The Daily Advertiser from Lafayette, Louisiana • 15

SportsTuesday Staying put FredMcGiffls shuns Chicago. Page 2G Baseball 2C Classifieds 3C I College 3C 30 SECTION The Daily Advertiser www.acadiananow.com July 17, 2001 MVP Leslie powers West win Sports On the Run ORLANDO. Fla. (AP) Lisa Leslie broke her own WNBA All-Star game record with 20 points and added nine rebounds to lead the Western Conference to an 80-72 victory over the Eastern Conference on Monday night. Leslie was selected the game's MVP for the second time in her career.

She won the honor in 1999 with 13 points and five rebounds in the league's inaugural All-Star Game. Last season. Leslie had 16 points. Sacramento's Yolanda Griffith added 17 points and 7 rebounds for the West, which has won all three All-Star games with Houston coach Van Chancellor at the helm. the court.

Leslie smiled and held up three fingers. The second time she took the court. Leslie wasn't as dominating but she still made her mark. Her layup with 58 seconds before intermission gave the West a 12-point advantage, its largest of the half. After back-to-back buckets by the East made it an eight-point game.

Leslie found a wide-open Lauren Jackson alone in the left corner for a 3-pointer and a 40-29 lead. But Leslie did most of her damage early in the second half, as the West put it away She had six points in the West's 12-4 run that made it 56-39 with more than 13 minutes remaining. WNBA All-Star Game Cleveland's Merlakia Jones led the Eastern Conference with 12 points, including 10 in the second half. As soon as Leslie entered the game as a substitute, she became a force in the post and beyond. She had 10 points, five rebounds and three blocks in a little less than six minutes of play Leslie had two foul snots, a putback and a three-point play off another offensive rebound as the West scored nine unanswered points.

Moments later, her 3-pointer with 9:05 remaining in the first half put the West up 24-17. As she retreated down to the defensive end of Associated Press Comets' Janeth Arcain drives against Rockers' Merlakia Jones. Scoreboard MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL Interleague play Red Sox 6. Expos 5 Reds 9. Tigers 1 Yankees 6.

Phillies 3. 13 innings Mets 3. Blue Jays 0 Devil Rays 6, Braves 5 Royals 4, Cubs 2 White Sox 6. Brewers 5 Cardinals 4. Twins 3 Rangers 2.

Giants 0 Astros 10. Indians 8 Marlins 4. Onoles 0 National League Dodgers 6. Pirates 4 BASKETBALL WNBA All-Star Game West Stars 80, East Stars 72 For complete box scores, please see Page 4C IN BRIEF N.O. Saints Good as it gets Saints ink Myles, Ojo to deals State to finalize committee to search for stadium solution All-Star Lena Davis enjoyed magnificient prep career at Westminster Christian.

Kevin Foote Assistant Sports Editor BATON ROUGE Good athletes come and go. The truly great ones have the ability to leave a mark on a school, especially in a small town. Over the past five years, there have likely been moments when the athletic exploits of Lena Davis have been taken for granted. And if you talk to Davis herself, it doesn't take very long to realize that she has no idea exactly how prolific her high school career at Westminster Christian Academy in Opelousas really was. Many athletes have competed in four sports over the years, but very few have ever been as dominant for as long as Davis.

Page 3C: AlookatOCHS star Darwon Hammond. So as the LHSCA All-Star week got under way with reporting day Sunday, it was all too fitting that Davis was there as a small indica Advertiser File Photo Westminster's Lena Davis (55) has been Miss Everything for the Lady Crusaders in four sports over the past five seasons. tion of the dynamic prep sports career that she recently completed. "Lena just did an excellent job for us," Westminster head basketball and volleyball coach Liza Whittington said. "Lots of girls would kill to be that good in one sport, but Lena was great in everything she did." Although Davis is proud of what she's achieved, that's not the one word that she would use to describe how she feels about five straight years of standing out in volleyball, basketball, track and softball.

"I'm tired." she said. She actually got her first taste of high school athletics as a seventh grader, before beginning her four-sport career as an eighth grader. That means the versatile star never took a season off. Nevertheless, she also didn't even consider not participating in this week's All-Star festivities. Sports LSI), Virginia Tech set up two-year series BATON ROUGE LSU Senior Associate Athletic Director Dan Radakovich announced on Monday that LSU and Virginia Tech have completed a deal that will have the Tigers and the Hokies meet in a home-and-home series in 2002 and 2004.

The Tigers would travel to Blacks-burg. to take on Virginia Tech on Aug. 31, 2002 and the Hokies would return the trip to Tiger Stadium on Sept. 4, 2004. Radakovich said that both contests would be shown on one of the ESPN television networks.

"(Associate Athletic Director) Bo Bahnsen did a great job of pulling this all together along with Jim Weaver (Athletic Director of Virginia Tech) and Dave Brown (of ESPN). This has taken upwards of two months to finalize and I am glad that we were able to pull it off," said Radakovich. The 2002 date comes about as the first year in which a 12-game regular season schedule is allowed by the NCAA, while the 2004 game will be the opener of LSU's 11 -game schedule that season. In both years. LSU will play seven home games.

The Tigers open the 2001 season at home against Tulane on Saturday, Sept. 1 at Tiger Stadium. Abram Booty joins Yaldosta State squad BATON ROUGE (AP) Former LSU wide receiver Abram Booty, brother of former LSU quarterback Josh Booty, will play football for Valdosta State (Ga.) next season. Booty's last game at LSU was the 2000 season opener against Western Carolina. He injured a quadriceps during that game and quit three weeks later.

