BOZEMAN — The shelves in Waded Cruzado’s office in Montana Hall are cluttered with memories. Among the books, awards and a preserved newspaper clipping (headline only: "Outlook grim for grizzlies in region") are a collection of Montana State athletics keepsakes, including signed footballs from past teams and a child’s crude drawing of a football player clad in blue and gold. The university’s president takes great care when picking out another item from the display: a framed photo of her and the 2019-20 women’s basketball team in a joking “power pose” in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She had joined the team on the trip to her home country for a pair of December games. Cruzado needs no reminder of the fact the Bobcats of that year went on to have the best season in school history. “I’m not going to say that it was because of that tournament, because of course it’s the chemistry, it’s the talent,” Cruzado said, “but there was something magical that happened beyond the games, and I think it was the time that they spent together.” She remembers giving the team a tour of Old San Juan and explaining the history of the country and fielding “intelligent questions” from players. Once back at the hotel, Cruzado was included in the team’s reflection period. They chose "courage" as the word of the day and shared anecdotes of when they had witnessed or used courage. “That conversation brought us so close, and I was able to see firsthand how much (head coach Tricia Binford) opens herself to those students,” Cruzado said. “She’s the coach, but she’s also the mother, she’s the friend, she’s the confidant, and I would love to think that it was because of that that we had that amazing year.” Five years later, the 2024-25 Bobcats are off to a 7-2 start, and they’re looking forward to a Puerto Rico trip of their own. After playing at Florida Gulf Coast on Monday in Fort Myers, Florida, the Bobcats will face Presbyterian College Dec. 19 and the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez Dec. 20 in San Juan to wrap up nonconference play. And like five years ago, Cruzado will be along for the trip. She received her undergraduate degree from Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, a land grant university similar to MSU. “It’s going to be a lot of fun and a great moment of pride for me,” Cruzado said. This year’s trip takes on special meaning for all involved because Cruzado . “It’s definitely fitting that we get one more opportunity to do that with her before she retires,” Binford said. MSU’s players are glad to have Cruzado along for the trip. “Waded is like family to us, and she is such a big fan, big supporter of our program,” junior forward Marah Dykstra said. “Having her on that trip, going back to her roots, is just going to be really exciting.” Graduate student Katelynn Martin — who is a quarter Puerto Rican — remembers Cruzado sending her flowers and a heartfelt note last season after an injury against Montana required a short hospital stay. “She is always so encouraging and supportive,” Martin said. “Her energy, the positive things she always talks about, it’s just going to be so nice to have her on the trip.” After the Bobcats of five years ago returned from Puerto Rico, where they lost to Wichita State and No. 11-ranked Texas A&M, they won 21 of their final 22 games to finish 25-6 overall and 19-1 in Big Sky Conference play. The Bobcats qualified for the conference championship game against Idaho — the only team to beat them (by one point) after Puerto Rico — only to see the season get stopped early because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2024-25 Bobcats have a long way to go to reach their predecessor’s heights, but the upcoming road trip could help build some momentum before reaching conference play. FGCU is also 7-2 and currently ranked 106th (of 362 teams) in the NET Rankings, so a win there would be impactful as MSU tries to build its postseason resumé. Presbyterian is currently 1-8 and ranked 359th in the NET Rankings. Wins against the Blue Hose and non-NCAA Puerto Rico-Mayaguez wouldn’t boost MSU’s own ranking (a Big Sky-leading 57th) much. But the Bobcats could ensure a modest winning streak before facing Idaho (Jan. 2) and Eastern Washington (Jan. 4) at home and conference threats Northern Colorado (Jan. 9) and Northern Arizona (Jan. 11) on the road to start league play. The Bobcats also want to enjoy their short reprieve from Montana’s winter, as they did last year with games in Cancún, Mexico, and the year before in Hawaii. “We want to win those games first of all, that’s going to make the whole trip fun,” redshirt sophomore guard Dylan Philip said. “It’s a long road trip too, but it’s a good one to spend together over the Christmas break.” Like her teammates, Philip is happy to have the extended time with Cruzado before she retires. “Ever since I was being recruited here, I think she has just been a role model for this school,” Philip said. “She has such a close relationship with our coaching staff and us, like having us for dinner before the season and everything. It’s super cool to have someone that’s so supportive of us.” Cruzado is hopeful the players use the Puerto Rico trip to “stretch intellectually” and “challenge their assumptions” about other places. From a basketball perspective, she’s looking forward to the bonds they create on the court. “That sense of, ‘We are a team, we play together. All of us