The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 25

THE COURIER-JOURNAL, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1984 3 Hostage trade: KHSAA's Mills for Whitesburg sports Associated Press WHITESBURG, Ky. The commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association was on his way to jail yesterday until the association agreed to lift its suspension of Whitesburg High School's athletic teams. Letcher Circuit Judge F. Byrd Hogg agreed to free Commissioner Tom Mills in return for an order lifting the suspension. The suspension was issued Monday after the school allowed an ineligible player to compete on its girls' basketball team.

The suspension had applied to all of the school's girls' and boys' teams for up to a year. The basketball player, Maria Gentry, and tier family had obtained a restraining order from Hogg last week to prevent the school principal, Ransom T. Holbrook, from enforcing the KHSAA's ineligibility ruling. Yesterday, Hogg found Mills in contempt of court for violating his restraining order. The KHSAA argued that it was not a party to the Gentrys suit, which named Holbrook as a defendant, but Hogg said the suspension of the school's athletic teams nonetheless violated his earlier order.

"It had the effect of doing by the back door what he (Mills) couldn't do by the front door," Hogg said. "The law is clear." More than 100 people filled the seats in the courtroom and stood in the doorways and along the walls. They remained quiet during the hearing, but cheered when Hogg ordered state troopers to take Mills to the Letcher County Jail. After Mills was led out the door, Phillip Scott, the KHSAA's attorney, asked Hogg to set bond, which the judge refused to do. Scott then proposed the settlement to free Mills.

Under that arrangement, the KHSAA would lift the suspension, would be made a party to the Gentrys' suit and could not prevent Gentry from playing. Hogg said he expects the KHSAA to have the suit moved to Franklin Circuit Court, which under precedent is the proper jurisdiction for cases that involve the association. Hogg asked at the outset if any of the attorneys wished to settle the dispute and "get the monkey off my back," but none made a motion. John High, Whitesburg High School girls' basketball coach, testified that he had canceled a trip Monday to a tournament in Leslie County on Holbrook's orders. Holbrook testified that Mills informed him of the suspension in a telephone call Monday morning.

Mills said he took the action because Gentry had played in the school's opening game against Cawood last week. He said he had ordered the suspension after a telephone poll of the 10-member KHSAA Board of Control, the association's ruling body, because the school had not imposed any penalties after the KHSAA's Nov. 17 decision ruling Gentry ineligible. The board had ruled that the school exercised "undue influence" to persuade the Gentrys to move to Whitesburg from Warren County, where Gentry played at Warren East High School last season. Warren East girls' basketball coach Fred Carter and Joe Watkins, the school's principal and athletic director, had charged that High recruited Gentry.

She was the first player in Kentucky declared ineligible because of charges that she was recruited. Gentry and her parents have denied that she was recruited by High and challenged the eligibility ruling in Circuit Court. The suspension of Whitesburg's athletic teams also was handed down because the school failed to disclose or act on an eligibility violation in the 1983-84 school year, the KHSAA charged. The KHSAA ruling has been appealed to the state Board of Education. Do-it-all Barnett helps Franklin County pin loss on Sacred Heart GIRLS' BASKETBALL Fast start lifts Iowa; Illini roll into final Syracuse, Georgia, Transylvania win From AP and Sptclil Dispatches Greg Stokes collected 20 points and 10 rebounds and former Indianapolis Brebeuf star Jeff Moe added 12 points to lead fast-starting Iowa to a 67-53 victory over Boston University last night in the Amana-Haw-keye Classic basketball tournament In Iowa City, Iowa.

Iowa took control of the game with spurts at the start of each half COLLEGE BASKETBALL Jf vKSIl w. 6 Ik diyqLt Staff Photo by Thomas Graves Louisville Catbirds Rick Wilson (left) and Wiley Brown got at least part of a rebound al most simultaneously last night as their team lost to the Wyoming Wildcatters 113-98. By TONY MOTON Courier-Journal Staff Writer SHELBYVILLE. Ky. As Franklin County's Mary Lynn Barnett answered a reporter's questions, a Sacred Heart player interrupted the conversation as her team left the Shelby County High School gym.

Never mind the fact Barnett and the Lady Flyers had just served the Valkyries a 67-49 loss. "You can quote me on this," the unidentified player shouted as she walked out the door. "I was guarding her, and she's awfully quick and a good shooter." The player giving the compliments turned out tp be Sarah Roman, who certainly couldn't be blamed for Barnett's scoring 26 points, nabbing 11 rebounds and making eight steals. Barnett, a 5-foot-4 senior guard, always has had a way of making good things happen. On her resume are more than 1,000 career points, Top 20 honors and one-on-one winner at the BC Camp last summer at Millidgeville, and All-State candidacy.

