Sports

It wasn’t his first choice, but Rickey Paulding will play pro basketball overseas next season.

Paulding’s agent, Doug Neustadt, said on Tuesday that Paulding signed a one-year contract to play basketball in Jerusalem.

The Rock Bridge boys’ soccer team sent a message to the rest of the state: We can beat you.

Striker Michael Ferguson scored the game’s only two goals and the Bruins knocked off state runner-up Chaminade Tuesday at Cosmopolitan Park.

If there were a pill for golfing consistency, the Rock Bridge girls’ golf team must have filled the prescription on Tuesday.

Rock Bridge finished second at a tri-meet with solid rounds from each of its top four golfers, for a total of 173. The Bruins finished one stroke behind Rolla and four ahead of Hickman at L.A. Nickell Golf Course.

The Rock Bridge volleyball team dug hard for its first victory Tuesday against Jefferson City but came up empty-handed.

The Bruins won the first game 25-22 but dropped the next two, 26-24, 26-24, because of their inconsistent play and the inability to hold several leads.

Fans of the Missouri Tigers who subscribe to Sirius Satellite Radio can get their fix on a new program.

The commercial-free satellite radio company has joined with College Sports Television to offer live play-by-play coverage of 23 universities, including games from the 2004 Tigers’ football season.

At game time, the sparse crowd of 924 clearly reflected the state of Mavericks baseball in Columbia.

When the team left the field after Monday night’s game, a 9-1 season-ending loss against the Rockford RiverHawks, it did so in last place in the independent Frontier League, and with the second-lowest total attendance of any of the league’s 12 teams.

Everybody on the Missouri defense has spent the preseason working on run defense, even the unit that is chiefly responsible for stopping the pass.

The Tigers’ secondary hasn’t stood idle after the defense allowed a combined 667 yards rushing against Kansas State and Arkansas, the final two losses in 2003. To help improve the run defense, the secondary has focused on the concept of leverage.

JEFFERSON CITY — The Rock Bridge volleyball team could not deliver the perfect welcome gift to its new coach Beth Newton, but did manage the next best thing.

Although the Bruins fell 25-11, 25-23 in their season opener to Helias on Monday, Newton said the team’s play pleased her.

One thing every generation of young people has in common is their popular music’s ability to frighten and confuse the older generation.

Baby boomers lamented their parents’ denouncement of rock ‘n’ roll as noise and not music.

To some, it might appear Big 12 Conference schools have decided to ease into the new season. The Big 12’s coaches don’t think that is the case.

When Oklahoma State plays at UCLA this weekend, it is the only Big 12 team playing a major conference opponent. That doesn’t mean, though, the Big 12 teams will get a week off. Teams’ scheduling philosophies were topics of discussion during the first Big 12 coaches’ teleconference of the season.

The Rock Bridge softball team fell to Smith Cotton 5-3 on Monday night in Sedalia.

Senior Kristen Heil and sophomore Brad Ekwerekwu were named Lathrop and Gage Student-Athletes of the Week.

Sixteen members of the 1954 MU baseball team will be reuniting in Columbia this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its championship season.

After running over its opponents last year for the sixth best rushing attack in the country, the Missouri football team is looking to go to the air.

The emphasis on improving the passing game has been evident in preseason scrimmages, with the offense running far more passing plays than rushing. The Tigers are relying on Sean Coffey, Brad Ekwerekwu and Thomson Omboga, three of the teams more experienced receivers, to produce for the first team offense.

His rise to the major leagues was as quick as his high-90s fastball, his fall more devastating than his disappearing curveball.

Rick Ankiel’s story was the mind-boggling sort; a rookie phenom with the talent to earn a start in Game 1 of the playoffs only to inexplicably split apart at the seams on one of baseball’s biggest stages.

The Missouri soccer team suffered its first loss of the season, falling to Illinois, 4-1 on Sunday in Champaign, Ill.

The Illini started their season opener with three goals in the first half. The Tigers scored in the second half with Jennifer Nobis earning her second goal of the season. The Illini capitalized on a cornerkick for their final goal.

Perhaps it took an embarrassing outing to get the St. Louis Rams’ attention. With one preseason game left for them, it couldn’t have come at a better time.Four days after a 24-7 loss at Kansas City, the Rams rolled out offensive firepower befitting the nickname “Greatest Show on Turf,” bowling past the Washington Redskins 28-3 on Friday night.

Although a diminutive player, Marcus James has left a big void on the MU football team.

James, a 5-foot-8 wide receiver whose eligibility has expired, produced nearly every time he touched the ball as a punt returner last season. James finished the season sixth in the nation averaging 14.5 yards, and Missouri’s Special Teams Player of the Year award for the second straight season.

Paige Sports Arena will see plenty of action during its inaugural season.

The Missouri men’s basketball team announced its 2004-2005 schedule Friday, and it includes 20 games at the new 15,000-seat, $75 million facility.

There was something in the air Saturday outside the Hickman High School football office.

It wasn’t only the dreary skies and an off-and-on drizzle.

For the Hickman football team, there was a subdued eagerness to begin the season after two 7-7 ties Friday night at Adkins Stadium in Jefferson City.