He was injured many times during his four years at LSU. "I thought I was done for good, and I got to missing football." Booty said Saturday. Then, this summer, he remembered he had never used a redshirt year. "My dad called (Valdosta State head) coach (Chris) Hatcher and said, This is a possibility." Booty said. Hatcher was indeed interested, so Booty said he called LSU compliance director Bo Bahnsen to see about getting an extra year.

Then the out-of-work receiver had to wait and wait. "I got my release from the league office two days ago," Booty said. "I was fired up, because I didn't know if it was going to happen." He had his extra year, a scholarship to Valdosta State and a chance to play football again. of great athletes at Westminster who didn't get their number retired. I couldn't believe it.

I just cried." After what Davis did on the court as a Lady Crusader from start to finish, it was a no-brainer for Whittington. "Lena was just so physically gifted, but she was mentally tough also," Whittington said. "I remember the first game she was eligible as an eighth grader. It was a district game against Delcambre and she scored 28 points. She had that Please see DAVIS on Page 3C "This is fun." Davis said.

"We're going to take it seriously to a certain extent, but it's going to be fun meeting new people. Everybody's been very nice so far." As talented an all-around athlete as Davis has been, it's fitting that basketball is her All-Star sport. The three-time All-Stater finished her career with 2,898 career points and Westminster honored her this past May by retiring her No. 55 jersey. "I was very surprised," Davis said.

"I had no idea. To me, there have been a lot NEW ORLEANS (AP) Wide receiver Onome Ojo agreed Monday to a three-year contract with the New Orleans Saints. The team also reached agreement on a one-year deal with veteran linebacker DeShone Myles. Ojo. 6-foot-4.

205 was a fifth-round selection out of Cal-Davis in this year's draft. In 13 games during the 2000 season, he made 33 receptions for 865 yards and 11 touchdowns. Myles. 6-2. 245, was Seattle's fourth-round selection out of Nevada in 1998.

He missed the 2000 season with a knee injury. In other news involving the Saints, the state plans to name this week the members of two committees designed to keep the Saints in New Orleans committees to determine the future of the Superdome and to find potential buyers to put their name on it. Steve Perry Gov Mike Foster's chief of staff, told the Press Club of Baton Rouge on Monday that the state has had a lot of interest from corporations willing to pay to put their name on the Superdome, but he wouldn't name them. Superdome officials have said they want a minimum 10-year contract at $3 million a year, but Perry said he believes the rights could go for a higher price tag, and he hopes they reach a deal with a company State negotiators believe the price tag to put a corporate name on the Dome would be a significant chunk of the $12.5 million the state has guaranteed for the next two years. Doug Thornton, general manager of the stadium, has said at least six companies were interested in buying the naming rights.

The naming rights committee likely will include a representative of the governor's office, legislators, Thornton, a member of the New Orleans area community and a representative of the Saints. Before reaching the latest agreement, team owner Tom Benson had asked the state to put up most of the money for a new, football-only retractable dome stadium that would cost around $450 million. The committee will report its findings by January 2003. The larger stadium committee will include a number of New Orleans area residents, city council members, business community leaders, legislators, representatives of the governor's office, people from other reaches of the state, New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial and Benson or his designee. He said several members were already selected, including a representative of Entergy Corp.

and Bill Hines, chairman of Metrovision, the economic development arm of the Regional Chamber of Commerce. The stadium committee will need up to $500,000 to hire stadium evaluators, architects and technicians. Stay away from the sand to burrow in there, and it's not going to be friendly" But the bunkers are what make Royal Lytham such a unique test, and the reason this British Open figures to be just that open. A year ago. Tiger Woods demolished the Old Course at St.

Andrews with a record 19-under 269 to win by eight strokes and win the career Grand Slam. Impressive about that victory was that Woods never hit into a single bunker at St. Andrews. There may be no escaping them at Lytham. British Open officials added 14 bunkers, bringing the total to 196.

That's an average of nearly 11 bunkers for every hole, and the grandson of a former head pro at Lytham decided to count them on the 17th hole for emphasis. There were 10 in the fairway alone, including the one from where Bobby Jones hit 5-iron from 175 yards onto the green when he won the Open. A plaque was put there in his honor, commemorating the shot on June 25, 1926. Clearly, Royal Lytham is no St. Andrews.

"There are bunkers for everybody," Lehman said. "I don't care how long or short you are, you have to deal with a bunker somewhere, and that's what I think is so special." Royal Lytham presents deep, dangerous bunkers for the world's best. LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England (AP) Tom Lehman finished putting on the eighth green Monday morning at Royal Lytham St. Annes, then turned around and stared into a bunker that looked like a bottomless pit.

"I bet it's 10 feet," Lehman said, trying to guess the height from the sand to the top of the sodded wall. Not willing to venture in there himself, Lehman asked for volunteers in the gallery to step into the bunker so he could get a better idea. One man who announced he was 6-foot-1 took him up on the offer, and his head was 3 feet from the top. "You were almost in there in '96," caddie Andy Martinez reminded him as Lehman continued to gaze at the bunker, part awe and part fear. Much has changed at Royal Lytham from 1996, the year Lehman set the 54-hole scoring record at the British Open with a 15-under 198 and went on to win the claret jug.

Due to a wet spring, the grass is greener and more lush and will make one of the shorter courses on the British Open rota- Let us know If you have any questions about today's local news stories, please call Sports Editor Bruce Brown at 289-6303. Associated Press Mark Meara (left) and Tiger Woods work out Monday. tion play slightly longer. Even more noticeable was the rough, waist-high in areas, with a color that spelled trouble. "It has that greenish-brown look to it, which says it all," Lehman said.

"When it's all brown, that's going to be wispy, dry stuff. When the bottom is green, the ball is going iThis section was edited and designed by Eric Narcisse, Jonas Breaux and Kevin Foote..