Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — BASKETBALL

U.S. women rout Canada

Lindsay Whalen scored 16 points and Angel McCoughtry added 11 to lead the United States to an 87-46 rout of Canada on Monday night in Ostrava, Czech Republic, in the second round of the women’s basketball world championship. The Americans will face Belarus today. For the second consecutive game, the United States got off to a slow start. Canada jumped to an 11-5 lead, and Coach Geno Auriemma turned to his bench. The second unit got four consecutive turnovers on the way to a 12-0 run. The United States forced 32 turnovers for the game. Janelle Bekkering and Kim Smith scored eight points to lead Canada (1-3).

Eddy Curry is limping to the finish of his New York Knicks career. The oft-injured center will miss at least four weeks with a strained right hamstring, the third consecutive year he was sidelined early in training camp. Curry has been hurt during practice Sunday and had a magnetic resonance imaging Monday that confirmed the injury. Curry was hospitalized with an illness on the eve of training camp two years ago and tore a calf muscle on the opening day of practices last season. He never recovered to regain a spot in the rotation, playing in just 10 games over those two seasons.

The San Antonio Silver Stars have fired Coach Sandy Brondello after debuting with a losing record and quick playoff exit in her first season. The Silver Stars made the announcement Monday. The team went 14-20 under Brondello before being swept by Phoenix in the first round of the playoffs. Assistant coach Olaf Lange, who is also Brondello’s husband, was also let go. It was the second consecutive losing season for the Silver Stars after reaching the WNBA Finals in 2008. R.C. Buford, president of sports franchises for Spurs Sports & Entertainment, said the team will likely see what unfolds in the WNBA this offseason before searching for a replacement.

Eastern Michigan has put its women’s basketball program on two years of probation and reported several violations tied to practice and recruiting to the NCAA. The school said Monday that the violations involved exceeding practice time limits, improper involvement by coaches in voluntary practices and allowing recruits into organized workouts. Coach Ann Marie Gilbert has been suspended for one month without pay and her salary frozen for the current season. She also was given a letter of reprimand, and must attend mandatory counseling and a NCAA rules seminar. Gilbert will be replaced by assistant coach Latonya Tate during her suspension. Three assistant coaches and an assistant athletic trainer also were disciplined. The school’s report was filed Friday with the NCAA. The school said it uncovered the violations during an investigation the past two months after a student-athlete made allegations.

TENNIS

Date Krumm beats Sharapova

Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm rallied to beat defending champion Maria Sharapova 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 Monday in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Date Krumm, who is one day shy of her 40th birthday, broke the 23-yearold Russian to go up 5-3 in the third set and won the final game when Sharapova’s backhand went wide. Sharapova, the tournament’s 12thseeded player, had 11 double faults in the match that lasted 2 hours, 9 minutes at Ariake Colosseum. In second-round matches, third seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia defeated Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-4, 6-1 and sixth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland coasted to a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Olga Govortsova of Belarus.

Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands and Viktor Troicki of Serbia earned straight-set victories in the first round of the Thailand Open on Monday in Nonthaburi. The sixth-seeded De Bakker shook off a poor start to beat Marc Lopez of Spain 7-5, 6-0. The seventh seeded Troicki, a 2009 finalist, defeated Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland 6-3, 6-1. In Monday’s other first-round match, Florent Serra of France rallied to beat Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-7 (1), 6-4, 6-4.

GOLF

U.S. team builds big lead

Jordan Spieth won both his matches and the Americans coped just fine in tough weather at Gleneagles, Scotland, to build a 9-3 lead over Europe after the first day of the Junior Ryder Cup. Spieth, who tied for 16th at the Byron Nelson Championship this year, teamed with Anthony Paolucci in the opening match for a 5-and-4 victory in foursomes over Albert Eckhardt and Kristoffer Ventura. The Americans captured five of the six morning matches. Spieth and Alison Lee won a fourballs match as the Americans went 4-2 in the afternoon sessions. The Junior Ryder Cup, played every other year for girls and boys under the age of 18, concludes today with 12 singles matches.

VOLLEYBALL

U.S. men top Argentina

The United States earned its third consecutive victory, beating Argentina 3-1 at the men’s volleyball world championships Monday in Rome. Also, Cameroon came back from a set down to beat Australia 3-1 and earn its first victory. The victory sent the African nation through to the second round and eliminated Australia. Egypt also advanced despite a 3-2 loss to Japan. Cuba edged two-time defending champion Brazil 3-2. France shut out China 3-0. Italy edged Iran 3-2. Russia beat Puerto Rico 3-2 with both teams advancing and Poland defeated Serbia 3-1. Also advancing were Spain, Mexico, the Czech Republic and Germany.

BASEBALL

Man convicted of murder of Adenhart

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A jury convicted a construction worker of murder Monday for a drunkendriving crash that killed promising Los Angeles Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart and twoof his friends.

It was the second DUI conviction for Andrew Gallo, 23, who held white rosary beads and occasionally looked up at jurors as they returned their verdicts.

As he was led away in handcuffs, Gallo glanced over his shoulder at sobbing relatives of the victims gathered in the Orange County courtroom.

“What this case has shown is that the accelerator, the gas pedal on an automobile in the wrong hands is as dangerous as the trigger on a gun,” Nigel Pearson, the father of 25-year-old victim Henry Pearson, said outside court. “And in the wrong hands, it can devastate the lives of many, many people.”

Gallo was convicted on three counts of second-degree murder and single counts of drunken driving, hit-and-run driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol and causing great bodily injury.

He faces 50 years to life in state prison at his scheduled sentencing Dec. 10.

His attorney, Jacqueline Goodman, said Gallo would appeal.

“I think it’s tragic,” she told reporters. “I think there’s been a miscarriage of justice.” She previously said her client did not intend to kill anyone.

Prosecutors said they charged the case as a second-degree murder instead of the lesser charge of manslaughter because Gallo had a previous DUI conviction, had specific knowledge of the dangers of drinking and driving from hisown experience, and had signed a court form from the earlier case saying he understood he could be charged with murder if he drove drunk again and killed someone.

To win a murder conviction, prosecutors had to show Gallo acted with implied malice, intentionally drove drunk, acted with a conscious disregard for human life, and knew from his personal experience that he could kill someone.

Adenhart, 22, died just hours after pitching six scoreless innings in his season debut. Pearson and Courtney Stewart, 20, also died in the April 9, 2009, collision in Fullerton. Passenger Jon Wilhite was severely injured.