B2|Wednesday,January 11, 2017|SFChronicle.com XXXXX••
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Maria Sharapova
The five-time Grand Slam win-
ner willreturn from her 15-
month doping banata tourna-
ment in Germany in April.Car
manufacturerPorsche, which
sponsors both Sharapovaand
theevent inStuttgart,saidTues-
day that Sharapovahas been
given a wild-card entry into the
tournament. It will be her first
officialcompetition since she
testedpositivefor meldoniumat
last year’sAustralian Open. “I
could not be happiertohavemy
firstmatch back ontouratone
ofmyfavoritetournaments,”
said Sharapova, 29, whowon
theStuttgarttournament from
2012 through ’14.“Ican’twait.”Lionel Messi
Apparentlyvandals in Argentina
thought enough of thecountry’s
bestplayer toleavehislegs
alone. Astatue in Buenos Aires
was reducedtothe national
teamstar’slower half — and a
soccer ball —after the head,
torso and armswere removed.
The statuewas installedinlate
June, shortlyafter Argentina and
Messilostthe final of theCopa
Americaagainst Chile.The city
saysit willreconstruct thestat-
ue.The vandalismtook place
just hoursafter CristianoRon-
aldowas named FIFA’s best
player of the seasonfor the
fourth time.
Associated PressNAMES &FACES
WEDNESDAYCollege basketball
Men
3p GeorgeWashington atVCUESPN
3p Houston atEastCarolinaESPNews
3:30p SouthCarolina atTennesseeSECNet
4p Dayton at MassachusettsCBSSN
4p Seton Hall at MarquetteFS
4p Georgia at MississippiESPNU
4p Minnesota at MichiganStateBigTe n
5p NorthCarolina atWakeForest
ESPN
5p Memphis atTulsaESPNews
5:30p LSU atTexas A&MSECNet
6p Butler at CreightonFS
6p Temple atConnecticutCBSSN
6p IowaStateat OklahomaState
ESPNU
6p Michigan at IllinoisBigTe n
Women
7p San DiegoStateatSan Jose State
Golf
11:30aWeb.com: Bahamas Great Exuma
ClassicGolf Ch.
Mid. PGA Europe: SouthAfrican Open
Golf Ch.
NBA
5p Washington at BostonESPN
7:30p Cleveland atPortlandESPN
NHL
5p Pittsburgh atWashingtonNBCSN
6:30p Sharks atCalgaryCSNCA(98.5)
THURSDAY
College basketball
Men
4p NotreDame at MiamiESPN4p OhioStateatWisconsinESPN
4p La Salle at Rhode IslandCBSSN
4p Belmont at MoreheadStateESPNU
6p Washington atCalFS1(560)
6p USF atBYUBYUTV
6p ArizonaStateat ArizonaESPN
6p USCat UtahP12Net
6p LoyolaMarymount at Gonzaga
CSNCA
6p SMU at CincinnatiESPN
6p AustinPeayat SIU-Edwardsville
CBSSN
6p Northwestern atRutgersESPNU
6p Purdue at IowaBigTe n
7p SantaClara atSan Diego (1590)
8p WashingtonStateatStanford
P12Net(1050)
8p St. Mary’s atPortlandESPNU
8p UCLA atColoradoFS
Women
4p Georgia at SouthCarolinaSECNet
6p Florida at MississippiStateSECNet
6:30p Portland atSt. Mary’s
7p BYU atUSF
7p San Diego atSantaClara
Golf
4p PGA: Sony OpenGolf Ch.
Mid. PGA Europe: SouthAfrican Open
Golf Ch.
Horseracing
12:45pGolden Gate Fields
NBA
Noon Indianavs. Denver inLondon
NBATV
5p Chicago at NewYorkTNT
7:30p Detroit atWarriorsCSNBATNT
(95.7)
NHL
5p Montreal at MinnesotaNBCSNCALENDAR
Warriors Radio:95.7/102.
TV:CSNBA, unless noted
SUNMON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
8
Sac
6p
9 10
Mia
7:30p11 12
Det
TNT*
7:30p13 1415 16
Cle
TNT
5p17 18
OKC
ESPN*
7:30p19 20
Hou
ESPN*
5p2122
Orl
9a23
Mia
4:30p24 25
Cha
ESPN*
5p26 27 28
LAC
_ 7
5:30p
29
Por
6p30 31 1
Cha
7:30p2
LAC
TNT
7:30p34
Sac
7:30pYN= Homegames *AlsoonCSNBA
Sharks Radio:98.
