PhotQ by Deanna S Miller
The Celtics of the 11-14 Division. o
Hosiery teams heating up gym
BY Dfc?ANNA S MILLER
^ECIAL TO THE C HRONICLE
*
The league action at Hanes
Hosiery 's Hot Hoops League is
already on fire. Teams in two
leagues kept the gvin hot last
week, as bailers in tfle 6-10 and
11-14 began play
Tarheels 24, Wolpack 14
(6-14 Division): The Tarheels
beat the Wolfpacks by 10 points
in a hard-fought battle.
Sherrard Wells and Josiah
Goodman both drilled in 8
points each, while Haven
Hairston and Fox Knox com
bimed for 6 more points.
Wolfpack received good play
from a number of players as
well, despite the loss. Jay
Rutherford and Dontral
Anderson both scored 5 points
for the Wolfpack.
In another exciting 6-10
Divisional game, the Blue
Devils were able to slip by the
Deacons, 1 1-9. The Blue Devils
were led by Tyreke Hazel.
Hazel was helped by Immanuel
Moore during the win. Deante
Petree was the leader for the
Blue Devils, as he scored 4
points.
Hornets 40, Spurs 25 (11
14 Division): It was all about
North Forsyth's Rakie Badger
last week. Badger led his
Hornets past the Spurs with 16
point.
Emannel Mauree added 10
points. Also, Rae Brown (6
points). Dede Johnson, Hasan
Smith and Dre Sims all had
good games to help the Hornets
to the win. Roosevelt Harrison
led the Spurs with 8 points.
DaqJuan Lee added 7 points
and Gary Lash had 4 points.
DeQuante Johnson and Dedrick
Hawkins both connected with a
3-pointer for the Spurs.
Celtics 49, Lakers 32 (11
14 Division): The Celtics were
clicking on all cylinders during
the first week of action. They
seemingly wanted to prove they
were the best team in one night
by running past the Lakers, 49
32.
Both teams battled hard, but
it was the Celtics that proved to
be too much at the end of the
day. Daisean Rucker led the
Celtics with 20 points. Corey
Allen (13 points), Andrew
Patterson (10 points) and
Brandon Johnson (6
points (helped lead the Celtic
attack. Trae Brown played big
for the Lakers, despite the loss.
He finished with 10 points.
Also, L J. Strickland and Xavier
Banks played well for the
Lakers. Both finished with 8
points. Nick Horn also had a
decent game for the Lakers.
Note: League games are
played every Monday and
Tuesday, from 1:30 until 2:30.
Players in the 6-10 division play
on Monday, while the 11-14
year olds play on Tuesday. Next
week, the 11-14 year olds will
play on Wednesday due to a
special program going on next
Tuesday (July 15).
Charlotte Bobcats sign first round picks
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
Charlotte Bobcats General
Manager Rod Higgins
announced on Tuesday that
the team has signed its first
round draft picks, D.J.
Augustin and Alexis Ajinca.
Per team policy, terms of the
respective deals were not dis
closed.
The Bobcats selected
Augustin and Ajinca with the
ninth and 20th picks, respec
tively. in the 2008 NBA Draft,
and both players will partici
pate with the Bobcats entry in
the NBA Summer League
Presented by EA Sports from
July 11-20 in Las Vegas.
An early-entry candidate
in the 2008 NBA Draft,
Augustin played two seasons
at the University of Texas,
where he averaged 16.9 points
and 6.2 assists in 73 games.
The Bob Cousy Award winner
as the nation's top point guard
in 2007-08, Augustin earned
consensus First Team Ail
American honors and First
Team All-Big 12 honors as a
sophdmore. He also led the
Big 12 in assists (5.8 per
game) and ranked second in
scoring (19.2 points per
game).
0 File photo
Former Texas star DJ.
Augustin goes up strong dur
ing a game last season.
Augustin finished his col
legiate career ranked fifth in
school history in assists (452),
fourth in three-point field goal
percentage (.402), ninth in
free throw percentage (.808)
and 18th tn scoring (1,234
points). As a freshman in
2006-07. he was named
Second Team All-Big 12 and a
consensus Freshman All
American, after leading the
Big 12 and ranking fourth
nationally in assists (6.7 per
game).
