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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Trans-Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

Sports


Thursday, February 26, 1998

Eagles put two on all-district team

PECOS, Feb. 26 -- Pecos Eagle seniors Lorie Marquez and
Penny Armstrong were named to the All-District 4-4A girls'
basketball team Wednesday, in voting by the six district
coaches.

The two were part of a senior-dominated all-district squad,
while two other Eagles, senior Marisol Arenivas and Valerie
Lara, received honorable mention.

Marquez led the Eagles in scoring for the third year in a
row, with a 14.9 points per game average, while playing at
post and guard during the 1997-98 season. It's her third
straight selection to the 4-4A squad.

Armstrong was second on the Eagles in scoring, with an 8.3
average while starting at post this season, and also was
more of a factor inside on defense as a rebounder this
season, her third on the varsity squad.

Sweetwater junior Vanessa Lehrmann was named the district's
Most Valuable Player, in leading 4-4A in scoring and leading
the Mustangs to the 4-4A title, with a playoff win over
Andrews. Big Spring's Melissa Light was named Newcomer of
the Year, and Sweetwater's C.E. Carmichael was selected as
Coach of the Year.

The only other non-senior on the 4-4A squad was San Angelo
Lake View sophomore Hillary Lee. The rest of the team was
represented by Andrews seniors Tammy Sutton and Kayla
Kimberlin; Big Spring seniors Kara Hughes and Keesha Lott;
Sweetwater seniors Lindsey Lepard and Corey Clemmer; and
Lake View senior Stacy Bartz.

Arenivas was the Eagles starting point guard this season,
and averaged 6.7 points per game in gaining honorable
mention, while Lara was the lone non-senior in the Eagles'
starting lineup, and averaged eight points per game in her
first full year on the varsity.

Sweetwater, Andrews and third place Big Spring were all
eliminated from the Class 4A playoffs last week, by
Levelland, Canyon and Canyon Randall. The All-District 4-4A
boys team was also voted on on Wednesday, and will be
released after Sweetwater finishes its season. The Mustang
boys eliminated Hereford on Tuesday, and will face Lamesa in
a regional quarterfinal round game Friday night in Big
Spring.

Bears, Pirates set playoff for Van Horn

PECOS, Feb. 26 -- The Balmorhea Bears and Valentine Pirates
were forced to do a last-minute relocation of for their
Class Aarea round boys basketball game.

The Bears and Pirates will face each other at 7 p.m. Friday
in Van Horn, after tentatively setting their playoff game
for 5:30 p.m. Friday at Sul Ross State University in Alpine
on Friday. Those plans have were shelved on Wednesday and
the new site was found today.

Balmorhea scored 33 points in the fourth quarter on Tuesday
to eliminated Rankin, 84-68, in the bi-district round of the
playoffs, while Valentine put in 34 points in the final
period to rally from a two-point deficit and beat Fort
Davis, 63-44, in their opener.

"They're not as fast (as Rankin), but they're very good
shooters, so it should be a good game," said Bears' coach
Adolfo Garcia following Tuesday's victory. The Pirates,
25-6, and the Bears, 23-2, each won on the other team's
court during regular season play in December and January.

Eagles playing Coahoma's JV in tournament

PECOS, Feb. 26 -- The Pecos Eagles girls softball team will
be in Midland tonight for a softball game ... they hope.

The Eagles are entered in the Third Annual West Texas
Softball Classic, and the bracket coach Tammy Walls received
says Pecos will face the Coahoma Bulldogs' junior varsity in
a first round game in Division II of the tournament.

Walls was told earlier the Eagles wouldn't be playing until
3 p.m. Friday, and the bracket in today's Midland
Reporter-Telegram has them opening against Coahoma at 7 p.m.
Friday night, which is better than the bracket in today's
Odessa American, that doesn't have Pecos in the tournament
at all.

"We're going to show up for a 7 o'clock game and just see
what happens," Walls said.

A win would put the Eagles into a noon game Friday against
either Lamesa, Midland High gold or El Paso Socorro's JV. A
loss drops Pecos into a 1:30 p.m. game Friday against one of
those three teams.

Freshmen open season in tournament

PECOS, Feb. 26 -- The Pecos Eagles' freshman baseball team
will get its 1998 season underway today, with a 4 p.m. game
against Fort Stockton in the Pecos JV Baseball Tournament.

The tournament added a couple of teams this season and is
now a 10-school affair, including all but one of the Eagles'
District 4-4A rivals. The extra games on each half of the
bracket are scheduled for Saturday afternoon.

Kermit faces Monahans in the tournament opener at 2 p.m.,
and the winner there will come back and play Tornillo at 6
p.m. The winner of the Pecos-Fort Stockton game will play
again at noon Saturday against either Tornillo, Kermit or
Monahans, while the loser comes back and plays in the
consolation semifinals at 8 p.m. tonight, against the loser
of the Loboes-Yellowjackets game.