TV:CSNCA, unless noted
SUNMON TUE WED THU FRI SAT
8910
Edm
6p11
Cal
6:30p12 13 14
StL
7:30p
15 16
Win
1p17 18
LA
NBCSN
7:30p19
TB
7:30p20 21
Col
7:30p
22 23
Col
NBCSN
6p24
Win
5p25 26
Edm
7:30p27 2829 30 31
Chi
7:30p12
Va n
7p3 4
Ari
7:30p
YN= HomegamesSt.IgnatiusjuniorDar-
rionTrammellhadno
choicebuttolaugh.
In frontofaraucous
packedcrowd at USF,the
5-foot-9,lightning-quick
guardmissedfourfirst-
halflayups,includingone
particularly embarrassing
airballafterhislegs
seemedtogive way.
“Ijusthadtoletit go and
rememberallthework I’ve
putinoverthe years,”
Trammellsaid.
Trammellcouldn’t
recallaquarterliketheone
with whichheresponded
inthethird,whenhemade
7of8shotsandallfour
free-throwtriestoscore 19
ofhisgame-high22points
ina64-48wire-to-wirewin
overSacredHeartCathe-
dral.
AfterTrammelldrilled
hisonlythree-pointerof
theperiod,hegave aMi-
chae lJordanshrugtothe
bench.Trammellhad
completelyturnedaround
whatstartedasanight-
marishevening.
Inst ead,hehadhis
teammatesflailingtheir
fistsandfansoftheeighth-
rankedWildcatsinafren-
zyas St.Ignatius(11-1,3-
West CatholicAthletic
League)alsosecuredthe
Bruce-Mahoneytrophy
forthefourthstraight year.
SacredHeartCathedral,
which got18pointsfrom
RomelloDunbar,dropped
to6-6and0-3.“Weknewhe’d turnit
around,”saidTrammell’s
6-1juniorteammateBran-
donBeckman,whohad
points.“Wejustencour-
agedhimtokeepshoot-
ing.”
Trammellhasahistory
ofscoringinbunchesin
bigmoments.
He scored12ofhis
pointsat USFlastseason
inthefourthquarterina
61-60winoverSacred
HeartCathedral.OnSat-
urday, hescored13ofhis
game-high25pointsinthe
fourthquarterina77-
winat then-No. 7St.Fran-
cis.
Afastbreakbasketby
DunbarclosedSt.Ignatius’
leadto16-14early inthe
secondquarterbeforethe
Wildcatswent ona9-0run
totakecommand.Beck-
manhadadrivinglayup
andmade twofreethrows,
andMatthewRedmondhadtwofastbreakhoops
intherun.
Withhisteamup 29-
at thestartofthethird,
Trammellstartedhis
onslaught withaflying
tip-in.Aftersinkinga
mid-rangejumper,he
made back-to-back three-
pointplays afterstrong
drivestothebasket.
He scoredallbutfourof
theteam’s 23pointsinthe
quarterastheWildcats
tooka52-30lead.
“IthinkI’ve scored16in
aquarterbefore,”Tram-
mellsaid.“Ijustdidn’t
want tolet my teammates
orfansdown.Iwassortof
mopingaroundthefirst
halfwhileeveryoneelse
wasdoinggreat.OnceIgot
going,Ijustfeltit.I’mjust
glad we gotanotherwin.”MitchStephenscovershigh
schoolsportsforThe San
FranciscoChronicle.ST. IGNATIUS 64,SACRED HEARTCATHEDRAL 48
Guard dominates 3rd period
By Mitch Stephens
GabrielleLurie /The Chronicle
DarrionTrammell(center) scored19 of his 22
points in ado-no-wrongthird quarter.“We just
encouraged himto
keep shooting.”
Brandon Beckman, on St.
Ignatiusteammate Darrion
Trammell,who scored 19
pointsin th e thir d quarterAt long last, Sacred
Heart Cathedral’s girls
basketball team played
at full strength Tues-
day at USF, andit
showed.
One might say the
No. 8 Irish played
lights outduring an
80-54West CoastAth-
leticLeague-opening
win over ninth-ranked
St. Ignatius (12-2).
The Irish got a big
boost from transfers
Jayden Benitez, a5-
foot-4 junior point
guard fromWashington
High , andTaloauau
Li-Uperesa, a5-11 soph-
omore post fromGate-
way, to support another
big game from Cincin-
nati-signee IImari’I
Thomas,who had 25
points, 13 rebounds andseven blocks.
