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WVU MENS BASKETBALL * Wednesday: vs. Notre Dame, 9 p.m. *Saturday: vs. Louisville, noon WOMENS BASKETBALL * Feb. 12: at NotreDame, 3:30 p.m. * Feb. 15: vs. Rutgers, 7 p.m.

Marshall MENS BASKETBALL * Wednesday: at UCF, 7 p.m. * Saturday:vs. East Carolina, 7 p.m. WOMENS BASKETBALL * Thursday: at UTEP, 9p.m. * Feb. 12: at East Carolina, 2 p.m.

Charleston MENS BASKETBALL * Saturday: at Glenville State, 4 p.m.* Feb. 16: vs. Fairmont State, 8 p.m. WOMENS BASKETBALL * Saturday:at Glenville State, 2 p.m. * Feb. 16: vs. Fairmont State, 6 p.m.W.Va. State MENS BASKETBALL * Today: at Fairmont State, 7:30 p.m. *Saturday: at Bluefield State, 4 p.m. WOMENS BASKETBALL * Today: atFairmont State, 5:30 p.m. * Saturday: at Bluefield State, 2 p.m.

WVU Tech MENS BASKETBALL * Thursday: at Lindsey Wilson, 9 p.m. *Saturday: at Cumberlands, 4 p.m. WOMENS BASKETBALL * Thursday: atLindsey Wilson, 6 p.m. * Saturday: at Cumberlands, 2 p.m.

U.S. beats Belarus 5-0 to reach Fed Cup playoff Venus Williamsreturns from five-month layoff; Serena wins singles

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WORCESTER, Mass. Venus Williams returned from a five-monthlayoff and Serena Williams and Christina McHale won singles matchesSunday, sending the United States past Belarus 5-0 in the firstround of the Fed Cup. By blanking Belarus in World Group II, theAmericans head to a playoff in April in hopes of playing their wayback into the top tier of Fed Cup after getting bounced last year.Venus Williams and Liezel Huber completed the shutout with a doublesvictory, defeating Darya Kustova and Anastasiya Yakimova 6-1, 6-2.This was Williams first sanctioned match since the opening round ofthe U.S. Open. She had been diagnosed with Sjogrens Syndrome, anautoimmune disease that can cause fatigue and joint pain and forcedher to withdraw from the Open. McHale won in straight sets for thesecond consecutive day, beating Darya Kustova 6-0, 6-1 to put theU.S. up 4-0. Serena Williams had already guaranteed a U.S. victoryearlier in the day by defeating Anastasiya Yakimova 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.Serena blew a 4-1 lead in the opening set and slammed her racket onthe court after one point, then returned to form in the next twosets. She didnt allow a point in two straight games of the finalset, which she closed with an overhead slam. That just goes to showyou how frustrate I was out there today, she said. I havent donethat in a match in a long time. Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka ofBelarus, the Australian Open champion, sat out all four singlesmatches with a back injury. Venus Williams victory almostovershadowed the team victory, which the U.S. players celebratedwith a quick parade around the court with the American flag. In thefirst round of World Group play, Russia beat visiting Spain 3-2;Serbia won 3-2 at Belgium; Italy downed visiting Ukraine 3-2; andthe Czech Republic won 4-1 at Germany. Although a U.S. victory wasassured after the first singles, most of the 2,279 fans atWorcesters DCU Center stuck around through another round of singlesto see Venus play. It was barely two hours before Super Bowl kickoffand for those fans, Venus comeback trumped seeing the start of theNew England Patriots game against the New York Giants.

Yellow Jackets visits Fairmont State tonight

West Virginia State's basketball teams continue their WestVirginia Conference road stretch tonight, visiting Fairmont Statefor a women's and men's doubleheader at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.respectively.

The men's foes are in need of a win. The seventh-place YellowJackets (10-10, 8-8) have lost three in a row and are coming off a31-point spanking Saturday at Alderson-Broaddus. The Falcons (7-12,5-10) have dropped six of eight and are mired in 13th place in the15-team league.

Fairmont's women (12-7, 9-6) are in eighth place, and have theWVC scoring leader in former Sissonville High All-State pick KaitlinSnyder, at 22.0-points per game. The WVSU women (9-11, 6-10) arecoming off a 75-61 Saturday win at A-B, but remain in 12th place.

The University of Charleston's basketball teams are off untilSaturday, when they visit Glenville State in WVC play.

UAB women defeat Marshall

Karisma Chapman (12), LaShaunda Pratt (11) and Kelsie Weynand(10) combined for 33 points to lead UAB to a 50-45 Conference USAvictory over Marshall (13-9, 4-5 C-USA) at the Cam Henderson Centeron Sunday.

A Shay Weaver 3-pointer gave Marshall a 3-0 lead 1:14 into thegame, but Pratt's 3-pointer at the 12:29 mark gave UAB (16-5, 7-2)the lead for good.

Rashedah Henriques had 10 points and six rebounds to lead theHerd, which is off until Thursday when it visits UTEP (20-2, 9-0),the conference's top team, in a 9:05 p.m. contest.

University of Charleston softball team splits

FLORENCE, S.C. - The University of Charleston women's softballteam dropped its first game of the season, falling to Francis MarionCollege 5-4 in the nightcap of a doubleheader at Florence, S.C. onSunday.

The Golden Eagles (3-1) swept Virginia State on Saturday anddefeated Chowan before losing to the Patriots.

UC is off until Feb. 18 when it hosts Virginia-Wise in adoubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. on Feb. 18

National sports

Goodell criticizes quality of Pro Bowl

INDIANAPOLIS - NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says he isdisappointed in the quality of last week's Pro Bowl and changes mustbe considered, perhaps even dropping the game.

Speaking on ESPN Radio, Goodell says this year's Pro Bowl wasn't"the kind of football we want to be demonstrating to our fans, andyou heard it from the fans, the fans were actively booing in thestands."

Goodell made his remarks on Sunday, hours before the start of theSuper Bowl.

Goodell has spoken to the NFL Players Association about hisdisappointment, adding, "We are going to either have to improve thequality of what we are doing in the Pro Bowl or consider otherchanges, or even consider eliminating the game if that is the kindof quality of game we are going to provide."

The AFC won the game 59-41.

Documents: Seattle working to bring NBA back

SEATTLE - The city of Seattle has been working behind the scenesthe past eight months with a hedge-fund manager to bring an NBA teamback to town - possibly as early as next fall if the SacramentoKings fail to get a satisfactory deal for a new arena, newlyreleased documents show.

The city turned over the documents to The Seattle Times on Fridayunder a public records request. The documents included the agendafor a meeting between the parties on Dec. 13, with topics including"Review of Basic Deal Structure," "City Debt Capacity" and"Financing Issues."

COMPILED FROM STAFF REPORTS