Morning State Sports Briefs: MU women big winners over Alcorn State

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Marquette University

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MILWAUKEE - Five Marquette players scored in double figures last night, as the Golden Eagle women crushed Alcorn State, 93-54 at Al McGuire Arena.

Jasmine Collins, Katherine Plouffe, and Paige Fiedorowicz all led the way for Marquette with 17 points each. The Eagles had a 19-5 run early in the first half. They led by 24 at the break, and led by as many as 39 later. Marquette shot 50-percent from the floor, made 32 free throws, and had 25 assists. Carolinsia Crumbly had led all scorers with 24 for Alcorn State, which lost by 45 at Michigan last Friday night. Marquette improved to 2-0, and will host Michigan on Friday night. Tonight, the UW-Milwaukee women will play at Chicago State.

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UW-Green Bay's women's team is seven spots away from the AP Top-25. And Wisconsin is 10 spots away – but both schools still received votes in the new poll. Green Bay will host the Badger women on Thursday night at the Resch Center.

UWGB's women's team won both their season-opening games at the Best Buy Classic in Minneapolis this past weekend. The Phoenix held off a late charge by the host Minnesota to beat the Gophers 79-75. Green Bay led by as many as 16 with 12 minutes left – but Minnesota got to within two with less than a-minute-20 left. The Phoenix won despite being out-shot 54-to-47-percent. But UWGB had a 48-to-40 scoring advantage in the paint, and the Phoenix scored 27 points off of 27 Minnesota turnovers. Leah Cotton led all scorers with 23 points for the Gophers, who fell to 1-1. Julia Wojta had 17 for the Phoenix.

UWGB's Adrian Ritchie is the Horizon League women’s basketball player-of-the-week. Ritchie, a sophomore guard, averaged 19 points in both Phoenix victories in the Best Buy Classic in Minneapolis. She was named the tournament MVP. Norris Cole of Cleveland State was honored as the league’s top men’s player.

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A former Brewers’ vice president is one of three people accused of taking $400,000 in illegal kickbacks from minor league prospects for the Chicago White Sox. 38-year-old David Wilder was among those indicted by a federal grand jury for fraud. Wilder and scouts Victor Mateo and Jorge Oquendo Rivera are accused of inflating the signing bonuses of 23 White Sox prospects, and having the players kick back some of the bonus money. Wilder was the White Sox director of player personnel in 2008, when he was fired after a two-month investigation into the alleged kickbacks. Major League Baseball did an internal probe before turning the case over to federal authorities. Wilder was the Brewers’ vice president of player personnel from 2000-to-2003. He was among baseball’s highest-ranking minority executives at the time.

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The Los Angeles Lakers will make their only appearance of the season in Milwaukee tonight. The Lakers won their first six games before dropping their last two to Denver and Phoenix. The Bucks are on a three-game winning streak, and they can go above .500 for the first time with an upset of the defending NBA champions. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and John Salmons will have the job of covering Kobe Bryant – who scored 39 points, and hit the game-winner at the buzzer in overtime to win at Bradley Center last December. Salmons says the key to guarding Bryant is to not get frustrated. He says he can play the best defense in the world, and Bryant will still make shots. LA leads the league with 112-and-a-half points a game. The Bucks have held New York, Atlanta, and Golden State to an average of 81 points in their last three victories.

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The University of Wisconsin men dropped one place to 25th in the new coaches’ poll from USA Today and ESPN. Also, the Badgers are two spots away from the Top-25 in the AP media poll, after they won their season opener 99-55 over Prairie View A&M on Sunday. Duke remains number-one in both polls. Wisconsin will host North Dakota tonight.

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The Saint Norbert men’s hockey team is still at number-three in this week’s Division-Three poll from U.S. College Hockey On-line. The Green Knights are 5-1 so far. UW-Stevens Point moved up one spot to ninth. Milwaukee Engineering enters the poll for the first time at number-15. UW-Stout, River Falls, Eau Claire, and Lawrence received votes. Norwich of Connecticut is still number-one. In the D-Three women’s poll, UW-River Falls is still at number-six. Stevens Point and Superior also received votes. Amherst remains number-one.

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