Basketball
U.S. WOMEN IN GROUP B: The U.S. women's basketball team Friday was placed in Group B with Japan, Lithuania and the African champion for the 1998 FIBA World Championship.
Germany, which received an automatic bid as host country, was placed in Group C with Australia, Cuba and the second-place team from Africa. Group A consists of Argentina, China, Russia and Spain. Group D has defending champion Brazil, Hungary, Slovak Republic and South Korea.
The two teams from Africa will be determined Dec. 20.
The tournament will be held in Germany May 26-June 7, 1998, with the final to be played in Berlin.
Figure skating
LALIQUE TROPHY: World champion Tara Lipinski captured the short program at the Lalique Trophy competition Friday in Paris, a step toward her first victory of the season.
Todd Eldredge, with sore ribs, took the lead in the men's event, holding off a strong challenge from Russia's Alexei Yagudin. Russians led in the ice dance and pairs events.
Lipinski, 15, is still looking for her first win of the season although she became the youngest world women's champion when she took the women's title last March at Lausanne, Switzerland. Michelle Kwan beat her easily last month at Skate America.
Hockey
PANTHERS DEAL LOWRY: The Florida Panthers got rid of yet another player from their original expansion roster of five years ago, trading left wing Dave Lowry to the San Jose Sharks.
In exchange for the 33-year-old Lowry, the Panthers got 22-year-old left wing Viktor Kozlov. As part of the deal, Florida also swapped a 1998 first-round draft pick for San Jose's fifth-round pick.
KINGS TRADE SMYTH: The Los Angeles Kings traded right wing Brad Smyth to the New York Rangers for a conditional draft pick on Friday.
Smyth, 24, had one goal and three assists played in nine games for the Kings this season. He has 11 goals and 12 assists in 68 career NHL games. He had been acquired by the Kings from the Florida Panthers on Nov. 28, 1996.
General
UTAH SPORTS HALL OF FAME: The 28th annual Utah Sports Hall of Fame Banquet will be held Wednesday, Nov. 19, at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
The five 1997 honorees are: Lewis Feild, rodeo; Bill Korns, golf; Missy Marlowe, gymnastics; Karl Schleckman, football and wrestling; Jay VanNoy, all-around.
The banquet's aim is to recognize individuals who have brought honor and fame to the state of Utah through their achievements in sports or sports-related activities.
Golf
SHARK SHOOTOUT: At Thousand Oaks, Calif., Peter Jacobsen and John Cook carded a 10-under-par 62 Friday under the alternate-shot format to take a three-stroke lead in the $1.1 million Shark Shootout.
The teams of John Daly-Fuzzy Zoeller, Brad Faxon-Lee Janzen and Mark Calcavecchia-Andrew Magee completed the first of three rounds at 65.
Scott McCarron-Bruce Lietzke and Scott Hoch-David Duval were next at 68. Defending champions Jay Haas and Tom Kite were eight shots off the pace at 70.
Tennis
ADVANTA CHAMPIONSHIPS: At Villanova, Pa., top-ranked Martina Hingis barely escaped an upset, beating Anke Huber 7-6 (10-8), 5-7, 6-4 on a Friday night when three of the top four seeds were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Advanta Championships.
By eliminating Huber, Hingis advanced to a semifinal match against Aranxta Sanchez Vicario on Saturday. Lindsay Davenport, the fifth seed but ranked third in the world, romped past defending champion Jana Novotna, the No. 2 seed, 6-3, 6-2, and replaced Novotna as the second-ranked player in the world. Sanchez Vicario, seeded eighth, breezed by third-seeded Amanda Coetzer 6-2, 6-2, and seventh-seeded Irina Spirlea stopped fourth-seeded Monica Seles 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).