Afternoon State Sports Briefs: Bucks' assistant interviewed for Rockets' job

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MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee Bucks’ assistant Kelvin Sampson and former Bucks’ center Jack Sikma are among those to be interviewed for the Houston Rockets’ coaching vacancy.

The Houston Chronicle named four candidates to replace Rick Adelman who left earlier this month in what he and the team called a “mutual” decision. Adelman, a former coach at Portland, led the Rockets to a 139-and-135 record in four seasons. But Houston did not make the playoffs in each of the last two years. Sampson has been on the Bucks’ staff for three years under Scott Skiles. He has found a home as a professional coach, after the NCAA said he committed five major recruiting violations when he was the head coach at Indiana. The NCAA’s Infractions Committee gave him a five-year penalty which limits his ability to get another college head coaching job until November of 2013.

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The Milwaukee Bucks will keep forward Carlos Delfino for a third season. General manager John Hammond said today he’ll exercise a team option worth three-and-a-half million dollars. Delfino, a native of Argentina, was traded to Milwaukee in mid-2009 from the Toronto Raptors. He’s been a starter at both small forward and shooting guard. Delfino missed 32 games this past season with symptoms of a concussion, after he took several major hits to the head last fall. He returned in late January. And in March, Delfino had back-to-back games of 30 points apiece. He hit 105 three-pointers, tops on the squad. And he averaged 11-and-a-half points, four rebounds, and just over one-and-a-half steals in 48 games. Hammond said Delfino continues to shoot well, and more consistently – and he’s a quality rebounder and defender.

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In the Midwest League, the Beloit Snappers and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers will both try to even their home series tonight, weather permitting. Rain and cooler temperatures are in the forecast for much of the Badger State. The Snappers will play Western Division-leading Burlington again, after Beloit fell 7-3 last night. The Timber Rattlers are at home against Quad Cities, which pulled off a 5-nothing shutout at Appleton on Monday night. Beloit is third in the West at 8-7. Wisconsin is seventh at 5-9, trailing only Clinton in the division. Also tonight, Cedar Rapids is scheduled to host Kane County. Peoria is at Clinton. East Division-leading Lansing plays at home against Great Lakes. Dayton entertains West Michigan. Lake County is at Fort Wayne. And South Bend plays at Bowling Green.

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Drew Oswald of Beloit College and Steven Blader of Ripon are the Midwest Conference baseball players-of-the-week. Oswald, a senior outfielder, hit a homer and a triple last week while batting .417 with five RBI’s in four games. Blader, a sophomore, tossed a four-hitter over Beloit in which he struck out six. In softball, Amanda Strutz of Carroll won the position player-of-the-week award. The junior infielder batted 8-for-15 in a pair of double-header sweeps, raising her season average to .393. Morgan Werkheiser of Monmouth is the league’s honored pitcher.

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The top assistant on the Marquette University women’s basketball team is leaving to become the next head coach at Charlotte University. Cara Consuegra was introduced today as the replacement for Karen Aston, who left to become the new coach at North Texas. The 32-year-old Consuegra has spent seven years under Terri Mitchell at Marquette. She helped lead the Golden Eagles to the post-season during all of those years. In March, they made the second round of the NCAA tourney before falling to powerhouse Tennessee. Consuegra played her college ball at Iowa, where she still holds the single-season and career records for assists. At Charlotte, Consuegra will become the fourth head coach in the last decade. Last year’s team lost in the semi-finals of the WNIT Tournament.

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Marsha Jackson, a former volleyball coach at Maranatha Baptist College in Watertown, will be inducted into the National Christian College Hall-of-Fame. Jackson’s Crusaders won 421 matches from 1989-2006. And they won five national Christian College titles from ’89-through-’94. Jackson, Delyte Morris of Cedarville, and Keith Champion of Clearwater Christian will be inducted during a banquet in Saint Louis on June third.

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UW-Whitewater moved up one place to ninth in D3baseball.com's national small college poll. The Warhawks are now 21-5 overall. Stevens Point rose three places to 12th in the new poll. Oshkosh jumped three spots to 14th. Carthage of Kenosha fell six places to No. 22. Marietta of Ohio is the new Number-One. It traded spots with second-place Christopher Newport.

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Adam Cordova of UW-La Crosse has been named the WIAC’s baseball position player-of-the-week. And Scott Williams of Stevens Point is the league’s honored pitcher for the second week in a row. Cordova, a sophomore outfielder, batted .450 in six games last week with four doubles, a triple, two RBI’s, and seven runs scored. Williams, a senior right-hander, struck out 10 batters against La Crosse and tossed a three-hitter against Superior. In softball, Amanda Ryder of River Falls is the top position player. And Emma Wishau of Eau Claire is the pitcher-of-the-week. Ryder, a sophomore outfielder, went 5-for-6 in a pair of wins over Stevens Point. Wishau, a freshman left-hander, threw a pair of shutouts as opponents hit just .119 against her for the week. In track, the WIAC recognized the men’s 400-meter relay team of Nick Miller, Dave Kuczynski, Moriarty Brown-Griffin, and Nick Bee. Christy Cazzola of Oshkosh is the women’s track athlete-of-the-week. The top honors for field events went to Marcus Smith of Whitewater and Holly Ozanich of Oshkosh.

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