Sports briefs
Girls basketball
Avella clinched a WPIAL Class A playoff berth by defeating visiting Jefferson-Morgan 56-23 in a Section 2 game Wednesday night.
The Eagles improved to 5-3 in the section and 10-9 overall. They have won three straight.
Avella scored 23 points in the first quarter and led 37-13 at halftime. Hanna Brownless led the Eagles’ attack with 13 points and Katie Druyer tossed in 12.
Ava Wood’s eight points led Jefferson-Morgan.
Boys basketball
Lane Allison scored a game-high 29 points and West Greene rolled to a 68-37 home-court victory over Waynesburg in non-section game.
The Pioneers (4-14) took control of the game in the second quarter, outscoring Waynesburg 18-7 for a 32-21 lead. Allison scored 24 of his points after the first quarter.
Parker Burns had a solid game for West Greene as he scored 18 points.
Waynesburg (3-16) was led by Alex VanSickle’s 16 points.
Eagles backup lineman indicted
Josh Sills, a backup offensive lineman for the NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles, has been indicted on rape and kidnapping charges that stem from an incident in Ohio just over three years ago, authorities said Wednesday.
Sills, an undrafted free agent who was on the inactive list in Philadelphia’s conference title victory over San Francisco on Sunday, was indicted Tuesday by a Guernsey County grand jury in Ohio.
The rookie who played at West Virginia and Oklahoma State was ordered to appear in court in Ohio on Feb. 16, four days after the Eagles are to play the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
“The organization is aware of the legal matter involving Josh Sills. We have been in communication with the league office and are in the process of gathering more information. We have no further comment at this time,” the Eagles said in a statement.
The indictment accuses Sills, who is from Sarahsville, Ohio, of engaging in sexual activity that was not consensual and holding a woman against her will on Dec. 5, 2019.
In the WNBA
Breanna Stewart couldn’t turn down a chance to play in New York and potentially help the Liberty win their first WNBA championship.
The most coveted free agent this offseason, who won the WNBA MVP award in 2018, announced on social media that she was going to New York with a photo of her in a Liberty shirt on Wednesday. Stewart had spent her entire career in Seattle since the Storm drafted her No. 1 overall in 2016. She won two championships with the team.
In the NHL
New Jersey Devils associate coach and former Florida Panthers head coach Andrew Brunette was arrested early Wednesday morning in South Florida while driving home from a bar in his golf cart, authorities said.
Brunette, 49, was pulled over just blocks from the ocean in the Deerfield Beach area, north of Fort Lauderdale, according to a Broward Sheriff’s Office arrest report. He was charged with one count of driving under the influence and two counts of disobeying a stop or yield sign. Brunette was released later Wednesday on $500 bond.
According to the arrest report, a deputy was in the process of giving Brunette’s illegally parked golf cart a ticket around midnight when Brunette walked out of a nearby bar and told the deputy he was about to leave. The deputy said Brunette seemed unsteady on his feet and slurred his speech.