BASKETBALL
The Maine Celtics begin their 2021-22 NBA G League season at 7 p.m. Friday in Georgia against the College Park Skyhawks.
Maine’s roster features a new head coach in Jarell Christian and eight players with NBA experience. The franchise has not played a game since the G League shut down in March 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Originally known as the Red Claws, the team was rebranded in May as the Maine Celtics.
Maine will play another game at College Park on Sunday before its home opener at the Portland Expo on Nov. 12 against Delaware.
COLLEGES
FIELD HOCKEY: Jillian Lachapelle scored an unassisted goal in the third quarter, and the University of New England (11-6) advanced to the Commonwealth Coast Conference championship game with a 1-0 win over Roger Williams (9-9) in Biddeford.
UNE, the No. 1 seed, will host the final Saturday against No. 2 Endicott.
• Irini Stefankos scored three goals as top-seeded Keene State (12-10) advanced to the Little East Conference final with a 5-2 win over Southern Maine (13-9) in Keene, New Hampshire.
Hannah Banks scored both USM goals.
WOMEN’S SOCCER: Julie DePalma broke a scoreless deadlock in the second half and Myah Croze added two goals as Western Connecticut State (17-1) eliminated Southern Maine (12-4-3) with a 3-0 win in a Little East Conference semifinals at Danbury, Connecticut.
FOOTBALL: The administrators in charge of the College Football Playoff plan to meet again on Dec. 1 to continue expansion talks, which need to reach a consensus by the end of the year if a new postseason format is to be implemented for the 2024 season.
Executive Director Bill Hancock released a statement after two days of meetings in Dallas with the CFP management committee that he called “productive.”
A 12-team format was unveiled in June and there was hope it would be approved in September for implementation before the end of the current 12-year contract with ESPN that runs through the 2025 season.
Instead, the process has bogged down since it was revealed in July the Southeastern Conference planned to add Big 12 flagship schools Texas and Oklahoma by 2025.
BASEBALL
MLB: Cincinnati Reds star outfielder Nick Castellanos exercised the opt-out clause in his contract and is a free agent, the team said.
The Reds right fielder opted out of the final two years and $34 million remaining on his deal after having the best season of his nine-year career. Castellanos, 29, was a first-time All-Star and hit .309 with 34 home runs and 100 RBI.
• Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner and reliever Darren O’Day became free agents after the players and the team declined 2022 options.
GOLF
PGA: Matthew Wolff shot a 10-under 61 to match his career low on the PGA Tour and take a two-shot lead among early starters in the World Wide Technology Championship at Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Aaron Wise reached 8 under through 10 holes but was even par the rest of the way. Chris Kirk opened with a hole-in-one on the 10th and was three shots back, along with Sergio Garcia, Billy Horschel and Talor Gooch.
TENNIS
PARIS MASTERS: Novak Djokovic advanced to the quarterfinals when Gael Monfils withdrew because of an injury.
Monfils, who is 0-17 against the top-ranked Djokovic, said he has an adductor injury.
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev rallied to beat unseeded American Sebastian Korda 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, and fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev advanced by defeating No. 16 Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 6-3 in an intense contest lasting 2 hours, 45 minutes.
BILLIE JEAN KING CUP: Switzerland won the decisive doubles to clinch the last spot in the semifinals with a 2-1 comeback victory over the Czech Republic in Prague.
Olympic singles champion Belinda Bencic teamed up with Jil Teichmann to cruise past Lucie Hradecka and Tokyo doubles champion Karolina Siniakova, 6-3, 6-3.
The victory gave the Swiss the top spot in Group D after also beating Germany. They will play Australia, which advanced after eliminating Belarus earlier on the hard court in Prague’s O2 Arena.
The United States will face Russia in the other semifinal.
SOCCER
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING: Christian Pulisic is back with the U.S. national team but not fully fit, Sergino Dest is out and Joe Scally was called up for a possible debut.
Gio Reyna remains sidelined, while John Brooks and Tim Ream were bypassed.
As World Cup qualifying nears the halfway point, the U.S. will have a close to a full-strength roster available against Mexico on Nov. 12 at Cincinnati and at Jamaica four days later.
The U.S. has 11 points, three behind Mexico, after six of 14 games. The top three of eight teams qualifies from North and Central America and the Caribbean, and No. 4 advances to a playoff.
• Manchester City’s American goalkeeper, Zack Steffen, has signed a contract extension tying him to the club until the summer of 2025.
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