A 7-0 center, Ajinca spent
the last two seasons playing
professionally in his native
country of France. He made
his professional debut in
2006-07 with Pau-Orthez of
the French ProA League
before moving to Hyeres
Toulon in 2007-08. He aver
aged S.O points and 3.1
rebounds in 10.8 minutes per
game in 24 games played for
Hyeres-Toulon, while shoot
ing .538 from the field and
.825 from the free throw line.
Ajinca was a member of the
French National Teams that
won the Bronze Medal at the
2007 Under- 19 World
Championship and the Gold
Medal at the 200.6 Under- 18
European Championship
Simmons
fit mi fMige HI
"... but I've still always
been a vocal person,"
Simmons said "That has
always come easy for me. I've
always been very energetic.
I've always been a person that
gave it 1 10 percent at practice
and games. So, I've kind of
always coached from the
floor."
While at North. Simmons
earned numerous awards such
as all-state, all-conference,
team MVP. all-Northwest in
both basketball and volley
ball. and an East all-star of
ki ? iu f 1: ? eu?
i^Ullli \_iuuima. >ji?;
went on to help
Virginia Tech to two
NCAA appearances.
"She's been a
great addition to the
staff at Reynolds,"
said Reynolds head
girls coach Monty
Gray, who was
named conference
coach of the year.
^nc serves as a iuic
model for these
(Tirlc Qh<?'c ifprv
knowledgeable about the
game. She has a great attitude
She's simply a winner."
"Coach Simmons really
makes things ' easier or
smoother for coach Kee and
I." Gray continued. "We knew
we had a challenge in front of
us, as far as building this pro
gram at Reynolds. Then 1 met
coach Simmons through the
Muse's. She helped coach at
North. Once I met her 1 knew
that she was the missing piece
we needed. She's the role
model in the equation the girls
need. She's also the coach that
can relay things to the girls
when we can't get what we
want. Plus, she's an area
coach that has played
Division I ball, and knows a
lot about the game. That's
very valuable."
Hands on approach
Simmons js also the type
of coach that doesn't mind
showing players what to do,
compared to always telling
players what to, do. It's not
odd to see Simmons getting it
in with some of the players on
the Reynolds basketball team
during a practice.
"I can't stop her from get
ting out there and playing
with the girls, especially dur
ing skill development," Gray
said. "She shows girls how to
do things the right way. She
shows players how to
rebound, play defense, run
lanes and so much more.
She's great. I wish I could put
a suit on her sometimes."
Before joining the
Reynolds staff last year,
Simmons was an assistant
boy's varsity coach at North
Forsyth She also coached the
New River Valley AAU 15U
squaii. Simmons still teaches
basketball when she's away
from coaching. She's present
ly an instructor at
the uateway
YWCA, where she
gives lessons,
instructions,, and
speed clinics.
?'This is what I
love to do,"
Simmons said. "1
love to develop
players. I also
enjoy coaching
with coach Gray.
Gray
to be a head coacn
someday, but I am taking
things one day at a time. We'll
see where this takes me."
Gray added: "She's defi
nitely going to be a great head
coach someday. I'm going to
hate to lose her. I know it's
eventually going happen.
She's too good for it not to
happen. Right now she wants
to continue to get experience
on the varsity level. She wants
to get more under her belt.
One of these days she's defi
nitely going to be a good head
coach."
Simmons also understands
the pressure and time that
goes with being a head coach.
She's ready for the sacrifices,
but also remains focused on
balancing her family life and
basketball.
"1 am in a position to sac
rifice a lot," concluded
Simmons. "I'll be ready when
the time comes. But a balance
is important. We try to teach
that to our girls. We under
stand that it can't be basket
ball all the time. There's spir
ituality, family, school and
basketball. I live my life the
same way. I'm always trying
to maintain a healthy bal
Coaching is great.
And. I would like
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