Lowe poised to take over at N.C. State

Detroit Pistons assistant coach Sidney Lowe will return to North Carolina State to coach the team he led to a national championship under Jim Valvano. N.C. State, which has searched for a successor to Herb Sendek for the past month, will introduce Lowe as its new coach over the weekend, a person within the Pistons organization told the Associated Press yesterday. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because the school planned to make its announcement tomorrow. Lowe was the point guard on the Wolfpack's 1983 national championship team under Valvano and ranks second among the school's all-time assists leaders and third in steals . . . Forward Lounceny Kaba signed to play for St. Bonaventure after spending his previous two seasons at Monroe Junior College in New York. Listed at 6 feet 8 inches, 225 pounds, Kaba is considered a project entering his junior season of eligibility with the Bonnies.

Those closest to baseball Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett are disagreeing over who should keep his cremated remains. Attorneys are discussing whether Puckett's ashes should be given to his two children, or divided with his fiancée, Jodi Olson, who was living with Puckett when he died. Attorneys for both sides met in Minneapolis but were unable to reach an agreement, the Star Tribune reported. Puckett, 45, died March 6 after suffering a stroke in Scottsdale, Ariz. His body was later cremated in the Twin Cities and his ashes have been kept at a local funeral home . . . Florida's governor, Jeb Bush, signaled that he's open to giving state help to Miami-Dade County for a new Florida Marlins ballpark in Hialeah. The Marlins have been wooed by San Antonio but would prefer to remain in Florida.

The San Francisco 49ers acquired a proven backup quarterback for Alex Smith, getting Trent Dilfer from the Cleveland Browns for quarterback Ken Dorsey and an undisclosed 2007 draft pick. Dilfer, who won a Super Bowl with Baltimore in 2001, will give the 49ers depth behind Smith, who struggled as a rookie last season after being the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 draft. Dorsey started 10 games in his three years in San Francisco . . . Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy won't have his top two running backs at today's first minicamp as Ahman Green (quadriceps) and Najeh Davenport (ankle) continue to recover from last season's injuries . . . The Dallas Cowboys will spend their summers back in San Antonio from 2007-11. The Cowboys trained inside the Alamodome in 2002 and '03. A scheduling conflict the following year led to a return to Oxnard, Calif., through this summer. Now, they have a five-year deal to remain in Texas.

UCLA linebacker John Hale and defensive tackle Jess Ward pleaded not guilty to felony assault charges, stemming from a February altercation at Ward's parents' home, a school spokesman said. The freshmen turned themselves in to court officials in San Bernardino County when they learned warrants for their arrests had been issued the previous day, UCLA sports information director Marc Dellins said. Hale had 20 tackles while playing in 11 of the Bruins' 12 games last season, including seven starts. Ward redshirted. Ward's family lives in Running Springs, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. The altercation involved guests at the house, and, according to UCLA, two other men were arrested the day after it happened . . . Texas and Oklahoma have agreed to a new five-year deal to keep their football rivalry in Dallas until 2010. The deal adds two years to the previous contract but does not require any improvements to the aging Cotton Bowl. The Longhorns-Sooners game has been played on a neutral field in Dallas every year since 1929.

Venus Williams overcame leg cramps and an inconsistent serve to beat Martina Hingis, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4, in the second round of the J&S Cup in Warsaw. It was the first meeting between the former top-ranked players since 2002 in Hamburg. The 13th-ranked Williams received medical treatment for leg cramps at 1-1 in the third set. Williams played only her third match of the year, having been sidelined since the Australian Open with a strained right elbow. The 25th-ranked Hingis is back on the WTA Tour after an almost three-year hiatus . . . The mascot of the University of Illinois has cost the school a chance to extend its seven-year streak of hosting NCAA men's tennis tournaments. The NCAA's executive committee declined last week to remove Chief Illiniwek from its list of ''hostile and abusive" mascots, making Illinois ineligible to host postseason athletic tournaments. Supporters of the mascot, a student dressed in buckskins who dances at halftime, say it honors the state's heritage; opponents say it perpetuates a racial stereotype that demeans American Indians. Illinois congressman Tim Johnson, whose district includes the university's main campus in Champaign, introduced legislation designed to prevent the NCAA from limiting schools' autonomy. The NCAA should ''go back to scheduling ballgames and leave the social engineering to others," Johnson said . . . Braves are out, Hawks are in at Chowan College. The Murfreesboro, N.C., school announced the change in response to the NCAA ruling. Chowan has used Braves since the 1940s . . . The United States lost to England, 1-0, in Rome at the field hockey qualifying tournament for the Women's World Cup.