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SPORTS
THURSDAY. JUNES, 2006
IN BUSINESS
Choreographer’s
dance studio
turns 15.7C
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO/RUSTY BURROUGHS
Carolina Panthers receiver Keary
Colbert (83) talks with rookie cornerback
Richard Marshall during a coaching ses
sion last week at Bank of America
Stadium.
Catch
and
Kearv
Colbert fighting to stay
in Panthers’WRplans
By Jenna Fryer
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Keysliawn Johnson arrived in minicamp
Friday, di'awing a swarm of attention as
he left the practice field. Pew even noticed
Keary Colbert as he quietly walked on by
Since Johnson was brought in to be the
No. 2 receiver the Carolina Panthers so
desperately needed last season, Colbert’s
role has become imclear.
He’s now third on the depth chart, fight
ing with Drew Carter for playing time.
Since the bulk of the catches in Carolina go
to AU-Pro receiver Steve Smith, it leaves
very few balls to go ainund.
Colbert, who like Johnson played at
Southern California; isn’t concerned.
‘Tm honored to play with Keyshawn, I
grew up watching .him and feel like I can
leaiTL a lot finm him,” Colbert said. “I think
you’ve got to take the positives in this sit
uation. There are no negatives in this Situ
ation. Fm going to learn finm a veteran
“He brings another dimension to our
team. He’s goir^ to make our football team
better, which wUl increase our chances of
going and winnir^ the Super Bowl, which
is always the goal.”
The Panthers advanced to the NFC
championship last season, but lost to
Seattle in large part becarise Smitlj was
their only offensive threat. Running back
DeShaun Foster was injured, so the
Seahawks only had to key on Smith
because they knew Colbert couldn’t pick
up the slack.
It was Colbert’s second season, first as a
starter, and it was by aU accoxmts hoirific.
He went finm 47 catdies for 754 yards and
five touchdowns as a rookie, to 25 catches,
282 yards and two TDs,
The Panthers have since revealed that
Colbert had an ankle injury all season,
Please see COLBERT/2C
After 26 years,
Mavs finally
break through
to NBA Finals
By Jaime Aron
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
They were once the model fi-anchise.
Then they were the Mav-wrecks.
Now they’re headed to the NBA finals for
the first time.
In their 26th season, the Dallas
Mavericks are finally headed to the cham-
pionship roimd, thanks to an impressive
102-93 comeback victory over the Phoenix
Suns on Saturday night that ended the
Western Conference finals in six games.
Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Tferry strug
gled as Dallas went down byT8 early, then
the duo powered a 20-4 nm that put the
Mavs ahead early in the fourth quarter.
They never trailed again, ensiiring that
the most important victory in fi’anchise
history would be a memorable one, too.
“When I first got to Dallas, nobody really
knew us,” Nowitzki said. ‘Nobody was pay
ing attention to the Mavericks really Then
Mark (Cuban) took over and we got better
Please see FOR FIRST/3C
PHOTO/CURTIS WILSON
At 6-feet tall, Charlotte Sting forward Sheri Sam leads the team in rebounding with 5.6 a game.
The Sting is next to last in WNBA rebounding with an average of 29.6 per game.
Board stiffs
Sting hasn’t resolved longstanding rebounding issues
By Erica Singleton
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
The Charlotte Sting can’t
find any glass cleaner.
Charlotte’s rebounding
struggles continue, which has
led in part to a 1-4 start. The
latest setback was consecutive
losses to two-time Eastern
Conference champions
Connecticut. Although the
rematch was not “the fiat out
butt whipping” coach Muggsy
Bogues described last
Thursday’s loss to the Sun,
Charlotte is struggling.
“We just didn’t compete for
40 minutes,” he said.
Charlotte’s 42 percent shoot
ing percentage against the
Sim Saturday was an improve
ment over the 38 percent on
Thursday but rebminding and
sluggish inside play are stiH
major concerns.
In the back-to-back losses,
Sun forward Taj McWilliams-
Franklin and center Margo
Dydek tied Connecticut’s fi-an-
chise record with 15 rebounds .
Dydek added 16 points on
Thursday, while McWiUiams-
See STING/2C
Activists urged to stand by Title IX
ByLeilana McKendra
THE NCAA NEWS
CLEVELAND - Noted
sportswriter, author and
USA Today columnist
Christine Brennan called
Title IX the most signifi
cant law passed in the last
three decades for women
and girls overall, and not
just in teims of sports.
