INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Shay Ciezki had 22 points and seven assists, Nevaeh Caffey scored nine of her 13 in the fourth quarter, and No. 13 seed Indiana overcame a 20-point deficit to beat Nebraska 72-69 on Wednesday in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

Indiana (18-14) has won four in a row and is 7-2 following its 0-10 start in Big Ten play.

No. 12 seed Nebraska (18-12) has lost seven of its last nine games and may have seen its NCAA Tournament bubble burst.

Amiah Hargrove led the Cornhuskers with 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting and Britt Prince had 20 points and eight assists. Logan Nissley scored 12 and Jessica Petrie added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Ciezki had her 21st game this season with at least 20 points and passed Mackenzie Holmes (692 points, 2022-23) for second on Indiana’s single-season scoring list with 694 points this season.

Lenee Beaumont made two 3s in an 8-0 spurt that gave Indiana a 68-67 lead — its first of the game — with 1:06 left. Prince missed a pull-up jumper before Ciezki darted to the rim for a layup with 32 seconds to go. Hargrove had an offensive rebound and putback that made it a one-point game with 17 seconds remaining before Caffey made two free throws to cap the scoring.

Prince and Nissley missed potential tying 3-point shots in the closing seconds.

Beaumont scored 11 of her 14 in the second half and Edessa Noyan had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Indiana, which trailed 45-25 late in the second quarter.

Then-No. 25 Nebraska beat the Hoosiers 78-73 at home Jan. 8 to snap an eight-game skid in the series, which Indiana leads 14-7.

Up next

Indiana: Plays 11th-ranked and fifth-seeded Ohio State in the second round on Thursday.

Nebraska: Awaits a potential postseason invitation.

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Its dominance took a while to materialize, but Team USA ended its two-game pre-World Baseball Classic exhibition tour with a 14-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. The game was called after eight innings.

A day after a dominant 15-1 win over the San Francisco Giants, the American lineup began the scoring with a titanic homer from superstar Aaron Judge in the first inning, but that was the extent of the offense in the first three innings.

It was the Rockies’ collection of major and minor-league talent that held the 4-3 lead through four innings. Team USA got two more runs in a fourth inning rally, but Rockies outfielder Mickey Moniak greeted the only mostly retired Clayton Kershaw with a solo homer in the bottom of the frame. The Los Angeles Dodgers great, who played his final MLB season last year, didn’t even get out of the inning.

That led to the Americans calling in a loan from the Rockies, organizational arm Carson Skipper, to finish the inning. He did, but only after giving up a two-run homer to Kyle Karros.

If there was any tension on the Team USA side after that, it dissipated quickly. Alex Bregman homered in the fifth inning. Will Smith homered in the sixth inning, which was followed by a four-run rally. Paul Goldschmidt and Byron Buxton homered in the eighth inning.

Eventually, more Rockies farmhands took their places in the Team USA lineup. And continued piling on.

The final score wound up being what you would expect from an All-Star roster against the depth of one of MLB’s lowest-performing organizations. It wasn’t the best outing from Kershaw, but the Team USA bullpen was otherwise strong behind starter Ryan Yarbrough, with scoreless innings from Brad Keller, Garrett Cleavinger and Garrett Whitlock.

Team USA will now head to Houston to open WBC group play, facing Brazil on Friday in what could be one of the most lopsided games of the tournament.

Its dominance took a while to materialize, but Team USA ended its two-game pre-World Baseball Classic exhibition tour with a 14-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday. The game was called after eight innings.

A day after a dominant 15-1 win over the San Francisco Giants, the American lineup began the scoring with a titanic homer from superstar Aaron Judge in the first inning, but that was the extent of the offense in the first three innings.

It was the Rockies’ collection of major and minor-league talent that held the 4-3 lead through four innings. Team USA got two more runs in a fourth inning rally, but Rockies outfielder Mickey Moniak greeted the only mostly retired Clayton Kershaw with a solo homer in the bottom of the frame. The Los Angeles Dodgers great, who played his final MLB season last year, didn’t even get out of the inning.

That led to the Americans calling in a loan from the Rockies, organizational arm Carson Skipper, to finish the inning. He did, but only after giving up a two-run homer to Kyle Karros.

