Basketball
LSU'S BROWN TO RETIRE: Dale Brown, 445-287 in 25 seasons at Louisiana State and a former Utah State assistant, will retire at the end of the season, according to a broadcast report.
WWL-TV, citing unidentified sources, said Brown, 61, will announce his retirement today. The school scheduled a news conference in Baton Rouge today concerning a major announcement about the program.
Meanwhile, freshman forward Lester Earl returned to the team. Earl, who quit on Sunday, apologized to his teammates Tuesday, but missed a practice, possibly because of miscommunication over its scheduled time.
SUU WOMEN LOSE: Southern Utah shot 56 percent from the field in the first half but couldn't sustain that in the second half as UC Santa Barbara rolled to a 103-72 win over the Thunderbirds Wednesday in the SUU Centrum.
Mandi Shaheen led the T-Birds, tallying a double-double with 18 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in the losing effort. Krista Smith scored 12 and Melissa Hines scored 11 points while starting for the injured Monica Doman. Toni Torres chipped in 10 points off the bench.
SUU (5-9) will travel to San Francisco to take on the Lady Dons Friday at 8 p.m. MST. Doman, who tore an ACL in her left knee during a Tuesday practice, will miss the team's trip to San Francisco.
Tennis
HOPMAN CUP: Romania's Adrian Voinea and Irina Spirlea remained in contention for the Hopman Cup title, beating two-time champion Germany 3-0 today in the mixed-team tournament in Perth, Australia.
Spirlea beat Petra Begerow 6-1, 6-3, Voinea edged Bernd Karbacher 2-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2, and the Romanians won the doubles 6-1, 6-1.
The Romanians, 1-1 in Group B, can clinch a spot in Saturday's final with a 3-0 victory over South Africa on Friday. Americans Justin Gimelstob and Chanda Rubin, 2-0 in Group A, faced Australia in a late match.
AUSTRALIAN HARDOUCRT: Slovakia's Karol Kucera upset second-seeded Mark Woodforde 6-3, 6-4 today, ending the Australian's hopes of winning the Australian Hardcourt championships in Adelaide, Australia, for the third time.
American qualifier Jeff Tarango also advanced to the quarterfinals, beating sixth-seeded David Prinosil of Germany 6-2, 6-4. Tarango will face Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over American Jonathan Stark.
Golf
SUMMERHAYS WINS: Farmington's Boyd Summerhays won the 33rd Orange Bowl International Golf Championship at Coral Gables, Fla., with a 72-hole score of 279, two shots better than Ernesto Rivas of Argentina. The victory helped Summerhays lock up the second-place position for the Titleist Amateur National points ranking. Summerhays, a senior at Davis High, will enroll at Oklahoma State in the fall.
Hockey
WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Christian Dube and Brad Isbister each had a goal and an assist as Canada routed Slovakia 7-2 to advance to the semifinals of the World Junior Championships in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Canadians, looking for a record fifth straight title, will play Russia on Friday. The United States will face the Czech Republic in the other semifinal. The Czechs beat Finland 3-2 in an overtime shootout.