will shine when one of us shines,’” Cruzado said. “I hope that we’re able to develop that in this wonderful group of young women that we have this year.”An accused founder of a violent Southern California white supremacist organization who lived in Huntington Beach was sentenced on Friday, Dec. 13, in downtown Los Angeles to the two years he already served on a federal charge of inciting brawls at political rallies across the state. Robert Rundo, 34, who lived in Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty in September to one count of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Riot Act, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Rundo was extradited from Romania last year after spending nearly a year on the run. Rundo was expected to be released from custody sometime Friday, Dec. 13, prosecutors said. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Rundo was a founding member of a now-defunct South Bay organization that represented itself as “a combat-ready, militant group of a new nationalist white supremacy and identity movement.” An indictment also says that Rundo and his colleagues attended a number of peaceful protests, where they chased down and violently attacked counter-protesters. “Mr. Rundo’s cowardly and unprovoked acts of violence were unjustly carried out upon his victims, leaving those who were victimized, their families, and our community torn by hate,” Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said in a statement after Rundo pleaded guilty. The indictment was dismissed in February for the second time in five years by then-U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney. The now-retired judge had rejected criminal charges in the case in 2019, after Rundo’s attorneys argued that the Anti-Riot Act cited by federal prosecutors was “unconstitutionally over-broad.” Carney concluded that the government selectively prosecuted Rundo and Robert Boman, 31, of Torrance while ignoring violence by members of far-left extremist groups because the white supremacist organization engaged in what the government and many believe is more offensive speech. Boman — who is charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Anti-Riot Act and one count of rioting — has a February trial date set, according to court records. In the 9th Circuit opinion in July, Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., a nominee of President George W. Bush, knocked down Carney’s selective prosecution theory, writing that the opposing left- and right-wing groups were not similar enough to meet the required standard. The rallies involved in the case were on May 25, 2017, at Bolsa Chica Beach in Huntington Beach; April 15, 2017, in Berkeley; and June 10, 2017, in San Bernardino. Related Articles
Rico Carty, who won the 1970 NL batting title with the Atlanta Braves, has diedDylan So looks like a typical student, which placed him well for his role as Ming in Papa : an otherwise quiet high-schooler, but one who hears voices telling him climate change and environmental hazards are caused by overpopulation, and people have to die to make the world better, leading him to murder his mother and sister. Despite having zero acting experience before Papa , So’s subtle yet fearless performance is already being tipped for a Hong Kong Film Awards nomination. “The daughter of my mother’s friend had been working with director Philip Yung for a while,” says So, 18. “One evening when we were having dinner together, she asked if I would be interested in auditioning for Papa . I took the chance and got the role. I was a Form Five student back then. I did not intentionally imitate how a mentally ill patient or murderer might look or act, I just played the role of a son. I was going through puberty, like the character, and I applied my attitude towards my parents in real life to the role, as I believe the character was hearing voices in his head, which were not meant to be expressed explicitly.” So’s interactions with Lau in the film are so convincing they feel like exchanges between a real father and son. When asked if his attitude towards his own father changed after the film, So replies that while he thinks it is important to talk and communicate, when “my father saw the film, I did not ask him whether he liked it. We just looked at each other without saying anything”. Currently majoring in English at the Education University of Hong Kong, So hopes to find a job that allows him to “learn and broaden my horizons through meeting different people”. “I may work as a teacher or social worker after graduation. I will consider acting, too,” he says. “Acting is interesting since I can experience other people’s lives through the characters. I just want to explore, and I won’t set a limit to what kind of characters I play.”Angel Yin was making putts from across the green and threatening to build a big lead until Jeeno Thitikul finished eagle-birdie for a 9-under 63 to share the lead Saturday going into the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship with US$4 million on the line. Yin had a 69 after another day of big putts and one chip-in from some 60 feet for eagle on the par-5 sixth hole that put her comfortably ahead at Tiburon Golf Club. She holed a 30-footer on the eighth hole, another birdie from about 25 feet on the ninth hole and another one from the 30-foot range on the 12th. Thitikul seemed to be an afterthought until she lit it up on the back