If there was any tension on the Team USA side after that, it dissipated quickly. Alex Bregman homered in the fifth inning. Will Smith homered in the sixth inning, which was followed by a four-run rally. Paul Goldschmidt and Byron Buxton homered in the eighth inning.

Eventually, more Rockies farmhands took their places in the Team USA lineup. And continued piling on.

The final score wound up being what you would expect from an All-Star roster against the depth of one of MLB’s lowest-performing organizations. It wasn’t the best outing from Kershaw, but the Team USA bullpen was otherwise strong behind starter Ryan Yarbrough, with scoreless innings from Brad Keller, Garrett Cleavinger and Garrett Whitlock.

Team USA will now head to Houston to open WBC group play, facing Brazil on Friday in what could be one of the most lopsided games of the tournament.

Record 7-4. Change on 2025: +1.5. 5-inning record: 3-7-1.

The Diamondbacks rolled their spring winning streak to five games, with a well-pitched victory over the Athletics in Hohokam. Their pitchers held the opposition to six hits, just one (a double) for extra bases, and a pair of walks. The sole run came against former (and hopefully not future) Arizona closer Paul Sewald, who allowed two hits and a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Starter Brandon Pfaadt in his spring debut, still went 2.1 innings, allowing a hit and a walk with one K. He needed only 25 pitches for that, thanks in particular to a four-pitch first frame. Brandyn Garcia was the pick of the relievers, striking out two of the three batters faced. Isaiah Campbell pitched a clean ninth inning for the save.

Arizona certainly had chances to score more than three, but went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position – and one of those hits didn’t even bring across a run. The Diamondbacks got two in the fourth as Jacob Amaya’s first home-run of spring scored him and Luken Baker. The pair were also responsible for the D-backs’ third and final run in the fifth, Baker being driven in by an Amaya sacrifice fly. Jacob singled in addition to his home-run, and drove in all three Arizona runs. Tommy Troy went 3-for-4 and got his spring average up to .524, while also stealing his first base; Baker walked in addition to his hit.

ABS challenges went 2-for-3 on the day, and the D-backs will be on the road again tomorrow. They will face the Cubs at Sloan Park: first pitch is at 1:05 pm, with Ryne Nelson scheduled to start for Arizona.

The Cubs got some good pitching performances Wednesday afternoon against the Brewers, but a potentially even bigger story was four ABS challenges made by Moisés Ballesteros, all of which he got right!

That’s a skill that can definitely translate to MLB regular season games. Perhaps there’s hope for Ballesteros to do some MLB catching after all.

The Cubs won the game 4-1. Let’s first look at the Ballesteros challenges. Two of them were on the same at-bat to Luis Lara:

Here’s the first call, and you can see how close it was [VIDEO].

Here’s a call made while Jesús Made was at bat, also in the second [VIDEO].

And one more, with David Hamilton at bat in the fourth [VIDEO].

Good work by Ballesteros, who’s getting a bit more catching time with Miguel Amaya away at the World Baseball Classic. He also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly.

Edward Cabrera threw efficiently in 2.2 innings and 45 pitches, striking out a pair. Here are the two K’s [VIDEO].

James Triantos went 2-for-3 and drove in a run with this single [VIDEO].

Cubs prospect Jefferson Rojas, who’s been impressive this spring, homered in the sixth, his second [VIDEO].

Non-roster outfielders Dylan Carlson and Chas McCormick both went 1-for-3 in this game.

Jaxon Wiggins, who got lit up in his first spring outing over the weekend, looked much better in this game, throwing two scoreless innings, also with two strikeouts. Vince Velasquez, a late NRI add, threw for the first time this spring and also put together two scoreless innings, with three strikeouts.

So overall, a lot of small things were done well by the Cubs in this game. I was especially impressed by Ballesteros’ strike zone judgment.

The Cubs return to Sloan Park Thursday to face the Diamondbacks. Colin Rea will start for the Cubs and Ryne Nelson will go for Arizona. Game time is 2:05 p.m. CT. No TV or radio for Thursday’s game.

The Utah Jazz will head to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers with a chance to improve their draft positioning even more. The Sixers will be without some key players so it makes this a little interesting for the Jazz.

The Jazz will also be shorthanded with their standard injuries.

The big takeaway here is that Keyonte George is available. That alone means the Jazz have a chance to take this one. George has had an outstanding season and is showing, with every game, that he’s an pace for a big season next year.

