Today is Friday, Sept. 20, the 264th day of 2024. There are 102 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 20, 1973, in their so-called “Battle of the Sexes,” tennis star Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, in the Houston Astrodome.

Also on this date:

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships to find a western passage to the Spice Islands. (Magellan was killed en route, but one of his ships completed the first circumnavigation of the globe three years later.)

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In 1946, the first Cannes Film Festival, lasting 16 days, opened in France.

In 1962, James Meredith, a Black student, was blocked from enrolling at the University of Mississippi by Democratic Gov. Ross R. Barnett.

In 1964, The Beatles concluded their first full-fledged U.S. tour by performing in a charity concert at the Paramount Theater in New York.

In 1967, the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was christened by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in Clydebank, Scotland.

In 2011, the repeal of the U.S. military’s 18-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” compromise took effect, allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve openly.

In 2017, Hurricane Maria, the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years, struck the island, wiping out as much as 75 percent of power distribution lines and causing an island-wide blackout.

In 2019, Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, the 1979 site of the nation’s worst commercial nuclear power accident, was shut down by its owner after producing electricity for 45 years.

Today’s Birthdays:

Actor Sophia Loren is 90.
Author George R. R. Martin is 76.
Actor Gary Cole is 68.
TV news correspondent Deborah Roberts is 64.
Actor Maggie Cheung is 60.
Actor Kristen Johnston is 57.
Rock singers Gunnar and Matthew Nelson are 57.
Race car driver Juan Pablo Montoya is 49.
Actor Jon Bernthal is 48.
Actor Aldis Hodge is 38.
Mixed martial artist Khabib Nurmagomedov is 36.
Singer-songwriter Phillip Phillips is 34.

After being stuck on 20 home runs for 12 games, Yunior Severino finally hit his St. Paul Saints’ record-tying 21st homer of the season on Thursday.

Severino hit one of three home runs for St. Paul in an 8-3 win against Indianapolis, tying the Saints’ single-season home run mark to equal the 20 from Chris Williams and Jair Camargo from last year.

Payton Eeles had a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first inning — the second time in four games for him — and Williams added his 15th of the year. Eeles and DaShawn Keirsey Jr. each had a pair of hits.

The Saints scored at least once in four of the first five innings, capped with a three-run fifth that included Severino’s two-run homer and an RBI single from Patrick Winkel.

Starter Cory Lewis (1-0) allowed two runs on seven hits and three walks in five innings in his first game of the season for the Saints.

Aaron Rozek pitched two scoreless innings in relief. Diego Castillo gave up a run in one inning and Jorge Alcala allowed one hit and got two strikeouts in one inning.

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Grady Recer and Adam Dorsey made huge defensive stops in the final few minutes and Eagan continues to climb the ladder, its latest step a 35-33 win over Lakeville South on Thursday.

Brooklyn Evans ran for 217 yards and three touchdowns as the Wildcats ran for 399 of their 455 yards to beat the Cougars for the first time since the 2014 postseason.

Lakeville South had 306 total yards of which 266 were on the ground.

The Cougars also had a chance to win late.

Gaven Dean scored from the 8-yard line with 2 1/2 minutes to play to get the Cougars within two. Going for the tie, Dean rolled left but was chased down by Christian Langhorst and upended by Dorsey inches shy of the conversion.

But Lakeville South (1-3), ranked No. 9 in Class 6A, got the needed onside kick.

A pass from Dean to Bo Bokman put the ball at the Eagan 19. Dean then rolled right and threw toward a receiver near the sideline; however, Recer jumped the route and made a diving interception to seal the win and improve No. 7 Eagan to 3-1.

It’s the second straight heartbreaker for the Cougars, who gave up a late touchdown in losing 35-31 to Lakeville North last week.

Eating up the clock was to be the key for Eagan. The Wildcats (3-1) had the ball for 28:42, including a 13-play drive capped by a fourth-down end-around by Dorsey, who starts in the secondary, for a 28-27 lead.

After a three-and-out by Lakeville South, Evans scored on an 82-yard run and a 35-27 lead midway through the final quarter.

Connor Cade scored two touchdowns and he and Jonah Shine each had lengthy touchdown runs in the first half as Lakeville South led 20-7 before a lengthy second-quarter weather delay occurred with lightning in the distance.

Coming out of a 45-minute break, Eagan used up six minutes to get within a score. Evans dashed in from 37 yards out on a busted play to get the Wildcats within six at the break.
Evans scored from the 37 in the third quarter and Madden Ison scored from 58 yards out on a fourth-and-3 to make it 27-21 Wildcats.

Dearica Hamby scored 20 points, Rickea Jackson added 19 and the last-place Los Angeles Sparks closed the WNBA season with a 68-51 win over the playoff-bound Minnesota Lynx on Thursday night.

The Sparks (8-32) ended an eight-game losing streak and stopped Minnesota’s seven-game winning streak.

The second-seeded Lynx (30-10) are home against seventh-seeded Phoenix in the best-of-three opening round on Sunday afternoon.

Kia Nurse added 12 points for the Sparks.

The Lynx rested All-Star and Olympian Napheesa Collier, 3-point sharpshooter Kayla McBride and forward Dorka Juhasz, and had their worst offensive output of the season.

No player reached double figures for the Lynx as they shot 28.6% (16 of 56) from the field and had 17 turnovers.

Diamond Miller and Alissa Pili led the Lynx with eight points while Natisha Hiedeman had seven and Myisha Hines-Allen, Bridget Carleton, Alanna Smith and Courtney Williams all had six.

The Sparks took the lead early and kept it. They had a 16-point lead in the first half but settled for a 38-30 advantage at the break.

It was 53-44 heading into the fourth quarter. Williams completed a four-point play with 7:39 remaining to pull Minnesota within 53-48, but L.A. scored the next 13 points for a 66-48 lead with under three minutes remaining. Nurse had three of her four 3-pointers in the surge and Rae Burrell added another.

The Sparks went 2-14 after the Olympic break and will have the best odds in the WNBA draft lottery.

WNBA playoffs begin Sunday

The WNBA playoffs are set with the Atlanta Dream getting the eighth seed on Thursday night.

The postseason begins Sunday with four best-of-three matchups. The Dream face the top-seeded New York Liberty. The Minnesota Lynx, the No. 2 seed, will host the No. 7 seed Phoenix Mercury while the No. 3 Connecticut Sun will welcome the No. 6 seed Indiana Fever and sensational rookie Caitlin Clark.

The final opening round matchup is the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces, the No. 4 seed, hosting the fifth-seeded Seattle Storm.

Las Vegas is trying to become the first team to win three titles in a row since Houston won four straight in the first four seasons of the WNBA — from 1997 to 2000.

The better-seeded team will host the first two games of the series with a potential decisive third game to be played at the site of the lower-seeded squad.

Three of the eight playoff positions came down to the final day of the regular season.

The final playoff spot came down to the last day of the regular season. Atlanta needed a victory to clinch a spot and the Dream did just that by beating New York 78-67. The Liberty had already clinched the top seed. Connecticut knocked off Chicago 87-54 to secure the No. 3 seed.

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