Benitez (17 points,
four assists) and Li-
Uperesa (10 points,
nine rebounds) played
their first game for the
Irish (7-5),who
snapped a three-game
losingstreak and
scored a season high in
the process.The two
players missed SHC’s
first 11 games because
of the Central Coast
Section transfer sit-out
rule.
The Irish are the
defendingstate Divi-
sion IIIchampions.
They used a 21-4 spurt
in the firstquarter to
run away fromSt. Ig-
natius,which got 15
points fromAyzhiana
Basallo and 10by Mag-
gie Burke.
“It’s nice to seeev-
eryone out there to-gether andshow a little
of their potential,” SHC
coach LyRyan Russell
said. “Especially play-
ing (top-ranked)Mitty
on Friday.”
The Irish played a
rugged preseason
schedule using primari-
ly a se ven-person rota-
tion.
“No excuses, but the
teamswe were playing
went much deeper into
the bench,”Russell
said. “Itwas great to
shuffle girls in and out.
Plus they really opened
up the floor for”Thom-
as.
YaniahFleming made
four three-pointers and
finished with 12 points.
Thomas took just 10
shots (she ma de six),
but drilled 13 of 15
free-throw tries.
“It was great havingeveryone, butwe can
playeven better,”
Thomas said. “We’re
going to need to to beat
Mitty.”
The gamewas de-
layed 25 minutes with
5:12 left in the fourth
quarterwhen the lights
went out because of the
stormy conditions.
“I’ve never been in a
situation like that be-
fore,”Russell said. “I
thought of the 49ers’
Super Bowl in New
Orleans.It didn’t seem
to bother the girls,
though.”
The Irish outscored
St. Ignatius 23-12 in the
fourthquarter.Mitch Stephens covers
high school sports for
The San Francisco
Chronicle.GabrielleLurie /The ChronicleSacred Heart Cathedral’s Rainah Smith drives on
the Wildcats inthe Irish’s winat USF.
SACRED HEARTCATHEDRAL 80,ST. IGNATIUS 54
Irish finally put it all together
By Mitch StephensZURICH — FIFA will ex-
pand theWorld Cup to 48
teams,adding 16 nations to the
2026 tournament that is likely
to be held inNorth America.
PresidentGianni Infantino’s
favored plan — for 16 three-
team groups with the top two
adva ncing to a round of 32 —
was unanimously ap proved
Tuesdayby the FIFA Council.
It meetsInfantino’s election
pledge of a bigger and more
inclusive World Cup going
beyondEuropean and South
American teams,which have
won all 20 titles.
“We have to shap e the foot-
ball World Cup of the 21st cen-
tury,” saidInfantino, who also
promised funding increases for
FIFA’s 211 member federations
at his election inFebruary.
With 80 matches instead of64, FIFA forecasts the equiv-
alent of$1 billion extra income
at current rates from broad-
casting and sponsordeals, plus
ticket sales, compared with$5.
billion revenue forecast for the
2018 World Cup in Russia.
FIFA projects an increased
profit of$640 milliondespite
some extra operating costs and
prize money for teams.
FIFA’s six continentsshould
find outby May how manyextra places they each will get.
“No guarantees have been
made,” Infantino said.“The
only sure thing is thatobvi-
ously with 48 teams,everyone
will have a bit more than they
have today.”
UEFAwants 16 European
teamsat the tournament,
which isstrongly favored to be
played in North America.The
CONCACAF region has not
hosted theWorld Cup since
1994 in theUnited States.
American, Canadian and
Mexican soccer leaders ha ve
had informal talksabout a
co-hosting bid.
FIFA members are to pick
the host inMay 2020.
Africa andAsia could be
winners in a bigger World Cup
with up to nine places each.
They had only five and four
teams, respectively, at the 2014World Cup in Brazil.
Still, FIFA expects thestan-
dard of soccer to drop com-
pared with the 32-team format
set for the next twoWorld Cups
in Russia and Qatar.
FIFAmustbreak with soccer
tradition to makeits new for-
mat work after an original
48-team plan — with an open-
ing playoff round sending 16
“one-and-done” teams home
early — was unpopular.
Inst ead, three-team groups
will replace the usual groups of
four to create simple progress
to a knockout bracket. Howev-
er, it leaves one team idle for
final group games and could
risk collusion between the
other two teams.
FIFA saidit could guard
against result-riggingby in-
troducingshootouts after
group games that end in draws.SOCCER
16 teams addedto World Cup for 2026
ASSOCIATED PRESS