Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — BASKETBALL U.S. reaches semifinals

Seimone Augustus scored 19 points to lead the U.S. women's select team past CSKA Moscow 81-72 Wednesday and into the semifinals at the FIBA World League tournament in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Katie Smith added 16 points for the U.S. team (2-1), which will face host UMMC Ekaterinburg on Friday. The Americans held a 68-57 lead early in the fourth quarter before CSKA Moscow used a 13-2 run capped by Becky Hammon's three-pointer to tie it at 70 with 5:25 left. Smith's jumper ignited an 11-2 spurt by the United States to close the game. Maria Stepanova had 18 points and 11 rebounds for CSKA Moscow (2-1). Nicole Powell added 14 points and Hammon had 12.

Dallas Mavericks forward Josh Howard is out with a sprained left wrist and will be re-evaluated next week. A magnetic resonance imaging Wednesday revealed the sprain after Howard injured his wrist Tuesday night in the Mavericks' final preseason game, a 96-88 victory against the Chicago Bulls. Howard will miss the first two games of the regular season anyway because of his suspension for an altercation with Sacramento Kings center Brad Miller in an earlier preseason game. Howard hit Miller in the back of the neck with a forearm after Miller shoved Mavericks guard Devin Harris to the floor.

The Charlotte Bobcats waived center Jameel Watkins and guard C.J. Watson, reducing their roster to the regular-season limit of 15. Both players signed as free agents before training camp. The Bobcats will enter the regular season with only 13 healthy players. Forward Sean May and swingman Adam Morrison are out for the season. May had microfracture surgery on his right knee earlier this month, and Morrison tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Saturday in an exhibition game. He's scheduled to have surgery within the month. May and Morrison will still count on the 15-player roster throughout the season unless the Bobcats get a special exemption to sign another player.

BASEBALL Hall honors O'Neil

Buck O'Neil, a Negro Leagues star and the first black coach in the major leagues, was posthumously honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame with a Lifetime Achievement Award named in his memory. O'Neil fell two votes shy of induction into the Hall of Fame during a special election in February 2006. He died last October at 94. A statue of O'Neil will be erected inside the museum, and the Buck O'Neil Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to a worthy recipient no more than every three years.

FOOTBALL Jenkins to coach

John Jenkins, former coach of the Arkansas Twisters in Arena Football 2, was hired as coach of the Houston team in the new All American Football League. Jenkins coached at the University of Houston from 1990-1992 and was offensive coordinatorfor the USFL's Houston Gamblers. The six-team AAFL plans to begin a 10-week season in April. Players must have graduated from a four-year university, and they will be paid $50,000 to $100,000. The Houston team is in final negotiations to play at Rice Stadium.

TENNIS Top-seeded Roddick falls

Top-seeded Andy Roddick was upset by Fabrice Santoro 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4 in the first round of the Lyon (France) Grand Prix. The 34-year-old Santoro hit three aces in the last game.

Fourth-seeded James Blake defeated Oscar Hernandez 6-3, 6-4 to advance to the second round of the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Switzerland. Hernandez saved one match point on his serve with Blake leading 5-3 in the second set. But Blake went up 40-0 in the next game and closed out the match with a service winner. Blake is among 20 players seeking to clinch one of the last three spots remaining at the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai next month. The American reached the final lastyear but lost to top-ranked Roger Federer. In another match at the Swiss Indoors, David Nalbandian lost to Stanislas Wawrinka three days after beating Federer to win the Madrid (Spain) Masters. Wawrinka won 7-6 (5), 6-2 to extend his winning streak against Nalbandian to four matches, losing only one set in that span.

Top-seeded and fourth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko beat Filippo Volandri 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the second round at the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open. Davydenko, who withdrew from the Madrid Masters last week because of a right elbow injury, broke the 44thranked Italian twice in the first set. Volandri broke the Russian to trail 3-1 in the second set before losing three consecutive games.

MOTOR SPORTS Penalty overturned

An appeals committee overturned the $10,000 fine levied against a crew chief for Kyle Busch after the NASCAR Busch Series race at Kansas Speedway last month. Michael Bumgarner was fined after Busch's victory because NASCAR said the intake manifold on the Chevrolet did not conform to its standards. Hendrick Motorsports argued that the part, and others identical to it, had been used over the past three seasons and never failed inspection. In a unanimous decision to overturn the penalty, the three members of the National Stock Car Racing Commission said parts of the inspection process were inconclusive.

BOXING U.S. fighters win

Middleweight Shawn Estrada and light featherweight Raynell Williams of the United States took their first steps toward the Beijing Olympics with victories in the preliminary round of the World Boxing Championships in Chicago. Estrada won a 25-5 decision over Artur Zlatopolski of Israel and Williams won a 28-18 decision over France's Khedafi Djelkhir, a 2004 Olympian. The top eight finishers in the light flyweight (106 pounds) to light heavyweight (178 pounds) divisions and the top four from the heavyweight and super heavyweight classes will qualify for the Beijing Olympics.

BASKETBALLHeat trade Walker to Minnesota in five-man deal

The Miami Heat traded threetime All-Star forward Antoine Walker, who had career lows in points and rebounds last season, to the Minnesota Timberwolves as part of a five-player deal.

Walker was traded with backupcenter Michael Doleac, forward Wayne Simien and a conditional firstround draft pick for guard Ricky Davis and center Mark Blount.

Walker joined the Heat from the Boston Celtics as part of a five-team, 13-player trade in August 2005. Miami Coach Pat Riley benched him for thefinal two preseason games, citing a lack of conditioning. He was briefly suspended because of high body fat last season, during which he averaged 8.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 23.3 minutes a game, making only 15 starts. The 12-year veteran has averaged 18 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists a game in his career.

He is owed about $18 million over the next two seasons; the Timberwolves could opt out of his contract after that.

Davis, who played seven gamesfor the Heat during the 2000-2001 season, has been a solid scorer with Cleveland, Boston and Minnesota in recent years, averaging 16.0 points per game since leaving Miami, and is coming off a season where he hit a career-high 40 percent of his three-point tries.

Blount averaged 12.3 points and 6.2 reboundslast season. The Timberwolves add depth with Doleac, a nine-year veteran. Simien's career has been largely derailed by knee injuries and salmonella poisoning that kept him off the floor for most of last season.