Hockey
OILERS SIGN LOWE: The Edmonton Oilers, seeking to re-establish the NHL team's winning ways of the 1980s, have signed defenseman Kevin Lowe - an integral part of the franchise's five Stanley Cup wins.
Lowe, 37, played 13 seasons in Edmonton before being traded to the New York Rangers in December 1992 for Roman Okisuta and the Rangers' third-round choice, Alexander Kerch, in the 1993 entry draft.
He was an unrestricted free agent after the 1995-96 season and wasn't offered a new contract by the Rangers, where he won another Stanley Cup in 1993-94.
Tennis
NICHIREI LADIES: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, the second seed from Spain, beat No. 8 Wang Shi-teng of Taiwan 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Nichirei Ladies tennis tournament in Tokyo.
Sanchez Vicario will play Kimberly Po, who beat defending champion and fourth-seeded Mary Pierce of France 7-5, 6-4 on Friday.
Top-seed Monica Seles, who downed No. 7 Naoko Sawamatsu of Japan 6-1, 6-4 Friday, will face third-seeded Kimiko Date of Japan. Date cruised past fifth-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa 6-3, 6-0.
Soccer
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING: Qatar beat Sri Lanka 3-0 Friday night in the opening game of Asian qualifying for the 1998 World Cup, and Papua New Guinea rallied to beat Vanuatu 2-1 and advance to the second round of Oceania qualifying.
BYU WOMEN WIN: The Cougars remained undefeated after a 3-0 victory over Portland State Friday night in Portland, Ore.
The Cougars went up 1-0 after a goal from Leanne Johnson in the 28th minute of the first half.
Goals in the second half from freshman Maren Hendershot and from junior midfielder Stephanie Jones secured the 3-0 shutout victory for BYU.
The Cougars had 26 shots on goal, compared with seven for Portland State.
BYU (7-0) returns home for two games next week against New Mexico and Creighton.
Boxing
TILLMAN CHARGED WITH MURDER: Henry Tillman, a former heavyweight boxer and 1984 Olympic gold medalist, was returned to Los Angeles from state prison Friday to face murder charges.
Tillman, 36, was awaiting trial on credit card fraud charges when he allegedly shot Terreance Thomas to death on Jan. 10 outside a Westchester nightclub.
WHITAKER WINS AGAIN: WBC welterweight champion Pernell "Sweet Pea" Whitaker recovered from a fifth-round knockdown Friday night to win his rematch against Wilfredo Rivera with a unanimous decision.
Whitaker landed a knockdown punch of his own in the sixth round of the scheduled 12-round bout en route to his second victory over Rivera in six months.
Auto racing
PETTY PLEADS GUILTY: Richard Petty made a career and millions of dollars racing, chasing and sometimes banging up cars.
On Thursday, it got him four "points" on his driving record and $65 in court costs and put a detour into his campaign as the Republican candidate for secretary of state. It takes 12 violation points in a year to lose your license in North Carolina.
Petty pleaded guilty to following too closely on I-85 as he drove home from the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sept. 11. He admitted his pickup was tailgating, but blamed the driver of the car in front of him for jamming on brakes as both traveled at about 70 mph in a 65-mph zone.