nine for a 30. The Thai started the back nine with three straight bogeys, but she made up quick ground at the end with her eagle on the reachable par-5 17th and a birdie on the closing hole. The birdie briefly gave her the lead until Yin made birdie on the 17th to join her. They were tied at 15-under 201, three shots head of Ruoning Yin, who birdied her last two for a 66. Charley Hull had seven birdies in her round of 66 and was at 11-under 205, along with Narin An of South Korea. Nelly Korda, who got back into the mix on Friday after a sluggish start, lost ground with a 69 on a pleasant day that left her six shots back going into the final round. Korda has won four of her seven LPGA titles this year coming from behind. This could be a tall order. At stake is the richest payoff in women's golf, $4 million to the winner, nearly as much as Korda has made all year in her seven-victory season. Thitikul already picked up a $1 million bonus this week through the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge, a competition based on how players score on a designated hole each week. Now she could leave Florida with a total of $5 million. "Actually, $1 million is really good enough for me," Thitikul said. "If I can get more, it's definitely going to be a nice, because as my team know I spend a lot of money. That's why I have to keep playing good golf, like spending on shopping day." Angel Yin heard plenty of cheers for her long birdie putts, and the chip-in for eagle. She also was helped by a couple of pars after bad drives. She went well to the left at No. 10, did well to blast out on a blind shot just short of the green and then got up-and-down with a pitch to 4 feet. And then on the 13th, another tee shot went well to the left. She tried to get it back in play from just in front of some bushes, and from 50 yards hit wedge to about 15 feet. She holed that putt, too, that kept her in front. "I'm scoring still," Yin said. "Making some mistakes, but saving a bunch, so a lot of positives."
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ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey on Friday ousted two more elected pro-Kurdish mayors from office and replaced them with state-appointed administrators, citing terrorism-related charges against them. With their ouster, the number of elected mayors that have been sacked since October rose to six. An Interior Ministry statement said the mayor of the mainly Kurdish-populated provincial capital of Tunceli was removed from office due to his past conviction and an ongoing investigation for links to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The district mayor for Ovacik, in Tunceli province, was sacked due to his past conviction of membership in the PKK, the statement said. The two mayors belong to the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party, or DEM, which is the third-largest party represented in Parliament. They were elected to office in local elections in March. Among those previously ousted was the mayor of Esenyurt, a district in Istanbul, who is a member of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, CHP. The mayor, Ahmet Ozer, was arrested last month, for alleged connections to the PKK. Several other pro-Kurdish mayors have similarly been ousted from office following past elections. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has defended the mayors' removals saying they are part of efforts to maintain security. Opposition parties and human rights groups, however, accuse the government of undermining democracy and say the charges brought against the mayors are often politically motivated. The PKK, which has led an armed insurgency against the Turkish state since the 1980s, is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.None
Watts scores 20, Washington State takes down Boise State 74-69CARSON, Calif. — Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic scored in the first half, and the LA Galaxy won their record sixth MLS Cup championship with a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. After striking twice in the first 13 minutes of the final with goals from their star forwards, the Galaxy nursed their lead through a scoreless second half to raise their league's biggest trophy for the first time since 2014. MLS' most successful franchise struggled through most of the ensuing decade, even finishing 26th in the 29-team league last year. But the Galaxy turned everything around this season with a high-scoring new lineup that finished second in the Western Conference and then streaked through the playoffs with a whopping 18 goals in five games to win another crown. Sean Nealis scored for the seventh-seeded Red Bulls, whose improbable charge through the playoffs ended one win shy of its first Cup championship. With the league's youngest roster, New York fell just short of becoming the lowest-seeded team to win MLS' playoff tournament under first-year German coach Sandro Schwarz. Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy made four saves to win his second MLS title in three seasons. He was the MVP of the 2022 MLS Cup Final for the Galaxy's crosstown rival, Los Angeles FC. The Galaxy won this title without perhaps their most important player. Riqui Puig, the playmaking midfielder from Barcelona who ran their offense impressively all season long, tore a ligament in his knee last week in the Western Conference final. Puig watched the game in a suit, but his teammates hadn't forgotten him: After his replacement, Gastón Brugman, set up LA's opening goal with a superb pass, Paintsil held up Puig's jersey to their fans during the celebration. Paintsil put the Galaxy ahead in the ninth minute when he ran onto that sublime pass from Brugman and pounded home his 14th MLS goal — including four in the playoffs — in the Ghanaian forward's outstanding first season. Just four minutes later, Joveljic sprinted past four New York defenders and chipped home the 21st goal of his outstanding year as the Galaxy's striker. Nealis got New York on the scoreboard in the 28th minute when he volleyed home a ball that got loose in LA's penalty area after a corner. The Galaxy's usually shaky defense gave up another handful of good chances before reaching halftime with a tenuous lead. The second half was lively, but scoreless. Red Bulls captain Emil Forsberg hit the outside of the post in the 72nd minute, while Gabriel Pec and Galaxy substitute Marco Reus nearly converted chances a few moments later. The ball got loose again in the Galaxy's penalty area in the third minute of extra time, but two Red Bulls couldn't finish. The Galaxy bench rushed onto the field and prematurely celebrated a victory in the seventh minute of injury time, only to be herded back off for another 30 seconds of play. The Galaxy finished 17-0-3 this season at their frequently renamed suburban stadium, where the sellout crowd of 26,812 for the final included several robust cheering sections of traveling Red Bulls supporters hoping to see their New Jersey-based club's breakthrough on MLS' biggest stage. The Galaxy's Greg Vanney became the fourth coach to win an MLS title with two clubs. The former Galaxy player also won it all with Toronto in 2017. The club famous for employing global stars from David Beckham and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Robbie Keane and Javier "Chicharito" Hernández rebuilt itself this season with lesser-known young talents from around the world. The Galaxy signed Pec from Brazil and the Ghanaian Paintsil out of Belgium, and the duo combined with incumbent Serbian striker Joveljic to form a potent attack that could outscore almost any MLS opponent. But the Galaxy also relied heavily on Puig, their Catalan catalyst and one of MLS' best players. Puig stayed in last week's game after injuring his knee, and he even delivered the decisive pass to Joveljic for the game's only goal. Get local news delivered to your inbox!
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Rico Carty, who won the 1970 NL batting title with the Atlanta Braves, has diedFor a while, the Commanders-Cowboys game on Sunday afternoon was pretty boring. It was 3-3 at halftime. It was 10-9 at the start of the fourth quarter. It was only 13-9 more than halfway through the fourth. So, how on earth did this game become a classic, 34-26 Cowboys victory -- in regulation? Well, mostly because the special-teams units went nuts. KaVontae Turpin got things started with a 99-yard kick return touchdown, just after Jayden Daniels had hit Zach Ertz to cut into Dallas' lead and seemingly give Washington a chance for a comeback victory. In case "99-yard kick return touchdown" doesn't sound crazy enough, take a look at what actually happened on the play. KaVontae Turpin goes 99 yards for the TD 🔥 📺: #DALvsWAS on FOX 📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/IiHNVZAnt5 Washington's ensuing drive resulted in a deep field goal from Austin Seibert (more on him on a minute), which got the Commanders back to within one score. The Cowboys quickly went three-and-out on their next possession just after the two-minute warning, so Washington got the ball back on its own 14-yard line, needing to go 86 yards in 33 seconds -- with no timeouts. Naturally, Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin hooked up for an 86-yard touchdown on the very next snap. COMMANDERS 86-YARD TOUCHDOWN WOW 📺: #DALvsWAS on FOX 📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/apaNEKNCkh So, it's another Washington miracle comeback, right? Tie game, headed to overtime? NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND! Remember how I said we'd be hearing more about Seibert later? Well, the kicker who was 22 of 22 on extra points coming into this game, proceeded to shank the extra point, meaning instead of heading to overtime, Washington needed to recover an onside kick. NO GOOD. 📺: #DALvsWAS on FOX 📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/FDg7wGy8KF What happened on the onside attempt? Well, not only did Washington not recover the ball; Dallas safety Juanyeh Thomas snagged it on the run and took it all the way back to the end zone with just 14 seconds remaining, extending the Cowboys' lead once again. (Let's leave aside for the moment that he absolutely should have gone down instead of running into the end zone. It was a super cool play.) ONSIDE KICK RETURN FOR A TD WHY NOT?! 📺: #DALvsWAS on FOX 📱: https://t.co/waVpO909ge pic.twitter.com/DIXs64vWvP According to CBS Sports research, this was the first game in the Super Bowl era with two missed extra points (both by Seibert, who also missed one early in the third quarter) and two kick-return touchdowns. And the Cowboys are the first team in history with two kick-return touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a single game. How's that for wild?
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