"She's just a good player," said Sacred Heart coach Bunny Daugh-erty. Barnett led the Frankfort, school into today's 11th annual Lady Rocket Invitational semifinals. In last night's first game, Nelson County outlasted host Shelby County 49-45 before 250 fans to reach the semifinals. The bad weather caused movement of Thursday's opening-round games to last night. In turn, the semifinals of the eight-team event will be played this afternoon.

The final will be played as originally scheduled, tonight at 8:30. Mercy Academy, which beat Washington County 42-37 in one opener on Wednesday, will play Henry County in today's 12:30 p.m. semifinal. Henry County advanced by beating Western Hills 55-30. Nelson County plays Franklin County following the Mercy-Henry matchup.

SACRED HEART-FRANKLIN Barnett's cat-quick defense helped Franklin County turn a two-point halftime lead, 30-28, into something mere substantial. Barnett triggered the Franklin fast break after the half with several steals, helping the Lady Flyers take a 50-42 into the fourth quarter. After that, Sacred Heart couldn't stay with Franklin's beat. "At halftime we talked about playing defense and blocking out on the boards," said Franklin coach Sally Gaines. 4 The talk also resulted in Barnett taking charge.

At one point in the third quarter, she made back-to-back steals and converted short jumpers as the Lady Flyers forged ahead. "I work on the moves, and practice just builds them up. The quickness is just natural," said Barnett, a 5-foot-4 leaper converted from forward to guard this season. "She posts up real well and handles the ball inside," said Gaines of her spark plug, who had a slow start this season. She scored 10 points in the season's opener against Lexington Bryan Staion, but since has aver- Ekker hopes Continued from Page One boards.

Only 6-7 Charles Nance is providing enough force to lessen the load on Brown. The Catbirds' 7-1 center, Tom Piotrowski, just isn't ready yet. "Charles and I don't know if we're the only ones working hard or not," Brown said. "Tom needs work. It's not that he's not trying.

He has trouble holding the ball, but he's working on that every day in practice. "If he can help with the rebounding, it would really help us." Piotrowski managed only five rebounds, while Brown and Nance combined for 23. Piotrowski's 7-foot opponent, Chris Engler, pulled down 18 rebounds and outscored Piotrowski 21-6. As Ekker noted, and Brown reiterated, the shooting percentages were not on the side of Louisville. "We're taking good shots," Brown said.

"The same shots have been falling for us, but they're just not falling now." Wyoming did not have that problem, putting in 53.4 percent of its shots. The chief culprit was 6-8 forward Rick Lamb, who hit 12 of 18 shots for 27 points, many of which were able to cool a Catbirds run. "Rick likes the ball in clutch situ aged 24.5 points in the undefeated Lady Flyers' last three wins, including last night's 26-point effort. "This is the first year that we've had a little bigger baseline, and that lets her play her natural position," said Gaines. Janice Blackburn (12 points) and Laura Schneider (10) complemented Barnett's effort.

Dawn Brohman led Sacred Heart (1-2) with 16 points. "They just executed better than we did," said Daugherty. Her team led Franklin County 21-18 at the end of the first quarter before the Lady Flyers and Barnett tightened the clamps on defense. Franklin rotated two different quintets the entire game and maintained a full-court press throughout. NELSON-SHELBY The Shelby County team has a reputation to uphold.

In The Courier-Journal's annual preseason poll of coaches, the Lady Rockets were rated 15th in the state. Whether the Lady Rockets deserve to be in the Top 20 remains to be seen, however. Based on last night's loss to Nelson County, Shelby County has some homework to do. "We were ranked highly because of our name," said Lady Rockets coach Charlotte Chowning, whose young team dropped to 1-2. "I appreciate that (the ranking), but I think we'll have to earn that ranking." Shelby's inexperience was apparent in the fourth quarter, which began with Nelson County holding a 39-37 lead.

The Lady Cardinals, who then went ahead by four on Missy Hahn's 18-footer with 17:01 remaining, used a slowdown offense for the remainder of the game. With three players (Sandy Williams, Terrie Thompson and Rosie Wells) tagged with four fouls, Nelson County coach Minor Harmon said slowing the pace to a near standstill was his team's last resort. In the process, Shelby went scoreless for the period's first 5 minutes, 35 seconds. A baseline shot by Shelby County's Sharon Bray ended the dry spell, but the Lady Cardinals were enjoying a 45-39 lead. Later, two free throws by Shelby's Kira Ter-hune with four seconds left brought her team as close as it would come the four-point final difference.

Hahn, a sophomore guard, scored a game-high 23 points for Nelson County (4-0). Vicki Sanford carried Shelby with 14. LADY ROCKET INVITATIONAL First round NELSON COUNTY 15 12 12 10 SHELBY COUNTY 17 9 11 8 -45 Nelson County Hahn 23, Williams 4, Thompson 10, Wells 10, S. Clssell 2, Flener 0, L. Clssell 0.

Shelby County Kemp 10, Terhune 4, Sanford 14, Bray 8, Taylor 7, Lewis 2, Best 0. SACRED HEART 21 7 14 7 iT FRANKLIN COUNTY 18 12 20 17 -47 Sacred Heart Brohman 16, Yates 11, Kincaid 11, Rowan 7, Ellington 4, Kargl 0, Taylor 0, Brown 0. Franklin County Barnett 26, Gaines 9, Schneider 10, Blackburn 12, Smith 4, Purvis 4, Turner 2, Johnson 0, Rowe 0, Ouvall 0, tation trailed 34-33 and had the ball, but turned it overn on three straight possessions. Visiting Evangel built a 28-14 halftime lead over young Ninth and rolled to a 43-29 victory. Michelle Harrison led Evangel with 16 points.

Ninth was paced by Sherrie Clark with 18 points and Abbie Foote with a game-high II rebounds. Ninth shot 47 percent from the field, but committed 29 turnovers. EVANGEL 14 14 0 15 -43 At NINTH AO 8 6 6 9 -29 Evangel Bremble 2, Marshall 2, Conway 7, M. Harrison 16, Eible 2, L. Harrison 6, Brown 2, Hampton 6.

Ninth A 0 Vernur 4, Lawson 2, Clark 18, Foote 5. HOLY 10 7 8 11 10 -34 -13 Holy Cress Nalley 4, Fey 10, Matthews 4, Thompson 10, Donlan 4, Peterson 4. Presentation Porter 4, Uhls Cowden 10, Phillips 4, Woods 6. LAOY PIRATE INVITATIONAL KNOTT CO. CENTRAL.

ATHERTON 17 13 -43 8 25 19 It -60 Knott County Central Stamper 17, SAndlin 6, Arrlngton 0, Miller 8, Sawyer Salmons 4, Martin 2, Bentley S. Atherton A. Jones 31, R. Jones 17, Clark 8, Wilson 4, Taylor 3, Campbell 2, Watson 2. Jordan's late basket saves Bulls; Malone carries Sixers by Lakers for rematch Also, Louisville sold forward Ricky Ross to Puerto Rico in a straight cash deal.

Ross had been on injured reserve with back problems. The Catbirds started the season without the advantage of being on the airwaves, via radio. That changed Thurday when WAVG-AM and the Catbirds worked a deal. John Asher is calling the games, as he did last season, and hopes Louie Dampier will join him as color man on future broadcasts. WYOMING 113 Player min (g fga ft fta reb a pf tp Beshore 34 5 9 2 2 4 9 0 12 Bond 36 8 13 2 4 8 1 18 Lamb 41 12 18 3 6 12 4 1 27 Engler 45 9 16 3 3 18 0 2 21 Delph.

26 9 17 2 2 4 0 2 20 Harriel 11 04003120 Kenon 703222012 40 4 8 5 6 4 1 4 13 Team 7 Totals 240 47 88 19 25 55 23 13 113 LOUISVILLE 98 Player mln fg fga ft fta reb a pf tp Mack 21 26003004 Williams 21 6 14 0 0 0 2 1 13 27 5 16 1 1 6 2 3 II Wilson 15 1 8 0 0 6 1 0 2 23 4 10 9 9 2 2 4 17 Crawford 37 8 14 2 2 5 1 3 18 Nance 23 4 10 4 5 8 1 3 12 33 3 7 0 0 5 1 3 6 Brown 40 7 18 1 2 15 5 4 15 Totals 240 40 103 17 19 50 15 21 98 WYOMING WILDCATTERS 30 27 26 30 -113 LOUISVILLE 26 26 IS 28 -98 Three-point field goal shooting Williams 1-4, Mlnniefield 0-2, Wilson 0-1. Shooting percentages Louisville 40.6, Wyoming 53.4. Attendance 1,107. quarter, to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 101-89 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers in Atlanta. Center Tree Rollins scored a season-high 17 points for the Hawks, while Levingston added 16 and Mike Glenn came off the bench to score 12.

