Sports

STEVENS POINT, Wis. — As Janel McCarville sits under the homemade basketball hoop attached to the chicken coop on her farm in central Wisconsin, she mentions the assassination of her Moscow team owner while he was on his way to pick her up for a Beyoncé concert.

McCarville and her father fashioned the backboard from a tree trunk and 2-by-4s, and fastened a rim she bought for $2 at a garage sale. Now hung low on the coop for the benefit of her nieces and nephews, it is the rustic symbol of the self-made basketball player who has roamed the world so someday she will never have to leave home.

“This is what I work for,” she says. “So I can sit here the rest of my life.”

Golf’s governing bodies approved a rule Tuesday that outlaws the putting stroke used by four of the last six major champions, a move opposed by two major golf organizations that contend long putters are not hurting the game.

The Royal & Ancient Golf Club and U.S. Golf Association said Rule 14-1b will take effect in 2016.

“We recognize this has been a divisive issue, but after thorough consideration, we remain convinced that this is the right decision for golf,” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said.

The new rule does not ban the long putters, only the way they commonly are used. Golfers no longer will be able to anchor the club against their bodies to create the effect of a hinge. Masters champion Adam Scott used a long putter he pressed against his chest. British Open champion Ernie Els and U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson used a belly putter, as did Keegan Bradley in the 2011 PGA Championship.

KEARNS — Slow or quick, both ways are painful.

The Utah High School Activities Association will wrap its official season this week with softball and boys soccer titles on Thursday, and the state 5-A and 4-A baseball championships on Friday.

WASHINGTON TERRACE — For the Bonneville High Lakers, finding a coach that loves football and loves the profession of teaching kids was no ordinary task.

SALEM, Ore. — Two brothers allege that people standing near Portland Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard assaulted them after one of the victims took a photo of the NBA Rookie of the Year.

The brothers tell Portland television station KGW (http://bit.ly/10IK7uN ) that the suspects were Lillard’s “entourage,” but police say they haven’t determined whether they are associated with the player.

NEW YORK — Taylor Sewitt was the talk of college baseball a year ago, a rubber-armed right-hander who threw one shutout inning after another.

His deceptive submarine-style delivery helped Sewitt rack up 22 scoreless innings for Manhattan College in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference last May, winning three games in as many days and tossing an eye-popping 296 pitches.

And, that included 11 shutout innings of relief in the title game against Canisius.