Fort Stockton's freshmen have the bye on the other half of
the bracket, and will face the winner of Friday's 2 p.m.
game between Andrews and Big Spring. The Eagles' JV then
faces San Angelo Lake View at 4 p.m., with the winner
advancing to the semifinals at 2 p.m. Saturday. The loser
will face either the Steers or Mustangs at 8 p.m. Friday.

Play opens with the ninth place game Saturday morning,
while the consolation finals, third place and championship
games are set for 4, 6 and 8 p.m. starts.

While the JV and freshmen play in Pecos, the Eagles'
varsity began play this morning in the Monahans Sandhills
Tournament with an 11 a.m. contest against Kermit. The
winner will face either Alpine or Monahans at 6:30 p.m. on
Friday, while the losers of those games will meet in the
consolation semifinals in another 11 a.m. start.

Presidio takes on Greenwood and Alpine faces Fort Stockton
in the other half of the Sandhills bracket. The Eagles won
last year's tournament, and will be trying to repeat this
weekend, after Monday's 9-8 opening loss to Monahans.

Ethics of `gift' record debated

By NICOLE SCHIAVI
Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 26 -- Connecticut women's coach Geno
Auriemma, rarely criticized by adoring Husky fans, was
caught a bit off guard by the firestorm created by the
staged shot that made Nykesha Sales the school's top scorer.

Auriemma took a beating in the court of public opinion
Wednesday, a day after he arranged to have Sales set the
record by taking an uncontested layup against Villanova.

Appearing as a guest on several radio sports shows in
Connecticut and New York, Auriemma maintained that he
believes it was the right thing to do, and also rejected
arguments that women's basketball was compromised.

Auriemma also said he apoligized to Sales for creating such
a fuss.

``She said, `Coach, I can't believe what I'm seeing on TV
and hearing on the radio,''' Auriemma said. ``I said, `Hey,
I'm sorry I put you though this.' It's amazing how one act
could be misconstrued by so many people.''

If anything, the staged shot is shedding some startling
light on how the women's game is perceived by the public,
the press and even college basketball officials.

Amid the whirlwind of reaction is this candid remark by Big
East commissioner Mike Tranghese, acknowledging he would
have never approved a similar plan to be carried out in a
men's basketball game:

``If it were two men's teams, I would not have done it,''
Tranghese told The Hartford Courant. ``It's a women's sport;
this was a female player. I am a man. I am not going to
pretend to handle decisions on (men and women) exactly the
same way.''

The Courant, the state's biggest newspaper, led its sports
page Wednesday with a column headlined: ``What A Farce.''
Other papers around the state, as well as the New York Daily
News, were also critical of the move.

``It was a sad, contrived joke. The kind of sophomoric
hucksterism that gives women's basketball a pie in the
face,'' wrote Courant columnist Jeff Jacobs.

Not everyone agreed.

In an unscientific Internet survey on ESPN SportsZone, about
60 percent of the more than 33,000 respondents supported the
move.

And Rick Pitino, who allowed the injured Derek Anderson to
shoot two technical free throws in the NCAA championship
game after the Kentucky player had sat out the entire
tournament with a knee injury, also supported the staged
shot.

``I thought it was a wonderful gesture of sportsmanship,''
said Pitino, now with the Boston Celtics. ``It didn't affect
the game.''

Pat Summitt, the coach of No. 1 Tennessee, backed Auriemma's
move, but also offered it as an illustration of how the
women's game may be more sentimental than the men's game.

``I think women's basketball may be a little different,''
Summit told The Courant. ``This is probably a reflection of
it. It shows the feelings, the emotions, that are in the
women's game.''

Sales ruptured her right Achilles' tendon in a game
Saturday, seemingly ending her college career just two
points shy of UConn's scoring record.

Wearing a brace on her right foot, Sales scored an
uncontested layup off the opening tap against Villanova on
Tuesday, UConn's last regular-season game. The Wildcats were
then allowed to score a matching freebie.

The two points moved Sales past Kerry Bascom (now Kerry
Bascom-Poliquim) from 1987-91 on the school's career scoring
list with 2,178. The second-ranked Huskies went on to win
75-71 in overtime.

To arrange the gift for his star player, Auriemma talked
with Villanova coach Harry Perretta, the Big East
commissioner and the former record holder.

``The record was going to fall anyway, and that's the right
kid to have the record,'' Auriemma said. ``I would do it
again because I did the right thing in my mind and that's
the only thing that counts. The scenario was perfect as far
as I'm concerned. To me it was just a gesture.''

Perretta said he has no regrets agreeing to swap free shots,
and the former record-holder had no hard feelings.

``It's a great honor and accomplishment and she's very
deserving of it,'' said Bascom-Poliquim, now an assistant
coach at New Hampshire.




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Pecos Enterprise
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