Derek Smith was high for the Clippers with 21, Nixon scored 20, Junior Bridgeman 16 and Cage 11. Alvan Adams scored 14 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter and rookie Jay Humphries sank four clutch free throws in the final minute as the host Phoenix Suns beat the Kansas City Kings. A jumper by the Kings' Don Buse with 11 seconds left in the third quarter had forged a 79-79 tie. The Suns then ran off a 10-0 string for a 100-90 lead with 8:41 remaining and 12 quick points by Adams made it 115-105 with 2:28 left in the game. Kansas City, however, closed to 115-113 on LaSalle Thompson's stuff with 1:01 to go.

Humphries hit two foul shots with 46 seconds left, Mike Holton sank a layin with 28 seconds showing and Humphries added two more free throws with 11 seconds left to seal the win for Phoenix, now 12-10 overall and 9-3 at home this season. The Kings fell to 4-14 overall and 2-9 on the road despite 28 points from Eddie Johnson, 23 from Thompson and 21 from Mike Woodson. Reggie Theus added 13 and Buse 10. Holton finished with a career-high 23 points while Larry Nance and Rod Foster had 15 apiece for the Suns and Maurice Lucas 12. Kansas City had led 34-32 after the first period as Johnson scored 12 points.

Adams' layin 57 seconds before halftime put Phoenix ahead 56-55 en route to a 61-55 lead at and notched its fifth victory in six outings. The Hawkeyes will play Texas Tech (4-1) tonight in the championship game. Bubba Jennings scored 20 points, including a key layup and two free throws in the final 40 seconds, to spark the Red Raiders to a 63-59 victory over Southern California in the opening game of the tournament. Boston University (1-3) will play Southern Cal (2-2) tonight in the consolation game. Iowa, which frustrated Boston with a tight zone defense, scored the first five baskets of the game and built a 17-2 lead in the opening seven minutes.

Boston battled back behind freshman reserve Drederick Irving to trail only 33-26 at the half, but Iowa outscored the Terriers 12-2 at the start of the second half for a 45-28 advantage with 13:42 left. Boston managed to cut the lead to 52-41 on Irving's two free throws with 7:49 remaining, but slam dunks by Stokes and Gerry Wright sandwiched around Todd Berkenpas' two free throws rebuilt the Iowa lead to 58-41 with 5:12 to go. Reserves then finished up for the Hawkeyes. In other games: Tom Schafer and Ken Norman pumped in 15 points each to help seventh-ranked Illinois whip Columbia 72-48 in the opening game of the Illini Classic in Champaign, 111. Illinois (8-1) will play in tonight's title game against New Mexico State, which defeated American University 75-69 in the second game.

Sophomore guard Dwayne Washington returned to last season's form, scoring 21 points as 12th-ranked Syracuse bombed Maine 84-65 in the first game of the Carrier Classic tournament in Syracuse, N.Y. The Orangemen (3-0) will meet Lamar, a 91-74 winner over Bowling Green in last night's second game, in tonight's championship game. Donald Hartry led a balanced attack with 18 points as Georgia shot 63 percent from the field and overpowered Presbyterian 99-59 in Athens, Ga. The Bulldogs (2-1) used an 8-0 run at the start of the second half to build a 53-23 lead and stretched that to 41 points at 95-54 with 2:57 remaining. Transylvania and South Caroline-Aiken advanced to the final game of the Transylvania Tip-Off Tournament in Lexington, Ky.

Transylvania breezed past Ohio Dominican 91-61 after South Caroli-; na-Aiken had edged Brescia 59-55. Transylvania (3-2) and South Carolina-Aiken (7-2) will play at 8:30 EST tonight in the championship game. Ohio Dominican (0-8) and Brescia (4-9) will meet at 6:30 for the consolation title. Andre Flynn scored 23 points, Todd Berger 20 and Kip Hagan 13 for Transylvania, which shot 65.8 percent from the field and limited Ohio Dominican to 30.5 percent. Hagan and Bobby Storle each collected six rebounds.

Boys' basketball EVANGEL 11 11 40 At NINTH AO II 11 I 10 -58 Evans! Adwall 15, Pike 11, Scott 4, Sweeney 10, Turner IS, Smith 2, Gaddi 3. Ninth AO- Saylor 14, Martin 14, Muttard 4, Martlll 13, Rica 4, Webb 2, Ferguson 5. OAKOALE 4 IS 10 7 -34 FARMOALE 14 17 23 -71 Oakdale Shoulderi 0, Palmer 10, Bailey Lewlt Fantler 1. Farmdal Christian Cowles 4, Llntelman 3, Ward 4, Lyons 4, Morris 10, Rapp 11, Gabbard 1, Wells 31, Edwards 4, Collins Pltlman 2, Helton 8. Catbirds hot ations," Wyoming coach Jack Scha-low said.

