Sheila James’ career at the University of Miami has been about facing adversity. From the moment she stepped on campus, she had to overcome her 5-5 height, and this past off-season, James had to deal with a major stress fracture suffered late in the 2000-2001 campaign.
James, however, has overcome both her height and injury to become one of the leaders of a University of Miami team that at 14-8 is challenging for a NCAA bid. No one would have guessed that James would see action in 19 of the Hurricanes’ 22 games this year, but the senior said that she just wanted to go out and play hard.
“It’s been a long process,” James said. “I came into this season not being able to condition, and now I’m finally able to practice, which is a big step for me.
“Fortunately, I was able to go out on the court and give it 100 percent, which is all I want to do.”
After a successful career at Palmetto High School in Orlando, James saw action in 26 games off the bench her freshman year, averaging 4.2 points a game. After an off-season of hard work and dedication, she became Miami’s starting point guard her sophomore year, and averaged 11.7 points and four rebounds per contest. Last year, James continued to be one of Miami’s best players before suffering a stress fracture, which sidelined her the last three games.
Although James enjoyed a great deal of success on the court, the senior said her fondest memory from UM will be visiting opposing arenas.
“I enjoyed going out to the different arenas and meeting the fans,” James said. “It was nice to see how much they appreciated the game and how much they appreciated someone playing hard out there.”
This season, UM coach Ferne Labati decided to move James to the shooting guard position, which would accommodate James’ injury much easier. Sophomore Hutashi Wilson, who has taken over at point guard this year, credits a lot of her success to James.
“This year, I’m coming in a lot more confident,” Wilson said. “It helps to have a veteran telling me that I have a voice and that I’m a major part of this team.”
James, meanwhile, has averaged 8.8 points while playing almost 24 minutes a contest. Although she has only started five games in 2001-2002, James is happy with her role right now.
“I had no expectations this year,” James said. “I guess I’m doing pretty well right now, especially considering that I was thinking about red-shirting.”
As for her team, the Hurricanes have five games left, four of them against Big East opponents. James says that while Miami’s 14-8 record could be better, she’s looking forward to doing all she can to try and help the Hurricanes get a berth into the NCAA tourney.
“We could have done better,” James said. “We let some close games get away and we haven’t played well on the road, but we’re improving from last year and heading in the right direction.
“I’m just going to have to be on the court and be as much of a leader as possible these last few games. You can’t really do that as well watching on the sidelines.”

The Miami Hurricanes failed to show a national audience Sunday afternoon that they deserve to be among the top teams in the country, as they came out flat and were dominated by Big East foe Boston College.
The Eagles defeated the No. 11 Hurricanes 76-63, in a contest marked by BC’s ability to hit open jump shots and run down loose balls.
The backcourt of Troy Bell and Ryan Sidney continued to give Miami trouble. Bell scored 24 points and Ryan Sidney added 23 points and nine rebounds to lead the Eagles to their second win over the Hurricanes in 13 days.
The loss dropped Miami (20-4, 7-4 in the Big East) out of first place in the East Division of the conference and one-half game behind Connecticut, who lost on Saturday to St. John’s. Half of Miami’s losses have come against Boston College (16-7, 5-5).
In the first meeting at the Miami Arena on January 29, Bell and Sidney led the Eagles to a 70-65 victory with 25 and 18 points, respectively. Boston College has swept the season series the last two seasons from Miami.
Marcus Barnes had 13 of his 16 points in the first half. John Salmons had 16 points and Darius Rice added 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
The Eagles used a strong rebounding advantage to open with a 32-15 lead, 15 minutes into the game. Miami closed the half with an 8-2 run, but still trailed 34-23.
The Eagles lead was cut to 56-47 on two Rice free throws with 7:27 to go, but Bell answered with a three-pointer and the ‘Canes struggled to respond. Miami would never get within eight points the rest of the game.
Boston College outrebounded Miami 41-27 for the game, including 14 on the offensive glass.
Miami struggled in the frontcourt, as center Elton Tyler was just 1-of-7 from the field for three points. James Jones scored six points on 2-of-9 shooting.
Miami continues Big East play tomorrow night against St. John’s at the Miami Arena.

