Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — GOLF

Thompson leads

Defending champion Lexi Thompson shot a 3-under-par 69 to take a one-stroke lead into weekend play in the Navistar LPGA Classic in Prattville, Ala. Thompson, 17, had a 12-under 132 total on the links-style Senator course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex. She matched the tournament record Thursday with a career-best 63. Last year, Thompson became the youngest champion in LPGA Tour history at age 16, winning by five strokes. Fifteen-year-old amateur Lydia Ko broke the record last month in the Canadian Women’s Open. Mindy Kim and Mi Jung Hur were a stroke back. They played in the same group and each shot 65. Kim and Hur also missed late chances to tie Thompson. Hur missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the par-5 eighth, their 17th hole of the day, and Kim missed a 6-footer on the par-4 ninth.Dori Carter was two strokes back at 10 under along with Hee Young Park and Lizette Salas. Carter had a 67, and Park and Salas shot 69. Top-ranked Yani Tseng was 3 under after a 70. Michelle Wie missed the cut by a stroke, shooting a 73 to finish at even par. Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) is at 8-under 136 after shooting a 70. Karen Stupples (Arkansas State) shot a 74 and is at 4-under 140.

BASKETBALL

Gillispie accused of abuse

The mother of a teenager at Billy Gillispie’s summer basketball camp claims in a letter to a top school administrator that the former Texas Tech coach repeatedly verbally abused her son, according to a document obtained Friday by The Associated Press. The woman wrote that other coaches at the camp told her 17-year-old son that Gillispie “likes to pick someone and try to ‘break them’ for some reason,” and that the young man “wasn’t doing anything wrong,” according to a letter to Texas Tech’s chancellor obtained through an open records request. Gillispie resigned from Texas Tech on Thursday, citing health concerns after he was hospitalized twice in the past month. Gillispie, 52, stepped down amid allegations he mistreated players on his team. The mother’s name is redacted in the Aug. 20 letter to university chancellor Kent Hance. No written reply was made but Hance called the Texas Tech alum, who is a teacher, to discuss the matter, officials said. On the camp’s first day in late June the woman’s son, now a high school senior, overthrew a pass to another camper. “It happens,” the mother wrote in her letter. “That’s the only thing he thought brought on the barrage of insults spurted from the mouth of your coach Gillispie. This was the first of many such verbal attacks.” On Aug. 29, several Texas Tech players went to Athletic Director Kirby Hocutt with claims of mistreatment by Gillispie. Two days later, the school announced it was scrutinizing Gillispie and his leadership. The same day CBSsports.com reported that Gillispie made players practice long hours, which led to injuries. Just hours before Gillispie and Hocutt were to meet Aug. 31 to discuss the players’ claims, the coach called 911 and was taken to a Lubbock hospital where he stayed for six days. A week later Gillispie traveled to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he said he was treated for kidney problems, abnormal headaches and high blood pressure. He returned to Lubbock Sept. 14. He said doctors ordered him to avoid stress for 30 days. Hocutt removed Gillispie from making day to-day decisions about the program so he could focus on his health.

The Philadelphia 76ers have named Tony DiLeo general manager. DiLeo will work alongside team president Rod Thorn. Thorn has only one year left on his contract. Thorn has a provision in his contract that will allow him to become a consultant after his contract expires. DiLeo is entering his 23rd season with the Sixers and was named Friday the 12th GM in franchise history. The Sixers spent the summer interviewing several candidates for the job. They decided to go with DiLeo, who has had several titles with the team for more than 20 years. He was their interim head coach in 2009 and led the Sixers to the playoffs. DiLeo had been working as senior vice president and assistant general manager.

Northwestern junior guard Jer-Shon Cobb has been suspended for the 2012-2013 season for violating team policy. The 6-foot-5 Cobb averaged 7.1 points in 21 games last season and 7.4 points as a freshman in 27 games. He started 33 games the last two seasons. The school said Cobb remains enrolled Northwestern and is still a part of the basketball program. He will have two years of eligibility remaining. Cobb’s loss is a blow to Northwestern, who also lost the leading scorer in school history when John Shurna exhausted his eligibility.

The Saint Mary’s men’s basketball program is under investigation by the NCAA for potential recruiting violations, ESPN.com reported Friday. ESPN.com, citing several anonymous sources, reported that it was told by a source that an email was sent Friday from the president’s office to the Saint Mary’s board of regents acknowledging that the college was cooperating with an ongoing NCAA investigation into the men’s basketball program. In response to a query from The Associated Press, Saint Mary’s sent an email saying the school and the NCAA have been“working cooperatively on a matter related to the men’s basketball program.” The email said the Moraga, Calif., school would have no further comment.

TENNIS

Tsonga advances

Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France overcame a slow start to advance to the Moselle (France) Open semifinals, beating American Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-4 in Metz. The first five games were tightly contested and took 35 minutes to complete, with Levine saving seven break points before the top seeded Tsonga broke back and held for 3-2. Tsonga will face eighth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.Davydenko beat Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-7 (5), 7-6 (6), 6-0. In the other quarterfinals, fifth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy beat fourth seeded Florian Mayer of Germany 7-5, 6-2, and seventh-seeded Gael Monfils of France topped secondseeded. Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4. Monfils is returning from a knee injury.

Top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia reached the semifinals of the St. Petersburg (Russia) Open,beating seventh-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-4, 0-6, 6-3. Also advancing to the last four were third-seeded Martin Klizan of Slovakia, fourth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy and Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain. Youzhny will next face Klizan, who eliminated Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania 6-3, 6-2. Fognini defeated Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain 6-4, 7-6 (1). Fognini will play Gimeno-Traver, who eliminated Flavio Cipolla of Italy 6-2, 7-5.

Caroline Wozniacki reached the semifinals of the Korea Open by defeating Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3 in Seoul, South Korea. The Dane will next play Ekaterina Makarova of Russia, who beat Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-1, 6-1. Also, Varvara Lepchenko of the United States beat Tamira Paszek of Austria 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4, and Kaia Kanepi of Estonia defeated Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-4, 6-4.

Laura Robson became the first British woman in 22 years to reach a WTA final when she defeated third seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-4, 6-2 at the Guangzhou (China) Open. The 74th-ranked Robson will play Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan in the final Saturday. In the first semifinal, Su-wei defeated Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 3-6, 6-0.

MOTOR SPORTS

Buescher wins at Kentucky

James Buescher completed a NASCAR trucks series season sweep at Kentucky Speedway on Friday night, using strong restarts to stay in contention before he broke free to win the wreck-filled race in Sparta, Ky. It was the fourth career series victory for Buescher, who also won at the track June 28. Parker Kligerman was second, followed by rookie Ty Dillon, pole-sitter Joey Coulter and Brian Scott. The race featured seven cautions, including five in the first half totaling 34 laps.One of them involved championship contender Timothy Peters, whose No. 17 Toyota made contact with Max Gresham on lap 55 and went into the wall before being hit by John King as it drifted down onto the track apron. Rookie Ryan Blaney, who last week became the series’ youngest winner at 18, finished 11th.