Sports briefs 1/27/04

Baseball

Mariners closer Kazuhiro Sasaki was traveling Monday from Japan to Seattle, where he is expected to complete plans to terminate the final year of his major league contract. Seattle's career saves leader is walking away from up to $9.5 million, saying he wants to remain in Japan with his wife and two children.

Yankees third baseman Aaron Boone injured his left knee playing basketball and may be out for the season, just three months after his hero-to-goat performance in the postseason. Boone was hurt about a week ago and may have torn his anterior cruciate ligament.

A judge has thrown out charges against free-agent pitcher Ugueth Urbina, who was arrested for allegedly firing gunshots into the air in an upscale Caracas neighborhood. Judge Ludmila Pinto ruled that Urbina fired his gun in self-defense when a man on a motorcycle tried to rob him.

College

Texas Tech's Andre Emmett became the first player in conference history to win Big 12 player of the week honors five times in a single season. Emmett, a senior, shot 60 percent from the field and averaged six rebounds in Texas Tech's 67-47 upset win against No. 20 Oklahoma and a 80-78 come from behind win at A&M, a game in which he made the winning shot.

Pat Summitt will keep coaching at Tennessee for at least four more seasons. Summitt's new contract extension, obtained by The Associated Press on Monday but signed in November, calls for an annual salary of $749,500, an increase of $74,500 from her previous deal.

Ricky Minard of Morehead State was named Ohio Valley Conference player of the week. Minard, a senior guard/forward, scored 19 points in a win at Samford and had 21 points and 12 rebounds in a victory at Jacksonville State. He became Morehead State's all-time leading scorer with 2,087 points. Shanika Freeman of Jacksonville State was named OVC female player of the week. Freeman, a junior forward, averaged 29.5 points and 13 rebounds in wins over Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State.

Golf

Nancy Lopez was a unanimous selection as the U.S. captain for the 2005 Solheim Cup matches. Lopez played in the first Solheim Cup in 1990, but never made another team. A Hall of Famer with 48 victories, she stopped playing a full schedule two years ago.

Hockey

Montreal forward Pierre Dagenais was suspended for two games without pay by the NHL for hitting Toronto's Bryan Marchment in the face with his stick. The play happened in the third period of Saturday's Canadiens-Maple Leafs game.

Horse racing

Funny Cide outdistanced Empire Maker for top 3-year-old honors in the Eclipse Awards after failing to run his rival down in a bid for the Triple Crown. Mineshaft's seven victories and more than $2.2 million in 2003 earnings made him the Horse of the Year.

Swimming

A synchronized swimmer from Missouri will spend 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter in a car accident that killed her boyfriend and a 12-year-old boy. But her jail term was postponed so she can swim in this summer's Athens Olympics. Tamara "Tammy" Crow, 26, a St. Louis native now living in Santa Clara, said she lost control of the car early on Feb. 16, 2003, as she was driving Brett Slinger, 12, of Danville, and her boyfriend, Cody Tatro, 26, of Walnut Creek, to ski.

Tennis

On its national day of celebration, Australia lost its top two players at the Australian Open. On Monday, Mark Philippoussis and Lleyton Hewitt were stopped in the fourth round, putting a damper on Australia Day. Hicham Arazi upset the 10th-seeded Philippoussis 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals. Roger Federer of Switzerland beat Hewitt 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-4. On the women's side, Amelie Mauresmo withdrew from her quarterfinal match because of a torn back muscle, giving Fabiola Zuluaga a free pass into the semifinals.

-- From wire reports