Miami rolled into Friday’s match against Mississippi State flying high and undefeated at 3-0. The Bulldogs hobbled into the Neil Shiff Tennis Center just days after an embarrassing 7-0 loss to Tulane.
As expected, The ‘Canes took care of business from the opening volley of doubles play and dominated the Bulldogs all afternoon. When it was all said and done, the University of Miami women’s tennis team remained undefeated by destroying State 6-1.
Miami (4-0) won all three doubles matches and took six of seven in singles competition for the easy win.
“I was very impressed with the way the girls played against Mississippi State,” UM coach Paige Yaroshuk said. “Sometimes when we play opponents that aren’t necessarily at our level, which was the case with Mississippi State, sometimes one or two players lower their games and kind of play to their opponent’s level. And (Friday) we didn’t have one player that did that.”
Two players who refuse to play at the opponent’s level are Miami’s leaders – senior Marcy Hora and sophomore transfer Mari Toro.
The twosome took down a Bulldog team led by stand out Caole Soubis.
“I think our best thing is that when one of us is not having a good day we don’t get down on each other,” Hora said. “If I’m not having a good day (Toro) steps it up a level and she takes over and that’s the best part of it.
“We feel the same things on the court.”
In singles competition, Miami dominated, only losing one match by default. Highlighting singles play was each team’s No. 1 competitor. Toro defeated Soubis in three sets, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
“I wasn’t playing my best tennis, but I got the job done,” Toro said. “I got the ‘W’.
“She has the style of game that can drive people absolutely insane,” Yaroshuk said. “She never gives up on a point. She never gives up on a ball, and she’s improving… Every time I see her, she’s playing better and better, and she was a good player to start with.”
Miami was scheduled to play No. 3 Florida on Saturday, but the match was canceled due to rain. Hora was disappointed about not getting a chance at the Gators.
“We were ready,” she said. “We were psyched mentally and physically, and we knew we had a big chance.”
Miami next plays at Florida International tomorrow.
“FIU is going to be a good match for us simply because they’re a strong team,” Yaroshuk said. “That’s going to be our first away match of the season. They always get fired up to play us because we’re obviously a cross town rival.”

The University of Miami baseball team welcomed back one of its all time great players on Sunday afternoon at Mark Light Stadium.

They wished he had brought his uniform.

The team retired the number of Charles Johnson, the former Hurricane and current Florida Marlin catcher. Johnson played with the team from 1990-92 and is currently listed in the UM record book in five categories.

Johnson’s number 23 was unveiled on the center field wall in a pre game ceremony that brought tears to his eyes.

“Ever since I stepped on this campus, I knew I wanted to be here,” Johnson said.

He was greeted by a standing ovation of over 3,000 fans as he threw out the ceremonial first pitch to his former manager Ron Fraser.

“I think the greatest memory for me as a player was being here to watch a guy like Coach Fraser on the day he retired,” Johnson said. “He left on the very top of his game. ”

The Hurricanes may have needed a guy like Johnson in the lineup, as they lost their third straight game on Sunday afternoon, 6-2, to state rival Florida.The Hurricanes were once again out hit and completely outplayed by the Gators.

“We played horrible baseball this week,” said veteran relief pitcher Vince Vazquez. “They came out and challenged us and we played like crap.”

After a crushing loss to cross town opponent FIU and a weekend sweep by the Gators, Saturday evening’s rain out seemed to be the only thing to go right for Miami this week.

The Sunday loss brought the ‘Canes to 2-4 on the season and marked the first time in nine years that they fell two games below .500. The last time was on February 28, 1993 – following a loss to the Gators up in Gainesville.

The loss also marked the first time that the Gators completed a series sweep of the Hurricanes at Mark Light Stadium since 1956.

“There are a lot of things we aren’t doing right,” said UM coach Jim Morris. “We are not playing good defense, not hitting with guys on base, blowing opportunities….”

The list goes on and on.

On Sunday, the ‘Canes stumbled through the first five innings with no runs and a dismal two hits, until they showed some life with Kevin Mannix knocking in a pair of runs on a single to left field.

The single brought the ‘Canes to within 3- 2, but the gap was quickly widened to 5-2 in the top of the seventh.

