[naviga:h2]Religious headgear OK for basketball[/naviga:h2]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Basketball enthusiasts around the world said a decision to allow players to wear religious headgear in competition will encourage more people to play the sport because it gives participants the right to practice their faith and focus on playing ball.

The unanimous vote by international basketball’s governing body, known as FIBA, allows female players to wear hijabs and male players to wear turbans and yarmulkes following a ban initially imposed for safety reasons 20 years ago. In 2014, FIBA allowed a two-year testing phase for head coverings.

[naviga:h2]Spurs lose Parker for rest of playoffs[/naviga:h2]

SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker will miss the rest of the playoffs after rupturing the quadriceps tendon in his left leg in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Houston Rockets.

[naviga:h2]Female Penguin fan claims sexual assault[/naviga:h2]

PITTSBURGH — A woman said she was sexually assaulted in a bathroom during a Pittsburgh Penguins playoff hockey game.

Police spokesman Sonya Toler said the woman walked into a police station near the PPG Paints Arena at 12:01 a.m. Thursday to make the report.

Toler said police are investigating and no more details are available. No one has been charged.

The Penguins are cooperating with investigators.

[naviga:h2]Ex-Iowa administrator awarded $1.4 million[/naviga:h2]

DES MOINES, Iowa — A jury awarded more than $1.4 million to a former University of Iowa athletic administrator, ruling that the university had discriminated against her because of her gender and sexual orientation.

Jane Meyer alleged she suffered workplace discrimination as a gay woman in a relationship with the school’s longtime and highly successful field hockey coach Tracey Griesbaum, that the school retaliated against her for complaining about Griesbaum’s firing, and that she was paid less than a male counterpart for similar work.