The Paris News from Paris, Texas • Page 5

5A April 25, 1998 DAILY BRIEFS YWCA Dribbtors Mayday Clinic slated The YWCA of Paris and Paris Junior College will have the Little Dribblers Playday Clinic Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. at PJC's Hunt Center. The clinic is opepfto: girls in enrolled in Paris Independent School District. Registration for the event will take place at 9 a.m. the day of the cliqic.

fee is required. Fqr rnore. information, call 785- meeting slated SULPHUR SPRINGS The. Norfhfeast Texas Chapter of the Southwest Football Officials Association is currently seeking new members the. upcoming football season.

A rneetihg is scheduled for Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Sulphur Springs High School. All interested parties' are urged to attend. FjDr.more information, contact Danny' Bowman at 903-6625049, Rick' Ford at 903-4540738; or Orville Hooks at 903568-4806! Broncos have Pack's number, again Birthdays don't get much better than this. Mike.Shanahan woke up on the morniqg of his 46th birthday Monday with' a new seven-year, guaranteed contract that will pay him more than $2.4 million this season.

By the end'of the day, his Denver; Broncos had defeated the Green Bay Packers 34-31. Wjtti the High Stadium crowd" at midseasqn volume and both teams playing with the sort of intensity you'd expect of SupejjBpwl opponents, the Bropcps beat the Packers.on for.the second time' in 'seven months! Cowibbys Cowboys coach Chan Galley cut 14 players from the squad Monday, including third-year wide repeiver Jimmy Oliver of Texas.Christian and second-year corrjejb'ack Lee Vaughn of Wyoming. Roikfe Taj Johnson of San Diegb'State and Anthony EubanKs of Arkansas also were trimmed, along with quarterback Josh of Rice. Defensive lineman Darren Bensbh', lost for the season with a knee Injury, was placed on injured reserve. Others cut were guards Todd Perkins-of Texas Antonio Fleming of Georgia and Booth of Northern Illinois; linebackers Greg Bright of Georgia and Chike Egbuniwe of ends.

Rod Monroe of Cincinnati and Cory Geason of Tula'ne; center Ear! Scott of Arkansas; and fullback Bobby Rodriguez of Houston. ON TAP Here is the area sports schedule for Aug.25-28 (times 5re approximate). TuaBdBy.AuB.25 Wgh School VoltaybaH fi teat Paris: 6:30 p.m. PrajrfenoVRBsUjg at North Lartar ....5 pm Cttsbm at Commerce 6 pm Ftoxtcn at North Hopkins :..6:30 pm Ttandey, Aug. 27 School WestMesquite at Paris 7:30 pm Hawkins at PrairSand .6 pm Caddp ftps at Honey pm Aflanta at North Lamar 7-33 p.m.

Cterksvfe DeKato 7 pm Rvercrest at Union Grove pm FridBy.Aug.2B Wgh School Foottxtf Poteboro at Cooper School footlMrt Aba-Golden at Oeirort 6 p.m. 6 p.m. HS Volleyball Tournaments CMsum Tournament Prairfla'nd TBA Chisurn TBA 1 Roxtpn TBA Tournament (At TBA Lcoflvfew Tournament NtoWt Lamar TBA Please report schedule changes to. The'Paris News sports department at (903) 785-874-1, exl. 249 or 248.

Schedules can also be faxed to 785- 1263. Comets oust Sting, return to finals HOUSTON Apparently, the Houston Comets listen to coach Van Chancellor. Chancellor, the WNBA's coach of the year, has been preaching defense and rebounding all season, and he got it Monday night. Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson had career highs in rebounds and Cynthia Cooper scored 23 points, leading the Comets into the WNBA finals with a 77-61 victory over the Charlotte Sting. Thompson had 12 points'and 14 rebounds, while Swoopes had 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Chancellor was named WNBA coach of the year, and Cooper got the MVP award for the second straight year on "Since we've been without Wanda (Guyton) this season, we knew it would be a struggle with rebounding," Swoopes said. "Not just this game, but I've tried to work hard on the boards on offense and defense, tonight was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time." The victory advanced the defending champion Comets to the WNBA finals for the second straight year. They'll play either Phoenix Mercury or Cleveland Rockers, who are tied 1-1 in their series. The Comets led the league in scoring and defense, allowing 63.5 points per game, and they beat that average against the Sting, who have lost nine of 10 games against the Comets the last two seasons. But it was Cooper's second-half offense that gave them the edge.

the Comets led 50-38 with 17:49 left in the game, but the Sting kept coming back. Andrea Stinson had six points during a 125 spurt as the Sting closed to 55-50 with 13:26 left. Cooper's layup with. 11:28 to play, followed by a basket and four free throws as part of a 15-3 run, gave the Comets a 70-53 lead with 7:41 left. "I don't think we consciously let them run their fast break, but for some reason we needed a wakeup call," Cooper said.

"After they hit a couple of fast-break baskets, we said 'Oh, we have to stop WNBA rookie of the year Tracy Reid led the Sting with 18 points, while Stinson added 13. The Comets hit their first six shots of the game and had a 9-0 they led just 29-25 with 8:12 left in the first half. Houston outscored Charlotte 16-9 the rest of the half for a 45-34 halftime lead. "We fought real hard, we just couldn't convert our shots," Charlotte's Vicki Bullett said. "Our defense was very aggressive, but we couldn't get any second shots, and that was the key." The Comets simply outgunned the Sting.