How to watch

Who: Utah Jazz vs Philadelphia 76ers

When: 5:30 PM MT

Where: Xfinity Mobile Arena – Philadelphia, PA

How to watch Utah Jazz vs Philadelphia 76ers: Jazz+, KJZZ

ROME (AP) — Lazio and Atalanta traded four second-half goals in a 2-2 draw in the first leg of the Italian Cup semifinals Wednesday.

Fisayo Dele-Bashiru took advantage of a through pass from former Atalanta midfielder Daniel Maldini to put Lazio ahead two minutes after the break.

Mario Pasalic equalized four minutes later for Atalanta by knocking in a rebound.

Boulaye Dia took advantage of a defensive error by Pasalic and quickly found the target from the center of the area in the 87th. Then United States international Yunus Musah equalized again for Atalanta in the 90th.

Como and Inter Milan drew 0-0 in the other semifinal on Tuesday.

The second legs are scheduled for April 21-22 and the final is May 13.

Atalanta has reached the final three times in the last seven seasons but has won the trophy only once — back in 1963. Lazio is a seven-time champion, having beat Atalanta for its most recent title in 2019.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Joel Dahmen was down to his last chance to keep his full PGA Tour card at the final tournament of the year. He missed the cut, headed home to Arizona to be with his newborn son and had a month to ponder a future that didn’t look terribly bright.

To be sure, teeing it up in a $20 million signature event at Bay Hill was not in his plans.

The new year of fewer cards — top 100 instead of 125 — and shorter fields left Dahmen uncertain about where he could play and how much. But he was reminded that good golf still pays off, and it earned him the final spot in the 72-man field at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“It’s nice to hang out with the big kids this week,” Dahmen said Wednesday. “Incredible event. Really hard golf course. It’s definitely elevated, signature event. You can feel it, and I’m just super excited to be here.”

How did this happen?

It wasn’t the gift of sponsor exemptions. Dahmen has asked for one every week, but he has received only one — at the WM Phoenix Open and that was the only cut he missed this year. Instead, he barely got into the field at Torrey Pines and tied for seventh, and he was among the last to get in the Cognizant Classic last week and tied for ninth by going bogey-free his last 27 holes.

It was enough — by five FedEx Cup points — to get the last spot over Jordan Spieth, who already had a sponsor exemption to Bay Hill.

“No, I could not see myself here,” the 38-year-old Dahmen said. “It was the first time in a long time that there was a lot of unknowns in my career. … I think most players didn’t really know the schedule, we didn’t know what we were going to get into. So I think for me the biggest thing was that every single start is a big start.

“It was just taking advantage of the opportunities, and so far I’ve done that.”

These next two weeks — Bay Hill and The Players Championship — are huge for a guy in Dahmen’s position. He is not eligible for the three events after The Players, and only his good play kept him from having off five straight weeks.

But it’s a strong field. Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, has won twice at Bay Hill in the last four years. The field features 19 of the top 20 in the world, and that includes Justin Thomas, who is competing for the first time since the Ryder Cup after back surgery.

“I’ve got to be realistic. I haven’t played a tournament in six months,” Thomas said. “I feel like I can do anything I want with the golf ball at any given time. It’s just going to be the concentrating for four-and-a-half, five hours on a very difficult test.”

Austin Smotherman, who graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour last year, also played his way into the field with a runner-up finish last week.

“That’s part of why people love seeing maybe slightly bigger fields, seeing the underdog story, is that on a given week there’s a lot of guys in the world that can play golf,” Collin Morikawa said. “But at the same time opportunities aren’t just handed out to everyone. You have to go and earn it.

“Joe was given an opportunity. He’s taken that opportunity and turned it into something great.”

It didn’t start out that way.

There was joy being around his newborn. There was Thanksgiving dinner to host. And then there was time on the couch. The golf clubs were put away. It was Dec. 27 when his wife casually asked him if he thought about his immediate future and Dahmen realized he should probably practice.

“Yeah, the path to the tour is rougher. The path to stay on tour is tougher than it’s ever been,” Dahmen said. “There’s a lot of talk about being more of a closed shop. … But on the other side I’m proof that in four events you can play well enough and earn your way into these events. And if you play well in one of these next two, you keep going on the upward trend.”

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf