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SPORTSAKSe Charlotte $nfit
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Charlotte women look to
build on growing success
By Eric Bozeman
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Charlotte 49er8
women’s basketball team
took some steps in the right
direction this season.
Mill a new head coach,
Amanda Butler, and playing
in a new conference, the
Atlantic-10, the 49ers man
aged to achieve a lot. Butler
was named coach of the year,
and Chairlotte went 21-9
making it to the Women’s
National Invitational
'Ibumament- Even though
the 49ers lost in the second
round to Western Kentucky
81-68, Charlotte captured its
first tournament win at
home beating James
Madison 70-62.
Senior guard Sakellie
Daniels, who scored 21
points in her final game for
Charlotte, said the seniors’
legacy was making the post
season an annual event.
“We’ve made history this
year,” Daniels said. “AU four
of our years, the seniors have
made history”
Daniels averaged 14.9
points per game, and 5.6
reboimds., in her final sea
son of play as she paced the
49ers to a 13-2 record at
home, while.going 8-0 in con
ference games in 2006.
Still Daniels had the help
of senior center Pam Brown
who averaged 12.9 points
and 5.7 rebounds per game.
PHOTO.CURTIS MARTIN
Charlotte senior Sakellie Daniels helped lead the school to
four straight postseason appearances.
Brown has been thrilled
with the four years she has
spent playing with Daniels,
Andrea Davidson, and
Krystion Obie.
“I couldn’t have asked for
better teammates or a better
coaching staff,” Brown said.
“That’s what we have had
here and I’ve enjoyed it.”
Obie, a 6’2 center who has
had a career mired by four
knee surgeries, relished
every moment of the post
season this year.
“Of course we wanted to go
to the NCAA tournament,
but we got our first tourna
ment win at home and that
has never been done in
Charlotte basketball histo
ry” she said. “I gave it my all
knowing that this could be
the last time I ever pick up a
basketball.”
Andrea Davidson, a for
ward from Gainesboro,
Tbnn., said the post season
was an opportunity to ele
vate the 49ers.
“The post season is more
competitive, and for the
seniors it meant a lot more to
us to take Charlotte to the
next level that we are trying
to get the program to,”
Davidson said.
Amateurs put on Golden Gloves
North Carolina’s top amateur boxers will
square off in Charlotte this weekend.
The 73rd annual N.C. Golden Gloves tour
nament will be held Friday and Saturday at
Sugaw Creek Recreation Center. Boxers from
Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg wiU. compete,
as will Charlotte Boxing Academy one of the
state’s top programs.
COMMENTARY
Novices over age 18 with less than 10 bouts
win compete for individual and team trophies.
Two women and Junior Olympic (ages 10-16)
bouts win be contested. Bouts wiQ start at
6:30 p.m. both days.. Tickets are $15 at the
door and $5 for children 12 and under.
Herbert L. White
Shock, awe: T.O.’s a changed man
By Tim Dahlberg
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.
And they say politics
makes strange bedfeUows.
Footbaff does too, and it
doesn’t get any stranger
than the marriage of a des
perate footbaff player and an
even more desperate team in
Daffas.
TferreU Owens playing for
Bin ParceUs, Jerry Jones
and the Dallas Cowboys?
What’s next, Jerry Rice com
peting in ballroom dancing
on national television?
Oh, wait, that already hap
pened, and it wasn’t always
pretty
This could get a whole lot
uglier.
“Get your popcorn ready
because it’s going to be a
show,” Owens promised
Saturday
There’s little doubt about
that. But don’t expect this
show to be long running,
unless you’re taken in by the
new public persona Owens
dragged out for the press
conference with Jones
announcing his signing.
In case you didn’t tune in,
it turns out the new TO is a
team player only interested
in winning. Tlie new TO has
learned finm his mistakes
and become a better man.
The new TO loves his new
team, and apparently he
really loves his new owner.
“These guys have fallen in
love already,” agent Drew
Rosenhaus gushed. “On the
jet here the bond they estab
lished was moving ... mov
ing.”
The new TO hasn’t yet
found a cure for cancer, but
he’s got three years and $25
million to work on it. That’s
the contract the Cowboys
signed him to, beating out, if
you believe Rosenhatis, six
otha' teams for his services.
Assuming Owens can last
three years, that is. He spent
less than two in
Philadelphia, playing in just
21 games and acting Mke
such a moron that he was
finally kicked off the team.
Among other things,
Owens called his last quar
terback a quitter, and
implied the one before that
was gay
Forgive Drew Bledsoe if
he’s busy this week looking
for a therapist.
‘T’ve always been a good
teammate,” Owens insisted.
‘You can’t believe what you
hear aU the time.”
Not when it comes from
Owens you can’t. Just two
years ago almost to the day
he was talking about how
excited he was to be playing
with Donovan McNefob and
how he thou^t he would fit
in real nice with the Eagles.
On Saturday he sat next to
Jones and talked about how
excited he was to be playing
with Bledsoe and how he
thought he would fit in real
nice with the Cowboys.
4Runner sprints to the front
Winfred
B. Cross
Test
Drive
Tbyota’s 4Runner may not
immediately pop to mind for
some looking for a top-notch
SUy but it should.
There are sexier vehicles
with gaudy grills and lavish
appointments, but few of
them are actually built to go
offroad. Most have morphed
into kinder, gentier thin^
that look good on the road
but are merely serviceable in
the woods.
Despite having a smooth
ride on pavement, the
4Runner is still truckish.
The body-on-frame design
and boxed ladder frame
make it rough and tumble. I,
of course, didn’t take it in the
woods because there’s noth
ing there for me to see. But
there’s comfort in knowing
this thing wffl crush earth if
need be.
Most wiLL use the 4Runner
for a daily commuter, which
it performs nicely My test
vehicle was a limited with a
gutsy, but thirsty 4.7-liter V8
engine. The 260 horsepower
is enough to launch the vehi
cle with near spprts car
thrust. The 306 pounds-feet
of torque allows you to yank
a lot of stumps or tow 7,300
pounds.
The interior wiU accommo
date five people. An optional
third row of seats is avail
able, but cuts down on cargo
space and is suited best for
children. As a five-seater, you
can achieve 75 cubic feet of
storage by folding the second
row of seats. Thafs imder
competitor like Explorer or
Durango, but good enou^.
The Limited was equipped
with four wheel drive and a
truckload (pun intended) of
standard stuff. Four-wheel
disc brakes with antilock, 18-
inch wheels, fiunt air bags.
Hid Start, skid plates, stabil
ity control with, traction con-,
trol, dual zone climate con
trol, remote keyless entry,
leather seats, leather
wrapped steering wheel and
a premium stereo with CD
changer. Options included
finnt side air bags, fix>nt and
rear roU-sensing curtain air
bags, and a premium JBL
stereo packaged with a DVD-
based, voice activated navi
gation system equipped with
a rear backup camera.
Those options take the
$38,385 base price to
$42,230. That puts the vehi
cle ri^t in the same league
with tricked Explorers,
'frailblazers and Durangos.
None of those vehicles have
the 4Rimner’s pedigree for
trouble-fi:ee service, so that
makes this vehicle a no-
brainer.
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