Basketball

U.S. women advance to World Cup finals — Diana Taurasi scored 26 points, including hitting five 3-pointers, to help the U.S. beat Belgium 93-77 in the semifinals of the Women’s Basketball World Cup. Breanna Stewart added 20 points while Brittney Griner had 16 for the Americans, who will be trying to win a third straight gold medal at the worlds — something the team has never done. Belgium, making its first appearance in the Women’s World Cup, hung around for the first 25 minutes behind the stellar play of Emma Meesseman and some solid outside shooting. The game was tied at 52 midway through the third quarter before the U.S. closed the period with a 21-5 run. The U.S., which has won 21 consecutive World Cup games, will play Australia for the title Sunday. Australia defeated Spain 72-66 behind Liz Cambage’s 33 points and 15 rebounds, after trailing 58-50 heading into the fourth quarter.

Motor Sports

Briscoe wins Xfinity race at Charlotte ‘roval’ — Chase Briscoe is climbing his way through Ford Racing’s development system by racing any kind of car on any kind of track. That exposure gave the Indiana native the wherewithal to attack the new roval at Charlotte Motor Speedway as if it was America’s favorite dirt track, the one owned by hero Tony Stewart. Briscoe earned his first career Xfinity Series victory Saturday, in the first race of the weekend on the roval. It was a breakthrough moment because Briscoe had not even sniffed a victory in his 13 previous races. Briscoe beat Justin Marks, a part-time NASCAR racer who said this week this race is his last one dabbling in these cars. The event was the leadup to Sunday’s critical Cup playoff race, in which four drivers will be eliminated from title contention.

Horse Racing

Game Winner takes American Pharoah — Game Winner pulled away in the stretch to win the $300,000 American Pharoah by 41⁄2 lengths on Saturday and earn an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The 2-year-old colt trained by Bob Baffert ran 11⁄16 miles in 1:43.77 at Santa Anita. Sent off as the 1-5 favorite, Game Winner returned $2.60, $2.20 and $2.10. Gunmetal Gray returned $2.80 and $2.10, while Rowayton was another length back in third and paid $2.10 to show. Both are trained by Jerry Hollendorfer. Ridden for the first time by Joel Rosario, Game Winner improved to 3-0 in his young career. The colt dueled outside with Rowayton before taking a short lead into the stretch. He then inched away under urging by Rosario past the eighth pole and pulled away from Gunmetal Gray. It was Baffert’s eighth career victory in the race previously known as the Norfolk and the FrontRunner Stakes, and renamed this year for his 2015 Triple Crown winner. The BC Juvenile will be run Nov. 2 at Churchill Downs.

Australian Football

Eagles take Australian Rules football title — The West Coast Eagles overcame an early deficit to beat the Collingwood Magpies 11.13 (79) to 11.8 (74) in the Australian Football League grand final on Saturday. Dom Sheed kicked a six-point goal with two minutes remaining from a difficult angle as the Eagles won the Australian Rules football title for the fourth time. The Magpies kicked the first five goals of the match before 100,022 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, but West Coast kicked four of the final five goals of the first half to trail by eight points. Josh Kennedy led the winners with three goals. Texan Mason Cox — nicknamed the American Pie — kicked three six-point goals in Collingwood’s semifinal win. He kicked two goals from seven marks in a losing cause Saturday. “We’ve done it the hard way this year … we can’t wait to bring that cup home,” West Coast coach Adam Simpson said.

— From wire reports