The Golden State Valkyries have waived second-round pick Shyanne Sellers, the team announced on Saturday.

Sellers is the first player to be cut from the WNBA expansion team’s training camp roster.

“Sellers was a joy,” coach Natalie Nakase told reporters. “I told her thank you for your time. She picked up everything we asked her to. She did everything that we wanted her to. It’s just that I have to choose the best 12 that are going to fit. It doesn’t mean the most talented. It means the best 12. We had a very competitive camp. So I had to make a decision.”

Sellers, a 22-year-old guard from the University of Maryland, suffered a sprained right knee in a game against Texas in late January but didn’t miss much action. She was drafted in the second round, 17th overall. Despite her injury during the college season, Sellers was considered a steal for the Valkyries after she was projected to be a Top 10 pick on most mock draft boards.

The move is surprising, given that Sellers appeared to be one of the most skilled players on the Valkyries’ roster. She has size and showed the ability to shoot 3-pointers at a high clip at Maryland.

Sellers — the daughter of former NBA player Brad Sellers — averaged 14.4 points and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 40.8% from the three-point line at Maryland. She was the first player in program history to surpass 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists.

— Nathan Canilao

Seattle Storm forward Katie Lou Samuelson is expected to miss the 2025 WNBA season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee, the team announced.

Samuelson, 27, suffered the injury during practice on Thursday, the team said.

Samuelson signed a one-year deal with the Storm in February, which marked her return to the franchise she played with in 2021. The former No. 4 overall pick has averaged 5.9 points and 2.5 rebounds per game during her WNBA career.

TENNIS

No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka beat No. 4 Coco Gauff in straight sets to win her record-tying third Madrid Open and 20th career title.

Sabalenka powered through the first set and edged the American in a tiebreaker for 6-3, 7-6 (3) on the Caja Mágica clay court.

Sabalenka added to titles in Madrid in 2021 and 2023 and equaled Petra Kvitova’s tournament record. She also pulled level with Gauff on head-to-head with five wins apiece.

Gauff could have risen to No. 2 with a victory. The 2023 U.S. Open champion lost only one set this week until the final. Gauff’s record in finals slipped to 9-2.

HOCKEY

The San Jose Barracuda trailed by three goals by the 7:19 mark of the second period and never fully recovered in a 6-3 loss to the Colorado Eagles in Game 1 of their AHL Pacific Division semifinal series on Friday before a sold-out crowd at Tech CU Arena.

The Barracuda, the Sharks’ top minor league affiliate, allowed an even-strength goal to Calle Rosén in the first period and power-play goals to Chris Wagner and Jayson Megna in the second.

San Jose trailed 4-1 in the third period when forwards Collin Graf and Colin White scored to cut Colorado’s lead to one with 2:19 left in regulation time. But Megna and Tye Felhaber scored empty net goals for the Eagles, who took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five playoff series that continues tonight at 6 p.m. in San Jose.

Forward Filip Bystedt also scored for San Jose, and goalie Yaroslav Askarov stopped 18 of 22 shots in his first playoff loss this year.

The Barracuda played their first home playoff game at the 4,200-seat Tech CU Arena, which opened in 2022.

After tonight, the series shifts to Loveland, Colorado, for Game 3 on Tuesday and Games 4 and 5 on Wednesday and May 11, respectively, if necessary.

— Curtis Pashelka

GOLF

Texas native Scottie Scheffler’s comfortable lead at his hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson was the same late in the third round as it was at the start, even without the dominance the top-ranked player showed over the first 36 holes.

Then he found that form again, and made a big lead even bigger at 23 under while finishing after sunset.

Scheffler has an eight-shot lead after a 5-under 66 capped by birdies on three of the final five holes — the last on the par-5 18th more than 13 hours after the day began with about half the field needing to complete the second round, including 18 players who hadn’t even started. There was a six-hour weather delay Friday.

Erik von Rooyen (65), Adam Schenk (65) and Ricky Castillo (67) are 15 under, with Kurt Kitiyama (68) and Jhonattan Vegas (67) another shot back.

Hae Ran Ryu regained control of the Black Desert Championship by holing out for eagle on the 11th hole, sending her to a 4-under 68 to maintain her two-shot lead in the LPGA Tour’s return to Utah for the first time in more than 60 years.

Ryu will be trying to win a tournament for the seventh straight year, dating to when she was an 18-year-old on the Korea LPGA.

Her biggest challenge might be Ruoning Yin, who ran off 10 birdies at Black Desert in Ivins, Utah, for a 62 to get within two shots.

Jim Dent grew up in the caddie yards of Augusta, Georgia, eventually working at the Masters and honing his game at the municipal course known as “The Patch.” He later became one of the PGA Tour’s longest hitters and one of the top Black golfers of his generation.

Dent died on Friday at age 85, a week before his birthday, his grandson posted on Facebook. The PGA Tour said Dent suffered a stroke the day after Augusta National announced plans for Tiger Woods to design a par 3 course at The Patch.

He was best known for his prodigious length, and Dent won the inaugural World Long Drive Championship in 1974. After turning 50, he won 12 times on the PGA Tour Champions.