Morning State Sports Briefs: MU women's hoops upsets No. 6 West Virginia

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Marquette Golden Eagles

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MILWAUKEE - The Marquette University women's basketball team upset sixth-ranked West Virginia last night, 69-54 in Milwaukee at the Al McGuire Center as the Mountaineers suffered their first loss of the season.

Golden Eagles’ coach Terri Mitchell was hit-in-the-head by a loose ball early in the second half, as she appeared to be looking away from the play. She stayed on the bench until the next media time-out, when she left under her own power. Assistant Cara Consuegra took over for the rest of the game, but Mitchell returned to the bench with 3:10 left. Afterward, Marquette player Courtney Weibel hugged Mitchell and told the crowd she would be fine. A school spokeswoman said Mitchell had some dizziness. It almost overshadowed the fact that Marquette ended West Virginia’s 16-game winning streak – the nation’s longest to start the season. Only Duke and Florida remain unbeaten in Division-One.

Marquette put last night’s contest away with an 11-0 run midway through the second half. Sarina Simmons scored 14 points for Marquette, which improved to 2-2 in the Big East and 14-3 overall. West Virginia fell to 3-1 in the conference and 16-1 overall. The Eagles will play at South Florida on Sunday.

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The Milwaukee Bucks will host San Antonio tonight. The Bucks were scheduled to fly out of Atlanta last night, after their game with the Hawks was postponed due to icy roads and freezing rain. That was on top of a rare 4-to-7 inches of snow in the Deep South Atlanta region on Monday. Bucks’ general manager John Hammond agreed the roads were “treacherous.” And the Hawks said they might not be able to have enough personnel to run the various game operations. Both teams had shoot-arounds yesterday, and the Hawks said enough referees were available if necessary. But the NBA agreed the game should be postponed, and it was re-set for March 15th. Tonight, the Bucks will face a San Antonio team that’s 32-and-6. The Spurs won their 16th straight game at Minnesota, 107-96 last evening. Former Buck Richard Jefferson had 17 points and Manu Ginobili had 19, as the Spurs won their third straight overall. The Bucks are coming off a victory Saturday night at New Jersey. Milwaukee is 14-21.

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Trevor Hoffman, baseball’s all-time saves leader, has announced his retirement. The 43-year-old Hoffman had 601 saves in his 18-year career – 16 seasons with San Diego and his final two with the Milwaukee Brewers. Hoffman considered returning this year if another team offered him a closer’s job. Arizona was among several teams expressing an interest, but nothing materialized. Hoffman will make his formal retirement announcement today in San Diego, where the Padres will hire him for a front office job. Co-owner Jeff Moorad said Hoffman will spend the next year getting familiar with the baseball operations department and several others, and then decide what he wants to do. Hoffman says he wants to learn parts of the game he’s never been exposed to. He will not sign a one-day contract so he can retire as a Padre. The Brewers and Hoffman made a gentlemen’s agreement in which Milwaukee declined to offer him arbitration, so the Brewers would get a supplemental draft pick if he signed elsewhere. 554 of Hoffman’s saves came with the Padres. He had 37 saves in his first year in Milwaukee, but only 10 last year as he lost his closer’s role to John Axford.

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The Green Bay Packers had a short practice yesterday, as they get ready to play at Atlanta on Saturday night in the NFC’s divisional playoff round. Everyone on the roster worked out to some degree. And that includes Atari Bigby, Frank Zombo, and Korey Hall – who’ve all been out with various injuries. Bigby appeared to be moving well early in the practice, as he gets over a groin injury. Zombo has struggled with a bad knee, but coach Mike McCarthy says he could play against the Falcons. Tackling is a big point of emphasis this week. The Packers did a poor job of it during their regular-season loss at Atlanta in November – and it allowed Falcons’ running back Michael Turner to rush for 110 yards. Defensive end Cullen Jenkins says the Packer line will focus on hitting Turner as many times as possible in front, so he doesn’t build up speed once the linebackers try to get to him.

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The University of Wisconsin football team finished seventh in the AP media poll, and tied for eighth in the USA Today coaches’ poll. The Badgers were fourth in the both, before their two-point loss to TCU in the Rose Bowl. Wisconsin finished 11-2, and tied for eighth in the coaches’ survey.

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