Speaking during last
month’s NCAA Gender
Equity and Issues Forum,
Brennan told a crowd of
athletics administrators,
coaches, student-athletes
and legal experts that the
nation has just begun to
see the emesrg^ce of girls
and women who have ben
efited fium Title IX
“As far as what TLtie DC
means for empowering
girls and women in this
country we haven’t even
seen the benefits yet,”
Brennan said. “The United
States of America is a
stronger nation by giving
the otiier 51 percent of our
population - girls and
women - the opportunities
we have been affording our
sons for generations.”
Please see ACTIVISTS/2C
ts
It becomes
even more
important to
make sure
they don’t
touch this.
USA Today
cqlumnlst
Christine
Brennan
If
Jewels advance to national AAU
11-under team is
2-time N.C. champ
By Herbert L. White
herb.whiTe@fhechoriotteposf.com
The Que^ City Jewels are off
to the AAU national basketball
championships again.
The Charlotte 11-under girls’
team won their second straight
N.C. championship in High
Point May 21 with a 46 -29 win
over Asheville. The Jewels, who
were ranked 13th in the nation
prior to the state tournament,
earned the fourth seed at the
National Tbumament in
Springfield, Missouri..
See JEWELS/3C
and seek rein-
■
mm
Kerry
QUEEN CITY JEWELS
The Queen City Jewels will play in the national AAU 11-under girls
basketball tournament this month in Springfield, Missouri.
They’d
rather
fight than
switch
CIAA convinced
realignment based
on basketball success
The fat lady hasn’t sung.
That’s the feehng of CIAA
Commissioner Leon Kerry in the con
ference’s latest - and probably last -
battle with the NCAA.
. The CIAA, which now resides in the
South Atlantic Region,
wfil switch places with
the Carolinas-Virginia
Athletic Association
fiYDm the Atlantic
Region, by 2008. The
conference has been
fighting off the proposal
for years.
Kerry said the confer-
^ce isn’t ready to wave
the white flag just yet.
“There may be another stage, but
I’m not at liberty to say at this point,”
he said. “We (the CIAA board) are in
discussions.”
But another hinge could put a crimp
into the plan of action.
Lincoln (Pa.) University one of the
original founders of the CIAA,
announced recentiy that it plans to
move up to Division IE and seek rein
statement into the
leaigue. If voted in, that
would put four confer
ence schools in the
north and further solid
ify the argument that
the conference should
be moved.
“If I bring Lincoln in,
and they’re in
Pennsjivania, that’s a moot subject,”
Kerry said.
The issue, however, goes far beyrmd
relocating fium one region to another.
The NCAA awards eight playoff bids
per region. The South Atlantic has 31
teams vyir^ for those spots. The place
to be is in the West, where only 21
schools compete.
However, the Atlantic has 44 teams
- 13 more than the CIAA currently
competes gainst.
More teams, more competition, less
chance for survival.
“Why do 21 teams get eight spots?”
Shaw women’s coach Jacques Curtis
asked Sharon K. Cessna, NCAA direc
tor of championships and staff liaison
to the regional task force, at a recent
meeting. “The bigger regions should
get more spots.”
See CIAA/3C
Morgan State
coach grateful
for second
opportunity
By Austin Ward
and Jessica Harris
BLACK COLLEGE WIRE
BALTIMORE — Asked his time-
fi-ame in turning around the Morgan
State men’s basketball program,
newly-hired coach Tbdd Bozeman
said: “Be patient, be
patient, but I’ll have to
say three years. You can
expect a tough, hard-
nosed team that can
compete with an up
tempo exciting stjde of
basketball. We’re going
to press the issue offen
sively, and we’re going
to press the issue defen
sively”
Bozeman, who was banned fixim
coaching for eight years over illegal
recruitment practices, was named
Morgan State’s 15th men’s basketball
coach. It is his first coaching position
since the infi-action. He succeeds
Alfi^d Seal'd, who resigned March 28.
“With the recent improvements to
MSU’s infi-astructure and the develop
ment of a marketing platform in
See BOZEMAN/3C
Bozeman