The Sports Report: Legendary basketball coach Billie Moore dies at 79

Howdy, I’m your host, Houston Mitchell. The main news today is the death of legendary women’s basketball coach Billie Moore. Our own Ben Bolch takes a look at one of the greatest coaches in basketball history.

From Ben Bolch: Surrounded in her final days at her Fullerton home by many of the players and coaches she inspired, memories shared as the mentor’s eyes brightened and she rattled off one-liners, Billie Moore died Wednesday night from cancer. She was 79. Moore was the first women’s basketball coach to guide two college teams to national championships. She won it all with Cal State Fullerton in 1970 and again with UCLA in 1978 as part of a 24-year career in which she compiled a 436-196 record and coached the U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team.

The list of those in the women’s game whom Moore touched reads like its own hall of fame, including legendary coaches Pat Summitt, Nell Fortner and Mickie DeMoss, among many others. The late Summitt, who played for Moore on the ’76 Olympic team before coaching Tennessee to eight national championships, once said Moore had been the most influential figure in her career.

“Billie is our John Wooden,” said Ann Meyers Drysdale, a senior on the Bruins team that won the national championship as part of her own Hall of Fame career. “She truly has been a gift to us in the women’s game.”

Similarities between the universally revered UCLA coaches went beyond national titles. Both could let their players know they were upset without cursing, a look in their eyes saying everything.

Moore was also a master tactician. While Dianne Frierson was UCLA’s primary point guard during the national championship season, Moore realized there were times when it would be better to let Meyers Drysdale handle the ball so that Frierson could roam the wing to hit jump shots.

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CLIPPERS

From Andrew Greif: One by one, the starting lineup arrived inside Crypto.com Arena.

There was All-Star forward Paul George, in a trucker cap and yellow jacket. Fellow All-Star wing Kawhi Leonard in a blue hat. Center Ivica Zubac, in a polo. And point guard Reggie Jackson, sitting along the baseline in a sweater and backward cap. In all, five Clippers responsible for key roles in the team’s three consecutive wins entering Thursday sat out injured, the team expressing cautious optimism Thursday night that all but Zubac, who suffered a bone bruise in his left knee, could return as soon as Saturday.

In their place, a lineup that had spent just three possessions together became the starters, a new look that raised what by now have become familiar questions for the perpetually incomplete Clippers: On a night when the Clippers look nothing like the team they hope to be come the postseason, relying on rotations that might never be paired together again, what is there to be learned, and what counts as progress?

The question’s relevancy stems from its frequency. With Leonard and point guard John Wall still not playing games on consecutive days and the long nature of the regular season all but guaranteeing more short-handed nights ahead, Thursday will not be the last time the Clippers are unable to add to their their sample size of full-strength minutes and, in turn, learn from them.

“As a coach you always think you’re behind,” coach Tyronn Lue said, “and I think we’re really behind offensively, especially how we need to play. And so until we get that continuity, until we get everyone back and everyone healthy, when we get a two or three week sample size of how we want to play offensively, that’ll make me feel a lot better.”

That doesn’t mean the Clippers felt that Thursday, a night devoid of continuity as they fell behind by as many as 31 in a 111-95 loss to Phoenix, was also devoid of lessons.

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USC FOOTBALL

From Ryan Kartje: From the moment he lifted the iconic trophy last Saturday night, Caleb Williams hasn’t had much time to let the reality of his Heisman win sink in, let alone get the sleep he so desperately needs.

USC’s star quarterback — and the school’s record eighth Heisman winner — has been running on fumes from that night’s adrenaline rush. And there was no respite once he returned from New York. Not even winning the most coveted award in all of college sports could get Williams out of finals, for which he spent all of Monday through Wednesday this week cramming.

“To be in that moment, no matter how much sleep I had,” Williams said, “I was really grateful.”

USC coach Lincoln Riley said he was uncertain about Williams’ status for the Cotton Bowl after he suffered a “significant” hamstring injury in the Pac-12 title game against Utah. But the quarterback reiterated Thursday that he planned to play against Tulane on Jan. 2.

“Hamstring is doing well,” he said, “and I am confident that I’ll be out there.”

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National labor board to investigate complaint involving rights of USC athletes

UCLA vs. USC BASKETBALL

Emily Bessoir scored 16 points and No. 10 UCLA survived a late rally to beat USC 59-56 on Thursday night in the Pac-12 opener for both teams.

Charisma Osborne added 14 points and 13 rebounds and Kiki Rice scored 14 points for the Bruins (10-1), who won despite shooting 32.9% from the field.

Kadi Sissoko led the Trojans (9-1) with 20 points. Rayah Marshall had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Destiny Littleton added 10 points.

UCLA had a 52-44 lead at the end of the third quarter. USC rallied back by scoring the first seven points in the fourth quarter, including a 3-pointer by Marshall to get them to 52-51 before a layup by Bessoir snapped a Bruins’ scoring drought of nearly seven minutes.

USC had a chance to send it to overtime when Littleton got a rebound off Camryn Brown’s missed layup with 11.8 seconds left. After a timeout, the Trojans tried to get a 3-pointer in the corner but UCLA’s Gina Conti got a steal with 2 seconds left to preserve the win.

RAMS

From Gary Klein: Baker Mayfield had 48 hours to get ready for what turned out to be a historic performance.

After leading the Rams to a last-minute victory over the Las Vegas Raiders last week, it took the quarterback about 72 hours to come down.

“Probably Sunday afternoon my adrenaline and everything kind of like settled down a little bit,” Mayfield said Thursday. “I slept for probably a day and half.”

Mayfield was wide awake and ready for what comes next as the Rams began preparations for a game Monday night against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

Three days of practice probably will seem like an eternity to Mayfield.