With the bases loaded, sophomore relief pitcher George Huguet was brought in to face Gator right fielder Ben Harrison.

Huguet brought him to a two and two count before promptly hitting Harrison with a pitch to bring in another Gator run.

Huguet responded with a strike out and then what appeared to be a routine ground ball to second. The ball was bobbled by second baseman Paco Figueroa and another run scored for Florida.

That is how it has gone for the ‘Canes of late.

“I told the guys after the game that there is only one way out of this,” said Morris. “It’s an ugly four letter word and it’s called work.”

Said Vazquez: “This is a definite wake up call for our team. It’s a chance for us to see what we got, and now we have to work on it.”

UM starter Kiki Bengochea fell to 0-2 to open the season. Bengochea pitched well until the sixth inning when he was lit up by Gator catcher Brian Rose. Rose hit a two-run homer over the left field fence putting the gators up 3-0 in the sixth. A lack of run support continued to haunt the UM ace.

He isn’t the only one.

UM only plated four runs on Friday night vs. the Gators until a last minute bottom of the ninth rally brought in five more.

It was too little too late as the ‘Canes lost 12-9 and fell below .500 for the first time on this still very young season.

The ‘Canes will try to work out some of their problems next weekend when the University of Minnesota comes to town for a three game series.

The games will be played on Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon at Mark Light Stadium.

N. Dame – 116 G’town – 111
Matt Carroll scored seven of his 30 points in the fourth overtime and Notre Dame won its fifth straight, outlasting Georgetown 116-111 Saturday in the highest-scoring game in Big East history. Carroll scored the final seven points for Notre Dame (17-6, 7-3), connecting on a 3-pointer and then making four free throws over the final 46 seconds. Notre Dame freshman point guard Chris Thomas was the only player to go all 60 minutes and he finished with 22 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds. His jumper with just under two minutes left in the fourth overtime gave the Irish the lead for good at 109-108. Mike Sweetney had career-highs of 35 points and 20 rebounds for Georgetown (14-8, 5-5) but was one of four Hoyas to foul out. Wesley Wilson (26 points), Kevin Braswell (12 points, 10 assists) and Gerald Riley (eight points) all fouled out, leaving Georgetown with an inexperienced lineup over the final two minutes of the fourth overtime. The Hoyas had chances to win at the end of regulation and each of the first three overtimes. Braswell hit a jumper in the final seconds of the third overtime, but it was waved off because the shot clock had expired moments before.

uConn – 85 St. Johns – 87
St. John’s guard Marcus Hatten had a career-high 34 points, while Caron Butler and Ben Gordon each matched theirs for Connecticut, but the Red Storm held off the Huskies in overtime, 85-83, on Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. With the loss, the Huskies slipped to 15-6 and 7-3 in the Big East, while SJU improved its record to 16-7 and 6-5 in the league. With just over five minutes remaining before the break, UConn head coach Jim Calhoun was issued a pair of technical fouls and ejected from the game. Trailing 72-69, Butler went to the line with five seconds remaining and hit all three of his shots to even the game. St. John’s had its shot to win, but Hatten’s runner rolled off the rim and the game went into overtime. The lead changed hands two times and the score was tied twice in the extra period, but a Eric King lay in with 1:57 to go put St. John’s up for good. Butler led the way for the Huskies as he finished the night with 29 points and a career high 15 rebounds.

Pitt – 75 Syracuse – 63
Brandin Knight scored 11 of his 16 points in the final 5:34 as No. 21 Pittsburgh overcame a 14-point deficit in the second half to beat No. 17 Syracuse 75-63 Sunday. Knight was held in check most of the game before breaking through at the end. He hit two 3-pointers, made two free throws and hit a layup off a steal in a 16-6 run for Pittsburgh (21-4, 9-3 Big East). Preston Shumpert led all scorers with 28 points, as Syracuse (18-7, 7-4) lost for the fifth time in seven games. Ontario Lett gave the Panthers a 51-50 lead with 7:05 left, their first since about three minutes into the game. Lett’s basket started a 16-6 run that gave Pittsburgh a 65-56 lead with 3:36 left. Pittsburgh controlled the boards, as they finished with a 37-27 rebounding advantage.