substance, which is used to treat his exercise-induced asthma. He previously had submitted paperwork for a therapeutic use exemption but did not have one during the time period of the Australian Open, and said he was unaware his previous exemption had expired.

Do Minh Quan, a wild-card entry playing before a home crowd, lost to Bjorn Phau of Germany, 6-3, 6-2, on indoor courts in the ATP Vietnam Open at Hanoi, the first international tennis tournament staged in the nation.

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Miscellany

Brad Guzan, Chivas USA’s rookie goalkeeper, will sit out the rest of the Major League Soccer season after suffering a broken nose in a game against Colorado on Saturday, the club said.

The United States’ soccer team was eliminated from the FIFA under-17 World Championship, losing to the Netherlands, 2-0, in a quarterfinal game at Trujillo, Peru.

Keeneland’s September yearling sale ended at Lexington, Ky., as the highest-grossing thoroughbred auction, setting industry and sale records.

During the 14-day auction, buyers spent $384,349,900, eclipsing the industry record of $324,904,300, set last year. The 3,545 horses sold were also an industry record, topping the 3,461 horses sold during Keeneland’s 1999 November breeding stock sale.

The average price of $108,240 and the median price of $40,000 were records for Keeneland’s 62-year-old September sale.

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Passings

George Archer, who won the 1969 Masters and 11 other titles on the PGA Tour, died of cancer Sunday at Incline Village, Nev. He was 65. Story in Section B.