"He's one of those guys that looks for that." Marvin Delph, the former guard at Arkansas, was another clutch shooter last night with 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting. But, Schalow said, it was the worst form he's seen the 6-4 guard show. "He's the best shooter I've ever been around," Schalow said. "This is the worst I've seen him shoot in a game, in practice, any time." The Catbirds seemed, at least, a shot away from contending all night. The second and fourth quarters were close, but the Catbirds couldn't hold the quarter lead and lost 27-26 and 30-28, respectively.

Ekker hopes to get his team warmed up tonight as it takes on the Wildcatters again at 7:35 p.m. at Broadbent. "We want them to work smoothly, that's all you can do now," Ekker said. CATBIRD NOTES Ekker said he is still pursuing former of forward Scooter McCray. He said McCray wants to play with the Catbirds, but his agent, Howard Slusher, is holding him up.

"Scooter wants to come and play," Ekker said, "but the agent is holding it up. He wants more time and it's been 10 days now." PRO BASKETBALL 76ers beat the Los Angeles Lakers 122-116 in Philadelphia. Julius Ervlng scored 24, and Maurice Cheeks added 19, as the 76ers won their sixth straight game and eighth of the last nine. "We were very unselfish with the ball and had great movement on offense," said 76er coach Billy Cunningham, attributing the win to shot selection and aggression. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 24 points led the Lakers, while Earvin Johnson had 21 points and 16 assists.

Isiah Thomas scored 19 of his 27 points in the second half to lead the host Detroit Pistons to a 122-U5 victory over the Denver Nuggets. Denver's high-scoring Alex English scored 21 of his game-high 32 points in the first half. Calvin Natt scored 25 points for Denver and Lafayette Lever finished with 24 for the Nuggets. Dominique Wilkins scored 31 points, including 14 in the fourth CJ. Sealy and center Darlene Jones of the Houston Shamrocks; guards Laury Byrd and Tracie Brown of the Chicago Spirit; guard Tara Hiess and forward Barbara Kennedy of the Virginia Wave; and forward Daphne Donnelly of the Atlanta Comets.

Forward Justina Smith of Atlanta and Lydia McAliley of Columbus were named as alternates on the all-star team, which will be managed by Larry Jones, the Minks' coach, and by Rich Mauck, coach of the Chicago club. Jones sisters power Atherton; Holy Cross, Evangel triumph Rookie sensation Michael Jordan connected on a 17-foot Jumper with five seconds remaining last night to lift the host Chicago Bulls to a 95-93 National Basketball Association victory over the New York Knicks for their fourth consecutive triumph. The 6-6 Jordan, with two New York defenders draped over his back, brought the Bulls into a first place tie with idle Milwaukee in the NBA Central Division. "I was just doing my job," Jordan said, "hoping to make the basket if for nothing else to give a lot of confidence. I new I would be double-teamed and somehow I got the ball in the bucket." With just 23 seconds left on the clock, New York's Trent Tucker, hitting a season-high 16 points, tied the score at 93-93 with a 10-foot Jumper.

Bulls coach Kevin Loughery recalled later: "I told Jordan to wait to the last possible second to release the ball because if he missed I at least wanted to go into overtime." Moses Malone scored 35 points, 16 in a third-period rally that broke open the game, as the Philadelphia WABA names all-stars; Minks1 trio head squad Sisters Annette and Renee Jones combined for 48 points as fourth-ranked Atherton ripped No. 16 Knott County Central 68-43 last night in the first round of the Lady Pirate Invitational girls basketball tournament at Belfry, Ky. In the final at 9 tonight, Atherton (3-0) will play Belfry, which beat Johnson Central 61-49 in the other first-round game. Knott County Central and Johnson Central will play in the 7 p.m. consolation game.

Annette Jones led the Lady Rebels with 31 points, while Renee contributed 17. Kelly Stamper paced Knott County Central with 17. Senior forward Sherry Fey and sophomore guard Susan Thompson each scored 10 points to lead Holy Cross to a 36-33 victory at Presentation. Stephanie Cowden scored 10 points and pulled down nine rebounds in the losing effort. Neither team shot well.

Holy Cross hit 34 percent from the field, while Presentation connected on 26 percent. The game boiled down to turnovers. With 40 seconds left, Presen- I COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Columbus Minks dominated the Women's American Basketball Association all-star selections announced yesterday by acting league commissioner George Vest, placing three players on the 10-member squad that will play the WABA champion Dallas Diamonds on Dec. 16 in Dallas. the all-star team, chosen in voting by WABA coaches and players, includes center Channel Hamilton, forward Beverly Curusoe and guard Dee Dee Polk of the Minks; forward S-ISVJ-.