HOUSTON- Aldine ISD’s M.O. Campbell Educational Center will host the John Lucas Holiday Explosion and Athletic Conference, Dec. 28-29. The two-day event will feature a middle school and high school basketball tournament, and an athletic conference.
Tickets are $15 per day, which also provides attendees access to the athletic conference. The middle school field will consist of Plummer Middle School, Teague Middle School, HCYA, Westbury Christian, Pershing Middle School, Pin Oak Middle School, and West Briar Middle School.
The high school field will consist of Christian Life, Mt. Zion High School (North Carolina), Atascocita High School, Norcross High School (Georgia), Houston Strake Jesuit, and White Station High School (Tennessee). The athletic conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 28 and will kickoff with an opening address from John Lucas, the former Houston Rockets star point guard. For more information, contact (713)319-5708.

PRAIRIE VIEW-  The year before his death in 1964, soul sensation Sam Cooke was moved to write the hit song, “A Change Is Gonna Come.”  In times past, the lyrics championed the civil rights movement and most recently was a staple in Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.
Prairie View A&M Panther Coach Henry Frazier III echoed a variation of that song when he stated “It’s been a long time coming.”  Frazier was speaking about the 30-24 victory over Alabama A&M which gave the Historically Black University,  the 2009 SWAC (The Southwestern Athletic Conference) Championship crown on Dec. 12.
Ironically, the year that Cooke’s song was released by the RCA Victor label, was the last time the Panthers  won the championship—a fact not lost on the history-making coach. “Nobody on this staff, nobody on this team was born in 1964. This is a special time.”

On Tuesday Dec. 22, 2009, Shoot 2 Score Hoops will host its 2009 Christmas Toy Drive and Charity Event at “Manor on Washington.” The event is sponsored by The NAPLE, “Houston Media Source” 71 Proof. Scheduled from 8-10 p.m., it will be hosted by KRBE 104.1’s Ayana Mack and DJ Tony Styles.Christmas-themed signature cocktails, hors d’ouevres and gourmet desserts will be served.
Admission is $20, and guests are encouraged to bring a new, unwrapped toy to benefit disadvantaged children throughout Houston. For more information visit shoot2scorehoops.com.

NaDosha Strickland

#3 NaDosha Strickland

Position:G
Texas Southern University
Year: JR
Height:5-9
Hometown:
Bay Spring, MS
Previous School:
Meridian Community College

Tony Bishop

Tony Bishop scores a career-best 16 points to lead the Bobcats

NEW ORLEANS, LA - Despite a career-best 16 points and six rebounds by junior forward Tony Bishop, the Texas State men’s basketball team could not overcome an ice-cold shooting touch as the Bobcats suffered a 67-55 loss at New Orleans recently. New Orleans jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead when Charles Carmouche hit a lay-up and Billy Humphrey made a pair of free throws after being fouled by  John Rybak. But, Bishop, a junior college transfer from Richland College, scored Texas State’s first seven points on a pair of jumpers and a lay-up.

AUSTIN– Edwina Brown, college basketball’s National Player of the Year in 1999-2000, was inducted into the UT Women’s Athletics Hall of Honor recently at the Frank Erwin Center along with four other former University of Texas women student-athlete standouts. Enshrinement ceremonies for the 10th Longhorn Women’s Hall of Honor class and the 2009 Men’s Hall of Honor class was held during the Texas-Kansas football game.
Brown, a two-time All-American and first-team All-Big 12 Conference selection, played for The University of Texas from 1996-2000 and still holds a number of records including: 1705 career points, 517 career assists and 257 career steals. She is the only individual in school history to lead the team in scoring, rebounding, assists and steals in the same year, an accomplishment she achieved in both her junior and senior years.
Following her senior year, Brown earned one of The University of Texas Friar Society Awards, given annually to three or fewer undergraduate students for distinguished contributions to The University. As the third overall pick in the 2000 WNBA Draft, Brown spent five years with the WNBA before heading overseas to play on international teams includuing the Israeli Basketball League for ASA Jerusalem.
Brown will serve as the regional director for the South Texas Regional Lady Prodigy Camp taking place April 10-11, 2010 at Southwestern University in Georgetown, and later as the director for the National Lady Prodigy Camp taking place July 29-August 2, 2010 at The University of Texas at Arlington. 

SAN MARCOS- Homecoming at Texas State University (TSU) which offers nearly 200 undergraduate and post-graduate degrees, is one of the university’s longest-running annual traditions. The university usually plans a week’s worth of events culminating at Bobcat Stadium when the football team hosts another Southland Conference team.
This year, Quarterback Bradley George threw for 324 yards and four touchdowns to lead Texas State University to a 28-7 victory over No. 11 Stephen F. Austin University in its homecoming game at Bobcat Stadium. In addition, SFA’s defense held the nation’s top scoring offense to a season-low seven points.

CROCKETT- Not too long ago the Melvis Wooten All-American basketball Tournament was held in Crockett, Texas. Members of the Dead End Barbershop Team were: Dre Murray, Brandon “Boo” Johnson, Untwaun Johnson and Graylon Crawford Jr.
Other members included: George Perry, Jeremy Carey, Brent Stephens and Anjuwan Smith, Darrell “Mookie” Smith, Terris Nicols and Elbert Wayne Johnson. Murray of Huntsville, said the tournament was nice and he came to “play a little basketball" after scoring 42 points in the Championship game.

Leah Payne

AUSTIN- University of Texas sophomore Leah Payne doesn’t let much get to her. Even battling through the coldest soccer match of the year, Payne produced a powerful performance in the Horns’ in a recent 2-1 victory over the Loyola University Chicago Ramblers. Payne claimed her position as a team leader, playing tough defense, skillfully taking the team’s set pieces, and scoring her second goal for the season.

The defender has morphed into one of the team’s more versatile and reliable players as she is one of four Longhorns to start in all 13 of UT’s matches this season. Payne, who only played in 16 games during her freshman campaign, had to step into a starting role immediately this season and help junior co-captain Erica Campanelli organize a completely new backline. Along with her responsibilities on Texas’ side of the field, Payne has also been given the task of taking the Longhorns set pieces along with coming up the field to fill the box when Texas has a corner kick. It was on one of these corner kicks that Payne netted the second goal and game winner of her career Friday night. Payne and the Longhorns are fifth in the league.

Bryce Beall

HOUSTON- After leading the Cougars to one of the program’s biggest wins on Saturday, University of Houston quarterback Case Keenum was named the National Offensive Player of the Week by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. Against the #5 team in the nation, as well as playing in front of a hostile crowd in Stillwater, Okla., Keenum led the Cougars’ to one the program’s biggest upsets, guiding Houston to a 45-35 win over Oklahoma State. It was the first win over a Top 5 program since 1984 and snapped an 11-game losing streak to Top 5 teams. Keenum threw for 366 yards and three touchdowns, but none more important than the fourth-down scoring strike to Bryce Beall from six yards out to reclaim the lead from the Cowboys with just 6:42. The fourth-down pass caromed off an OSU defender and Beall snagged it out of the air. Beall, one of the top returning rushers not only in Conference USA but also at the national level... heads into the fall as the No. 1 rusher on the UH depth chart... also a very good receiver out of the backfield.