A daily look at athletes from San Diego County competing at this summer’s Olympics:

Wednesday’s results

Basketball: Kelsey Plum (La Jolla Country Day) had six points in 16 minutes for the U.S. women in an 88-74 win against Nigeria in the quarterfinals. They get Australia in the semis Friday.

Skateboarding: Australia’s Keegan Palmer won the gold and fellow North County resident Tom Schaar (San Dieguito Academy) took the silver in men’s park. Tate Carew (Point Loma High School) was fifth and Italy’s Alex Sorgente (Cardiff) was sixth in the final. Gavin Bottger (Oceanside), Portugal’s Thomas Augusto (San Marcos) and Great Britain’s Andy Macdonald (Encinitas) didn’t advance out of the preliminary round.

Track cycling: Jennifer Valente (Cathedral Catholic) and the U.S. women won the team pursuit gold at the velodrome in Saint-Quentin-en-Yveline, defeating New Zealand in the final. It is Valente’s fourth career Olympic medal and second gold.

Volleyball: Garrett Muagututia (Francis Parker) and the U.S. indoor men nearly pulled off the upset, leading 2-1 before losing 3-2 (25-23, 25-27, 14-25, 25-23, 15-13) against No. 1-ranked Poland in the semis. They’ll face Italy for the bronze medal.

Water polo: Alex Bowen (Santana High School) scored the tying goal with 32 seconds left to force a penalty shootout that the U.S. men won against Australia to advance to Friday’s semis against Serbia.

Thursday’s action

Canoe: Tokyo gold medalist Nevin Harrison, who lives in Clairemont and trains on Mission Bay, has the preliminary heats and quarterfinals of the C-1 200 meters flatwater event.

Sport climbing: Brooke Raboutou (USD), third after the boulder semifinals, goes in the lead portion of the semis. The final is Saturday.

Track and field: San Diego resident Chari Hawkins has four events in Day 1 of the heptathlon.

Originally Published: August 7, 2024 at 6:56 p.m.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs and San Diego State Aztecs are set to complete their home-and-home series this upcoming season on Nov. 18, according to college basketball insider Jon Rothstein.

The matchup between two of the top college basketball programs in the West is set to take place in San Diego, California, at the Viejas Arena, where the Aztecs are 43-3 over the past three seasons. 

San Diego State pulled off a rare road win at the McCarthey Athletic Center last season on Dec. 29, when Reese Waters and Jaedon LeDee combined for 42 points in an 84-74 victory over the Bulldogs led by Graham Ike’s 20-point, 10-rebound double-double. That game marked the first double-digit loss at The Kennel for Gonzaga in over a decade.

The Zags will see a much different foe this time around, however, as the Aztecs lost over three-quarters of their minutes played from last season’s squad that fell to UConn in the Sweet 16. Waters is back for his senior season, though Lamont Butler (Kentucky) and Micah Parrish (Ohio State) left via the transfer portal, while LeDee prepares for his first NBA season with the Minnesota Timberwolves after earning All-American honors in 2023-24. Darrion Trammell, who played a key role with 17 points off the bench in last season’s meeting, has since graduated following a five-year college career.

Head coach Brian Dutcher replaced the outgoing talent by bringing in Nick Boyd, a 6-foot-3 guard who started for Florida Atlantic’s Final Four team two seasons ago, as well as Wayne McKinney III, a double-digit scorer with San Diego this past season. The Aztecs, who finished last season ranked No. 28 on Bart Torvik, sit at No. 77 in Torvik’s 2024-25 projections.

Still, the Nov. 18 game should pose quite a challenge as the only true road game on Gonzaga’s nonconference slate to this point. The Bulldogs will also face Kentucky in Seattle (Dec. 7), UConn in New York (Dec. 14) and UCLA in Inglewood, California (Dec. 28) before entertaining an 18-game West Coast Conference schedule. There’s also the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament (Nov. 27-29) in the Bahamas.

Per a report from Rothstein on Tuesday, the Zags agreed to a home-and-home series with Arizona State that’ll begin on Nov. 10 in Spokane. That came out just as the WCC released its league schedule, beginning on Dec. 30 when Gonzaga travels to Malibu, California, to take on Pepperdine.

The Bulldogs have four open slots to fill on their 2024-25 nonconference schedule, according to NCAA rules that state teams can play up to 28 regular season games plus three in-season tournament games. 

Vickie Durham

OBITUARY

Vickie Durham, a beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was an accomplished real estate agent, travel agent and business woman. Vickie was born in El Dorado, Oklahoma. She moved to California with her family during World War II and later settled in San Diego. Vickie worked at Hughes Aircraft Company as a blueprint inspector before pursuing a career as an independent real estate agent, travel agent, and business owner.In her golden years, Vickie enjoyed dancing with her late husband Slim (Harry), at San Diego Smooth Dancers. She was a contributing member of her local Red Hat Society, she volunteered at the Old Town Chamber of Commerce, and served as commodore at her local boat club (OBC). Vickie also loved traveling the world with friends and family.A private service will be held at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.