Overtime: Aiken's Gabriel reaches final in match play

Web posted June 21, 1998

From Staff and Wire Reports

Twenty-two-year-old Jason Gabriel of Aiken will meet University of North Carolina golfer Rob Simmons of Walterboro, S.C., today for the Carolinas Golf Association South Carolina Amateur Match Play Championship at Aiken's Palmetto Golf Club.

Gabriel defeated Aiken's Kenny Wiland Sr., 1-up in 19 holes in the quarterfinals, while Simmons defeated Tripp James of Spartanburg 3-2. Then Gabriel defeated Bobby Hathaway of Columbia 2-1 in the semifinals and Simmons defeated Aiken's Daran Womack 4-3.

The scheduled 36-hole final match will begin at 7:30 a.m. -- the first time the tournament has been held on the 106-year-old course.

Gabriel, a construction worker, had lost in the quarterfinal rounds of the tournament the last two years. Simmons, a former Carolinas junior and South Carolina junior champion, will be playing for his third CGA title.

BASKETBALL: Sharon Baldwin, the top assistant for Georgia's women's basketball program, has been named head coach for the new women's basketball team at Life University in Marietta, Ga. Baldwin will start in September although the team won't play until the 1999-2000 season.

Baldwin, a former player at Georgia, has been an assistant for the Lady Bulldogs the past two seasons.

-- For the third time this month, Chicago Bulls star Dennis Rodman has been slapped with a lawsuit over his behavior at a Las Vegas casino.

In a federal lawsuit filed Friday, Connie Wilcox claims Rodman sexually assaulted her April 19 at the Las Vegas Hilton by grabbing her sides near her breasts and lifting her up.

The 26-year Las Vegas Hilton employee contends the action ``caused the under-wire of (her) bra to be pushed into (her) right breast, causing pain, discomfort and bruising.''

Wilcox, represented by Las Vegas lawyer Allan Bray, is seeking $1.5 million in compensatory damages and $9 million in punitive damages.

-- Indiana coach Bob Knight hired his son, Pat, as an assistant basketball coach Saturday.

Pat Knight, who played guard for his father from 1991-95, replaces Craig Hartman, who resigned.

The younger Knight was fired last month as coach of the Columbus Cagerz in the United States Basketball League after opening the season with a 4-7 record.

ROWING: Defending single sculls world champion Jamie Koven of Green Village, N.J., failed to advance to today's finals at the Krombacher Rowing World Cup stop in Hazewinkel, Belgium after finishing third in his Saturday semifinal.

Koven rowed a 7:16.31, but came up short against the Czech Republic's Vaclav Chalupa (7:14.11) and New Zealand's Ron Waddell (7:15.9) who gained the grand final. Koven will compete in the petite final.

HORSE RACING: The long-awaited showdown between Silver Charm and Skip Away has been set for next Sunday in the $1 million Hollywood Gold Cup in Glendale, Calif.

``We'll be there, barring anything unforseen,'' said Robert Lewis, who owns Silver Charm. ``All plans are to run in the Gold Cup.''

Silver Charm, the 1997 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner, was second in last week's Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs after winning his first three starts as a 4-year-old, including the $4 million Dubai World Cup in March.

Trained by Bob Baffert, Silver Charm has eight victories and six seconds in 14 career starts for earnings of $4,801,920.

Skip Away, with 15 career victories and earnings of $8,306,360, has won his last six races, a streak that includes the '97 Breeders' Cup Classic at Hollywood Park.

TENNIS: Top seed Patrick Rafter easily defeated Dutchman Dennis van Scheppingen 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinals of the Heineken Trophy grass court tennis tournament Saturday in Rosmalen, Netherlands.

Rafter will play unseeded Czech Martin Damm in today's final. Damm beat seventh-seed Jan Siemerink of the Netherlands 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Also on Saturday, Julie Halard of France won the women's final, easing past Miriam Oremans of the Netherlands in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.