La Crosse Tribune Sports News

CHICAGO — Five games in 2013, a small speed bump in Chicago's run to the Stanley Cup title. Six games in 2014, a more difficult challenge for the Blackhawks.

NEW YORK (AP) — They were separated by 22 victories in the regular season and a mere nine points so far in the playoffs.

NEW YORK (AP) — Just hours before the NFL draft, top prospect Marcus Mariota flaunted his Beats by Dre in a promotional YouTube video for the competitor of league-sponsor Bose.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former Mexican national team captain Monica Gonzalez will be part of Fox's studio coverage for this year's Women's World Cup.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Andrew Wiggins has been named the NBA rookie of the year.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Ravens coach John Harbaugh, his players and former star linebacker Ray Lewis visited Baltimore schools to help quell tension in the city following days of rioting.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A person familiar with the situation says Florida coach Billy Donovan has agreed to become the Oklahoma City Thunder's next coach.

11:50 a.m. (12:50 p.m. EDT)

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) — Timea Babos of Hungary secured an upset 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 win against third-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy to reach the Grand Prix SAR semifinals on Thursday.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Second-seeded Grigor Dimitrov eased into the quarterfinals of the inaugural Istanbul Open by beating Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2 on Thursday.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Two New Jersey high school baseball teams are set to face off again, four weeks after a game between them ended with a lopsided 52-3 score.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Minnesota Wild are in the second round for the second straight postseason, and standing in the way are the Chicago Blackhawks — their usual playoff roadblock.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Contractors already have submitted roughly $800,000 in bills toward the development of a billion-dollar proposed football stadium in St. Louis, according to a newspaper report.

MUNICH (AP) — Top-seeded Andy Murray began his clay-court season with a routine 6-2, 6-2 victory over qualifier Mischa Zverev to reach the quarterfinals of the BMW Open on Thursday.

PRAGUE (AP) — Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova advanced to the semifinals of the Prague Open Thursday with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 victory over wild-card entry Denisa Allertova in an all-Czech match.

The former UW standout is projected as the No. 2 running prospect behind Todd Gurley.

The offensive tackle hopes to be selected in either the second or third round.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Former University of Louisville star player Chris Jones is hoping to resurrect his basketball career after he was cleared of allegations that he sexually assaulted two w…

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Memphis Grizzlies were so busy finishing off their first-round series they haven't considered the impact of playing the Golden State Warriors without Mike Conley.

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Rockets have fired their social media manager after he posted a tweet with an emoji of a gun pointed at a horse's head as they were beating the Dallas Mavericks.