BASKETBALL

Seattle grabs 2-0 lead in WNBA Finals — Breanna Stewart scored nine of her 25 points in the fourth quarter, and the Seattle Storm held off the Washington Mystics 75-73 on Sunday in Seattle to take a 2-0 lead in the WNBA Finals. Seattle will head to Washington for Game 3 on Wednesday night needing only a split back east to win the best-of-five series and claim the third title in franchise history. Stewart went nearly 18 minutes of game time without scoring, but she was responsible for six of Seattle’s final seven points as the Storm held off Washington’s late rally. Elena Delle Donne led the Mystics with 17 points but was scoreless in the fourth quarter, taking just one shot.

Aces’ Wilson is WNBA Rookie of the Year — A’ja Wilson was mobbed by her USA Basketball teammates after practice when they were told she had been named the WNBA Rookie of the Year. The Las Vegas Aces forward won in a landslide as the unanimous choice. Wilson received all 39 votes from a national media panel. The No. 1 pick in the draft out of South Carolina this past April averaged 20.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for Las Vegas. She had the second-highest scoring average for a rookie in league history, trailing only Seimone Augustus’ 21.9 points in 2006. Wilson is currently playing with the U.S. national team and is in the mix to make the World Cup team.

USA Basketball waiting for WNBA playoffs to end — Dawn Staley and USA Basketball are used to players showing up in the final days before the world championship. It’s an ongoing issue with the current world cup format since the tournament begins right after the WNBA season ends. “It’s familiar territory,” she said. “I watched Geno (Auriemma) go through. You don’t fret it. It is what it is. … You just add the players in as they come. They understand this game. We won’t put anything in they haven’t seen before.” USA basketball national team director Carol Callan recalled the 2006 world championship, when the 12-member team wasn’t together for the first time until warmups of the first game. Many key members of the U.S. team, including Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart, are still playing in the championship series. Seattle leads 2-0 in the best-of-five, and a win Wednesday in Washington would end the series. Staley and USA national team director aren’t rooting for a sweep necessarily. “I just want good basketball,” Staley said. “I hope all the games go into overtime and we appreciate the basketball like we have all our lives.”

CYCLING

Pinot dominates Covadonga climb to win Vuelta stage — Thibaut Pinot won the challenging 15th stage of the Spanish Vuelta with a dominant charge on the iconic climb into Lagos de Covadonga on Sunday, while Simon Yates stayed close and added a few seconds to his overall lead. Pinot broke away under dense fog with about 3.7 miles to go and the Groupama-FDJ rider held on for an impressive victory after a 110.7-mile ride through the Picos de Europa mountains in northern Spain. He crossed the line 28 seconds in front of Miguel Angel Lopez and 30 seconds ahead of Yates. Bend’s Ian Boswell, riding for Katusha Alpecin, finished 94th in the stage and is 139th overall. Monday is the second and final rest day of the three-week Grand Tour race that ends Sept. 16 in Madrid. The race resumes Tuesday with a 19.8-mile time trial from Santillana del Mar to Torrelavega in northern Spain.

MOTOR SPORTS

Brickyard 400 rained out, moved to Monday — Persistent rain in Indianapolis washed out the Brickyard 400 and delayed the conclusion of NASCAR’s regular season. Rain washed out the entire weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the final race before the playoffs was moved to Monday. It will run at 2 p.m., after the rescheduled Xfinity Series race. Indianapolis was drenched by three days of rain and NASCAR has not been able to get any cars on track. NASCAR’S playoffs begin next weekend in Las Vegas, and the sanctioning body is eager to get the regular-season finale concluded at Indianapolis. The race sets the field for the 16-driver playoffs. Kyle Busch is scheduled to start on the pole alongside Kevin Harvick when the race does begin.

College Football

Sooners star running back out for season — Star Oklahoma running back Rodney Anderson is out for the season with a right knee injury. The school made the announcement in a news release Sunday night. Anderson got up slowly after a 10-yard run on the final play of the first quarter Saturday against UCLA. The preseason All-Big 12 selection limped off the field on his own, and trainers tended to him before he headed to the locker room. This is the third season-ending injury of Anderson’s career. He suffered a broken leg in the second game of the 2015 season, and a neck injury sidelined him for the 2016 season. The sixth-ranked Sooners will be without one of their best players heading into their game Saturday at Iowa State. “We’re heartbroken for him,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said in a statement. “He’s overcome so much in his career, and if anybody can do it again, it’s Rodney.” Anderson did not start until the middle of last season, but he ran for 1,161 yards and 13 touchdowns and caught five touchdown passes and helped the Sooners reach the College Football Playoff. He ran for 201 yards in the Rose Bowl against Georgia. “He’s played a lot of great football and has a lot more ahead of him,” Riley said. “He’s just a tremendous person and player and we’ll miss him on the field. But we know he’ll be with us every step of the way as a team captain, and that other players will step up in his place.” Anderson opened his junior season with 100 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries against Florida Atlantic. He ran for 19 yards and a touchdown against UCLA before his injury.

— From wire reports