"We got to 55-50 and got great looks at the basket, but we just could not put them down," Sting coach Marynell Meadors said. "They have a great basketball team. Everybody's got a lot of Ti gers Associated Press ARLINGTON The Texas Rangers, who made five errors Saturday night in a loss to the New York Yankees, have to catch and throw the ball better to keep pace in the AL West. The Rangers, who started the night 12th in the league in fielding, turned in a series of outstanding defensive plays to help Aaron Sele to his 15th victory in Texas' 6-5 win over the Detroit Tigers on Monday night. Rangers manager Johnny Gates said he counted "a minimum of 10 outstanding plays on defense.

That was the story. A lot of balls were well hit'that were caught. If we don't make all those plays, it's a different story." Sele (15-10) allowed three runs and nine hits in 6 1-3 innings, struck out two and walked one. His previous season best was 13 wins for Boston last season. Texas Ranger shorrscop Royce Clayton, left, takes a throw from catcher Bill Hasalman to put out Detroit's Juan Encarnacion in the second inning Monday at The BallPark in Arlington.

The Rangers defeated the Tigers, 6-5. Shortstop Royce Clayton, third baseman Todd Zeile, second baseman Mark. McLempre and left fielder Rusty Greer all turned in at least one play worthy of a highlight reel. "We've been play in a great defense," said. "I used the defense to perfection tonight.

They kept taking good swings. I was making good pitches, but they were putting good wood on the ball." The Rangers struggled against the league's top teams before this favorable stretch. "This is the time of the year when you have to win most of your games anyway," Sele said. "It's time to bear down and win these games." The Rangers fell out of first place in the division when they won only seven of 17 games during an 18-day run that ended Sunday night against three of the AL's elite: the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians. Starting with Monday night's game against the Tigers, the Rangers' next 18 games are against five clubs: Detroit, the Chicago White Sox, Minnesota, Kansas City and Tampa Bay.

Assotiafed Press CHICAGO Sammy Sosa didn't homer Monday. And the team he plays for, the Chicago Cubs, didn't do much of anything for three games against the Houston Astros. Moises Alou, Craig Biggio and Carl Everett homered for the Astros as they completed a three- game sweep Monday with a 12-3 victory. "The last thing you think about coming into Wrigley Held is taking three games from these said Biggio, who hit four homers in the three-game set. "We just played well, did some things right that translated into runs." The Astros outscored the Cubs 33-9 to build a 10 lead in the NL Central.

"We're in good shape," Houston manager Larry Dierker said. "If we don't win the division fcr La'rhar Panthereites will play their first home game of the vol- teybali season, today when they host a irfimi- prairiiand and now, we'd have'to play really poorly or the Cubs would have to be unbeatable." Sosa, who homered twice Sunday, was 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and remained at 51 homers, two behind Mark McGwire in the chase to catch Roger Maris' record of 61. With the loss, the Cubs remained one game behind the Mets in the NL wild-card race. Houston (82-50) is 32 games over .500 for the first time ever and just two wins short of its 1997 total. The Astros broke their team record for homers Saturday and now have 142 this season.

Alou's homer was his 38th of the season and ninth in 18 games. He went 3-for-3 Monday and finished the series 8-for-13. Biggio was 2-for-3 and went 7-for-14 in the series, while increasing his home run total to 17. Everett was 2-for-5 Monday and tied a career high with five RBIs. the Sports i In other games'-tonight, Lady Cats wilt also piay their first ClarksvilieVi Games p.rri.

1998 to while tfv" should not be banned Associated Press EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. The NCAA should limit the number of presea- soji bowl games, but not ban them, the coaches appearing in this year's Kickoff Classic say. Bobby Bowden of Florida State and R.C. Slocum of Texas both have concerns about a proposal being considered by the NCAA to eliminate the preseason games after 2002. The proposal will be voted on in January at the NCAA Convention in San Antonio.

"I don't know why if the concept was good to start as a kickoff showcase for college football to whet everyone's appetite for the season, then I don't know anything that has changed since then that would make these games bad," Slocum said in a conference call Monday to promote the Kickoff Classic next Monday. Slocum and Bowden are concerned about the increase in the number of preseason games. -The first Kickoff Classic was played in 1983 and the Pigskin Classic was added in 1990. Four will be played this year. The lineup this year will have Colorado State playing Michigan State on Saturday in the Black Coaches Association game.

Louisiana Tech and Nebraska will meet in the Eddie Robinson Football Classic, also on Saturday. Purdue will play at Southern California "the next day in the Pigskin Classic and Texas and Florida State play on Monday. "If we are going to get where everyone can have a little opening bowl game, I'm not in favor of that," Bowden said. "If you want to keep the kickoff Classic and the Pigskin Classic, and maybe that's all, then I can live with that, "If everyone is going to have one, we ought to have everyone go to a 12-game schedule and forget the classics," he added. Dropping all the games would hurt some causes.

Money from the preseason games helps finance groups such as the National Association of College Directors of Athletics, American Football Coaches Association, Black Coaches Association, and the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame. "When I first heard that idea (eliminating the preseason games), I thought there is no way they are going to do that because the whole idea was to make money for the colleges and the retirements and things like that," Bowden said. "I could not see the NCAA wanting to eliminate them." While preseason games earn money for their schools, the coaches said that they also give them a chance to play quality opponents and get on the field sooner than other teams..