Tuesday, July 4, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.
ITALEE: GOOD AND GOLD
Was three weeks of pain worth 40 minutes of pleasure?
You bet, Centennial High's Italee Lucas said, after playing a key role in the USA's 87-52 victory over Canada in the 2006 FIBA Americas U18 women's basketball championship at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Sunday.
"Everything came together, all the heartache, sweat and tears over the past three weeks, everything came together for the gold medal," Lucas said after scoring 11 points and handing out six assists in 23 minutes in the final.
"We came out on fire. It was our last game, so we gave it all we had."
Actually, most of the pain that Lucas experienced was in her feet. Her father, LaMar, said part of the reason Italee played so well against Canada was that she secretly changed shoes before the game, swapping her tight USA Nikes for her more comfortable Centennial High ones.
So Spike Lee was right. It is the shoes.
Lucas, who already has committed to North Carolina, made her presence felt in each of Team USA's four victories. She scored 15 points against Paraguay, six against Brazil and 11 against Argentina as the U.S. ran its all-time record in the tournament to 28-2.
(ONE MORE) CHIP OFF THE BLOCK
Chuck Hildebrand, editor of the NevadaPrep.com Web site, said he is aware of at least one other father-son combination that has served as varsity head coaches in the Silver State.
Hildebrand wrote in an e-mail that Vaughn Higbee started the football program at Pahranagat Valley in Alamo during the 1970s. He was succeeded by his son, Ken, who has guided PV to a 73-25 record and two 1A state titles (including last year's) over 11 seasons.
The football Gerbers of Las Vegas (Dave and son Matt) and the basketball Farnsworths of Valley High (Tom and son Brian) are other father-son tandems to have served as high school head coaches in Nevada.
FROHLICH'S FEVER PACE
It's been a pretty good summer for former UNLV women's basketball star Linda Frohlich.
For starters, her native Germany is looking like the team to beat in the World Cup. Secondly, she appears to have carved out a little niche as a backup center for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA.
A year after her WNBA career appeared to have fizzled, Frohlich is back in uniform, having appeared in 10 of Indiana's 18 games. She's averaging 3.2 points and 9.2 minutes.
50
Number of hot dogs consumed in 12 minutes by Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., one of the favorites at today's Nathan's Famous Hot Dog eating contest at Coney Island, N.Y.
53
The record for hot dogs consumed at Nathan's contest, by five-time world champion Takeru Kobayashi of Japan.
16
Number of NBA first-round draft picks scheduled to compete at the Vegas Summer League beginning Thursday at Cox Pavilion
WHICH WAY DID HE GO?
You know that fake-toss-to-first-and-throw-to-third pickoff move that has never succeeded in a big league baseball game? Well, perhaps Chad Billingsley should work on it.
Billingsley, the former Las Vegas 51s ace whose methodical delivery to home plate is roughly equivalent to Refrigerator Perry's time in the 40-yard dash, allowed the Angels' Orlando Cabrera to steal home uncontested Sunday. Afterward, Billingsley said he didn't even see Cabrera break off third because he was busy looking down in his glove.
He said his deliberate windup helps his mechanics and that he doesn't plan to change it, even when there's a man on third.
"(But) maybe I won't go with such a high leg kick," he conceded.
Thomas Libel:
"We currently have (Takeru) Kobayashi the favorite to beat (Joey) Chestnut by 4 1/2 hot dogs. However, anything can happen. Joey seems to keep getting better. He recently finished off 47 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes."
CAN I SHOW YOU SOMETHING IN BEIGE?
It's a good thing the Netherlands' soccer team isn't still playing at the World Cup. By exiting early, it was able to return its bright-orange uniforms to the Department of Corrections ahead of schedule.
On the way to work this morning, I spotted a road crew picking up trash on the side of Interstate 215. One worker was wearing Ruud van Nistelrooy's jersey.
At least the Netherlands wore its white shirts against Portugal, giving my burned retinas time to heal.
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