After the Rams claimed him off waivers on Dec. 6, Mayfield essentially had one practice to prepare to come off the bench against the Raiders.

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CHARGERS

From Jeff Miller: There were two runs that netted just a single yard, a sack, a false-start penalty and a fumbled snap.

Four red-zone trips each came up short of six points Sunday for the Chargers against Miami for four different reasons.

That has been a theme throughout 2022 for this team, an offense that features Justin Herbert’s arm and intellect struggling to finish drives.

The Chargers have scored touchdowns on only 47.9% of their trips inside the opposition’s 20-yard line. That ranks 27th in the NFL. Last season, the Chargers were fifth at 64%.

Entering their game Sunday against Tennessee, the Chargers are trying to fix an issue that has been particularly troubling of late.

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NFL readers Q&A: What’s with all the screaming at Rams, Chargers games?

NFL Week 15 picks: Bills beat Dolphins, Chargers edge Titans; Rams lose to Packers

KINGS

Adrian Kempe scored twice in the third period to rally the Kings from a two-goal deficit and Trevor Moore scored in the seventh round of the shootout to give the Kings a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

It was just the second loss at home for the Bruins all season.

Pheonix Copley stopped 33 shots in regulation and overtime and another five in the shootout for the Kings, who had lost two in a row and 10 of their previous 15 games.

DUCKS

John Klingberg scored twice and the Ducks won in regulation for only the second time this season, beating the Montreal Canadiens 5-2 on Thursday night.

Troy Terry also scored for Anaheim, Adam Henrique and Frank Vatrano added empty-netters and Lukas Dostal made 23 saves. The Ducks improved to 8-20-3, ending a three-game skid.

WORLD CUP

From Kevin Baxter in Qatar: It’s one of the most pointless games in international sports, a match no one wants to play and one few remember once it’s over.

But the World Cup’s third-place game isn’t going anywhere, FIFA says. This year’s consolation final will be played Saturday between Croatia and Morocco and the game is on the schedule for the next tournament in 2026. So the question becomes why?

As with most things involving FIFA, the answer is money. The World Cup has had a third-place game since 1954 and the money it gets from broadcasters and sponsors makes it meaningful for FIFA’s bank account.

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Schedule
All times Pacific
Third-place match
Saturday
Croatia vs. Morocco, 7 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock

Championship match
Sunday
Argentina vs. France, 7 a.m., Fox, Telemundo, Peacock

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Complete World Cup coverage

THIS DATE IN SPORTS

1918 — Jack Dempsey knocks out Carl Morris in 14 seconds in a heavyweight bout in New Orleans.

1930 — Golfer Bobby Jones wins the first James E. Sullivan Award. The award is given to “the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.”

1940 — Joe Louis knocks out Al McCoy in the sixth round at the Boston Garden to retain the world heavyweight title.

1945 — The Cleveland Rams beat the Washington Redskins 15-14 for the NFL championship. The deciding play turns out to be a first-quarter automatic safety when the Redskins’ Sammy Baugh passes from his own end zone and the wind carries the ball into the goal post.

1967 — Wilt Chamberlain of the Philadelphia Warriors scores 68 points in a 143-123 victory over the Chicago Bulls.

1973 — O.J. Simpson of the Buffalo Bills rushes for 200 yards in a 34-14 victory over the New York Jets and sets an NFL record with 2,003 yards rushing for the season. Simpson needed 61 yards to break Jim Brown’s NFL single season rushing record of 1,863 yards set in 1963.

1990 — Warren Moon passes for a 527 yards — the second-greatest passing day in NFL history — as the Houston Oilers beat Kansas City 27-10.

2003 — New Orleans Saints receiver Joe Horn is fined $30,000 by the NFL for making a choreographed cell-phone call in the end zone to celebrate a touchdown during the Saints’ 45-7 rout of the New York Giants on Dec. 14.

2006 — Morten Andersen becomes the greatest scorer in NFL history. The 46-year-old Andersen breaks Gary Anderson’s career scoring record of 2,434 points with the second of four extra points in the Atlanta Falcons’ 38-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

2007 — Brett Favre passes for 227 yards in Green Bay’s 33-14 win over St. Louis, eclipsing Dan Marino to become the NFL career leader in yards passing. Favre, in his 17th season, finishes the game with 61,405 yards. Marino had 61,361 in 17 seasons.

2007 — Kikkan Randall becomes the first U.S. woman and second American to win a World Cup cross country race when she defeats world sprint champion Astrid Jacobsen of Norway in the final meters of a 1.2-kilometer freestyle race. Randall is the first American to win a World Cup cross country race since Bill Koch in 1983.

2010 — American Ryan Lochte sets the first individual swimming world record since high-tech bodysuits were banned, winning the 400-meter individual medley at the short-course world championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

2012 — Ryan Lochte wins two more races at the short-course world championships in Istanbul, finishing the event with six golds and one silver. The result matches his medal total from the last championships, in Dubai in 2010.

2013 — Justin Tucker makes six field goals, including a 61-yarder in the final minute, to give the Baltimore Ravens an 18-16 win over the Detroit Lions.

2014 — Nick Bjugstad scores the game-winning goal in the longest shootout in NHL history to lift the Florida Panthers over the Washington Capitals 2-1. Bjugstad’s goal comes in the 20th round of a shootout — on the 40th shot — and beats Braden Holtby on the right side.

2016 — James Harden gets his sixth triple-double of the season and the Houston Rockets make an NBA-record 24 3-pointers in a 122-100 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

2020 — Major League Baseball announces it is elevating the Negro Leagues to Major League status.

Compiled by the Associated Press

And finally

Highlights from UCLA’s win over Maryland. Watch and listen here.