Cheryl Miller scored 24 points to lead the United States to a 108-88 victory over the Soviet Union Sunday in the gold medal game at the women`s World Basketball Championships in Moscow.
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Olga Yakovleva collected 29 points and Irina Minkh added 15 for the Soviets, who trailed by 22 points late in the first half but rallied to draw within 56-43 at halftime. The Soviets cut the American lead to 9 twice in the second half, but the U.S. picked up the pace again and won the 12-team tournament going away.
Teresa Edwards contributed 17 points for the U.S., Anne Donovan added 16 and Kamie Ethridge and Katrina McClain each had 12.
Bradley sets earnings mark
Pat Bradley called it a career shot–a 206-yard approach for a tap-in eagle on No. 16–that gave her the LPGA`s single-season earnings record and her fifth title in 1986.
Starting the final round eight shots behind, Bradley fired a sizzling 9-under-par 63 to win the $240,000 Nestle World Championship tournament in Buford, Ga., by two shots.
Bradley lifted her season earnings to $482,496 with the $78,000 first prize–biggest in LPGA history–with her 9-under-par 279 total for 72 holes. She also went to $2,276,693 for her 13 years on tour, an LPGA record for all- time winnings.
Bradley, who has three major titles among her five victories this year, shattered the single-season earnings record of $416,472 set last year by Nancy Lopez. Lopez, who shot a 69 Sunday, and Betsy King, who had a 73, finished second.
Bills` offer: $7.5 million
The Buffalo Bills will offer quarterback Jim Kelly a $7.5 million, five-year contract, according to the Buffalo News.
Quoting an NFL source, the newspaper said Kelly, formerly of the USFL`s New Jersey Generals, would be offered $1.5 million a year to switch to the Bills now that the USFL has suspended play.
Saturday, the Houston Post said Kelly was demanding $10 million over five years to play for Buffalo. Such a contract would make Kelly the highest-paid player of all time. San Francisco 49ers` quarterback Joe Montana is believed to be the highest-paid player in the National Football League at $1.3 million a year.
Women`s 100 record falls
Bulgaria`s Yordanka Donkova set two world records in the women`s 100-meter hurdles at the Mobil Grand Prix international track meet in Cologne, West Germany.
Donkova, 24, first broke the record in a qualifying heat, finishing in 12.34 seconds, two-hundredths of a second better than the 12.36 attained by Grazyna Rabsztyn of Poland on June 13, 1980. In the final event an hour later, Donkova shattered her own record with a time of 12.29.
— Zola Budd boosted her confidence for next week`s European Championships by snapping a four-race losing streak with a victory in the 1,500 meters at a women`s international track and field meet in London. The South African-born barefoot runner, who had lost her form and concentration since being barred from the Commonwealth Games over residency rules, toppled Commonwealth champion Kristy Wade. She finished about seven yards ahead of Wade. Budd`s time was 4:05.56.
Here and there
Jeff Andretti won the Pocono round of the American Racing Series. His victory on the Long Pond, Pa., track was the first professional triumph at Pocono for any member of the Andretti family. . . . Actor Paul Newman won the Lime Rock Bendix Trans Am in Connecticut by one-third of a second over Elliott Forbes-Robinson. Newman, driving a Nissan 300 ZX, averaged 91.049 m.p.h. . . . Jack Hewitt led the last 72 laps and scored an eight-second victory over Chuck Gurney in the U.S. Auto Club`s Tony Bettenhausen Memorial 100-mile dirt car race in Springfield.
— The United States Basketball League has canceled its playoffs ”due to the heavy player losses suffered by some of the contending teams and irresolvable logistical problems.” Daniel Meisenheimer, the president of the USBL, said league officials and team owners agreed that staging the best-two- of-three semifinals and championship series for the top four clubs wouldn`t be feasible. Officials said 35 players went from the USBL to National Basketball Association summer rookie camps.