Saturday’s WNBA season-opening matchup between Caitlin Clark’s Indiana Fever and Angel Reese’s Chicago Sky drew an average of 2.7 million viewers, which made it the most watched WNBA game on ESPN platforms. Clark posted a triple-double in the blowout victory. Reese had 12 points and 17 rebounds.

It wasn’t just the Chicago-Indiana game that drew strong numbers. The opener Saturday between Las Vegas and New York had an average of 1.3 million viewers.

French star Janelle Salaun is expected to make her WNBA debut with expansion Golden State Valkyries tonight in San Francisco against the Washington Mystics, led by a pair of early-standout rookies, Kiki Iriafen (USC) and Sonia Citron (Notre Dame).

Salaun, 23, is a 6-foot-3 forward whose brother Tidjane was the No. 6 overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets of last summer’s NBA draft.

Janelle Salaun helped France to a silver medal at last summer’s Paris Olympics and is most recently fresh off leading Beretta Famila Schio to the Italian League title, earning Finals MVP honors.

Nneka Ogwumike had 23 points and 19 rebounds and Skylar Diggins had 21 points and nine assists as the Seattle Storm beat the Dallas Wings 79-71 late Monday night in Arlington, Texas. Rookie Paige Bueckers had 19 points and eight assists for Dallas,

NFL

The Philadelphia Eagles rewarded Super Bowl-winning coach Nick Sirianni with a multi-year contract extension to pair with that championship ring.

Sirianni, who turns 44 next month, is the first head coach in NFL history to earn four playoff appearances, two conference titles and a Super Bowl in his first four years.

The Eagles under Sirianni have made two trips to the Super Bowl, including last season’s 40-22 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the title game in New Orleans.

Terms of the contract were not revealed.

Sirianni is 48-20 in the regular season with the Eagles. He also led the Eagles to the Super Bowl in the 2022 season where they lost to the Chiefs.

The Chargers signed running back Omarion Hampton, who the team selected 22nd overall in last month’s NFL draft, making him the highest pick at his position out of North Carolina in 40 years.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Former Pac-12 basketball rivals Arizona and UCLA will play each other in the Hall of Fame Series at Intuit Dome.

The game between the men’s teams will be Nov. 14 and will honor late Hall of Famer Bill Walton. Besides starring for the Bruins in college, his son Luke played for the Wildcats and the elder Walton broadcast games involving both schools.

The teams most recently met in December, when UCLA won 57-54 in Phoenix.

Last season, UCLA played in the first college basketball game at Intuit Dome, beating Gonzaga 65-62.

HOCKEY

Frank Nazar scored twice to help the United States rally for a 5-2 victory over the Czech Republic and hand the titleholder its first defeat at the ice hockey world championship on Tuesday in Stockholm.

The victory lifted the Americans to second place in Group B in Herning, Denmark. Switzerland won the group, with the Czechs finishing third and Denmark fourth.

Tuesday’s results determined the pairings for the quarterfinals on Thursday: Canada vs. Denmark, the United States vs. Finland, Sweden vs. Czech Republic and Switzerland vs. Austria.

“I loved our effort and how we played to our identity,” U.S. head coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “Give our power play credit too. Overall, great team effort and a good step forward as we continue to build.”

Nazar deflected a shot into the net to tie the game at 2-2 1:35 into the final period on a power play. He scored again on another power play for the 21-year-old Chicago Blackhawks forward’s sixth goal at the tournament.

Logan Cooley roofed a shot from close range to make it 4-2 with 6:31 to go and Andrew Peeke finished it off with a goal into an empty net.

Josh Doan gave the Americans a 1-0 lead 9:25 into the game on a rebound with a backhand between the pads of goalie Karel Vejmelka.

Canada completed the preliminary stage with a 5-3 victory over Sweden to rebound from Monday’s 2-1 loss to Finland. Canada topped Group A with 19 points, with Sweden one point behind and Finland another two points back.

Earlier, Austria reached the playoffs for the first time in 31 years after it defeated Latvia 6-1 and became the fourth and final team to advance to the quarterfinals from Group A.

GOLF

Paula Martin Sampedro rallied from 3 down with five holes to play Tuesday to win her opening match as top-seeded Stanford overcame a sluggish start to beat Virginia in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship in Carlsbad.

Stanford, the No. 1 seed after a record score to finish 27 shots ahead of Oregon to qualify for match play, trailed early in two other matches before going to a 3 1/2-1 1/2 victory.

Oregon nearly didn’t make it out of the quarterfinals. The Ducks appeared to have victory in hand until Tong An lost a 3-up lead with six holes to play. An holed a short putt on the 20th hole to beat Lauren Kim of Texas and send Oregon into the semifinals.

Lottie Woad, No. 1 in the women’s amateur world ranking, and Mirabel Ting carried Florida State to victory over USC, while Northwestern rallied to knock off Arkansas. Hsin Tai Lin of Northwestern beat Maria Jose Marin, the Arkansas sophomore who won the NCAA title in stroke play.

Stanford played Florida State, and Oregon faced Northwestern in the semifinal matches later Tuesday. The championship match is today. Stanford is going for its third NCAA title in the last four years.

Angel Cabrera rolled in a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole to complete an 8-under 64, and it proved to be a winner in the rain-delayed Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Ala., giving the Argentine his first senior major.

Cabrera had to wait to see if 54-hole leader Jerry Kelly could force a playoff. Kelly fell two behind with a bogey on the 17th, and could only manage a birdie at the last for a 68.

Storms interrupted the final round, and when the leaders finally began it was too late for them to finish. Kelly had completed 14 holes and Cabrera was though 15 holes when they returned to Greystone on Monday morning.

Cabrera finished at 20-under 268 and won for the second time on the PGA Tour Champions in the last two months. He won in Florida, his first title since being released after two years in an Argentine prison for gender violence.

Y.E. Yang finished another shot back in third place.