Women: Coppin St. at Penn St.

Tipoff: 11:30 a.m., Rec Hall, University Park

Records: Coppin State (1-2); Penn State (2-0)

TV: Big Ten+

Internet: Penn State Sports Network on the Penn State app

Notable: Penn State is 2-0 all-time against Coppin State with wins in 2008 and 2020. … Coppin State’s losses are to Ohio State and Arizona State. … Patricia Sosa-Lora leads Coppin, averaging 10 points and eight rebounds per game. … Penn State forward Gracie Merkle needs 60 points to reach 1,000 for her career.

Mirror prediction: Penn State 72, Coppin State 65

Mirror prediction record: 2-0

— Michael Boytim

Area college

Lady Lions roughed up

The Penn State Altoona women’s basketball was outscored 20-7 in a decisive third quarter Tuesday night, losing to Gettysburg College, 72-45, in area collegiate play at the Adler Gym.

Penn State Altoona (1-1) trailed 36-25 at halftime. Avana Sayles led the Lady Lions with 14 points, followed by 10 points from teammate Lanie Wilt.

The Lady Bullets got 20 points from Kim Hopkins and 10 points from Adeline Standish.

Penn State Altoona will host Juniata College Thursday at 7 p.m.

Juniata loses first game

WESTMINSTER — The Juniata College men’s basketball team dropped to 1-1 Tuesday night, falling 76-63 to Westminster in area collegiate action.

Ty Kocak led Juniata, down 36-31 at halftime, with 18 points. Teammate Ayden Hurley came off the bench to add 17 points.

Westminster (1-0) got 27 points from Drew Weir to go with 17 points from D.J. Harrell.

Juniata will play again Saturday when it hosts Alfred State at 2 p.m.

Mounties downed at Gettysburg

GETTYSBURG — The Mount Aloysius College men’s basketball team fell behind 46-28 at halftime en route to an 89-64 loss at Gettysburg college in area collegiate play.

Troy Tinch led the Mounties (0-2) with 30 points, followed by 13 points from teammate Senique Jenkins.

Gettysburg, which got points from 13 different players, was led by Reece Craft with 14 points, followed by 12 points from Ray Zamloot.

The Mount’s game with Penn State Schuylkill slated for this Saturday has been postponed.

NBA

Mavericks fire GM after dismal start

DALLAS — The Dallas Mavericks fired general manager Nico Harrison on Tuesday, an admission nine months later that the widely criticized trade of Luka Doncic backfired on the franchise.

The move came a day after Mavericks owner Patrick Dumont attended a 116-114 loss to the Bucks in which fans again chanted “fire Nico,” a familiar refrain since the blockbuster deal that brought Anthony Davis from the Lakers and angered the Dallas fan base.

The 3-8 Mavericks appointed Michael Finley and Matt Riccardi as co-interim general managers to oversee basketball operations.

Dumont’s hope for goodwill with the fans never came even after Dallas landed No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg with just a 1.8% chance to win the draft lottery.

There have been plenty of empty seats in the upper deck of American Airlines Center this season, something not seen consistently since 2018, when the Mavericks traded up to get Doncic with the third overall pick.

Doncic was a 25-year-old generational point guard in his prime when Harrison unloaded him for the oft-injured Davis, who has missed 30 of 44 regular-season games since his arrival in February.

All-Star game changing format

It’s happening: The U.S. vs. the World is finally a done deal and will be the format for this season’s NBA All-Star Game.

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association unveiled the long-awaited plan Tuesday night, after months of trying to figure out the latest way to spark renewed interest in the league’s midseason contest.

The game — which really will be a round-robin tournament of games — will be played Sunday, Feb. 15, starting at 5 p.m. Eastern at Intuit Dome, the Los Angeles Clippers’ arena in Inglewood, California. It’ll be aired on NBC at just about the midway point of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics, which will also be broadcast on NBC’s family of networks.

And part of what NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and other stakeholders liked about trying the U.S. vs. the World format was how the timing coincides with those Milan Cortina Games and the surge of national pride that people around the world get during an Olympics.

From Mirror, wire reports