Basketball Is No Longer Her Only Baby

Na’Sheema Hillmon had an eventful freshman year at Vanderbilt. A 6-foot-2 forward, she was the second-leading scorer and rebounder for the sixth-ranked basketball team, was named to the Southeastern Conference all-tournament team, carried a 3.5 grade-point average and made the dean’s list.

She was also pregnant.

Hillmon learned she was carrying a baby last Christmas but told no one at Vanderbilt.

“A couple of times, I wanted to tell [Coach Jim Foster], but I was afraid they would make me stop playing,” Hillmon, 19, told the Nashville Banner. Foster said he thought Hillmon simply had been bulking up in the weight room. “When I found out she was pregnant, it was a shock,” he said.

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Add Hillmon: At home in Cleveland with her family, she plans to return for her sophomore year after giving birth to a son, due any day. Her mother will care for the child while Hillmon concentrates on school and basketball.

“It’s going to be really hard,” Hillmon said. “I’ll always be thinking about him.”

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Trivia time: What was Chris Evert’s nickname when the Hall of Fame tennis player came out of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., in 1971 as a teen-age phenom?

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Conflicting interests: Bob Wallace was vice president of the Philadelphia Eagles when he was hired by the St. Louis Rams. Even after Wallace moved to St. Louis, the Eagles asked him to continue negotiating their rookie contracts.

That caused Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News to wonder, “Who’s paying Wallace’s phone bills, the Eagles or the Rams?”

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Front office: When the Atlanta Journal and Constitution named the 25 most influential people in Georgia sports, only two were athletes--former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, No. 18, and Brave pitcher Tommy Glavine, No. 23. All the others were moguls, topped by Ted Turner at No. 1.

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Nice salary: Ben McDonald is 2-5 this season while pitching for the Baltimore Orioles. That means he is on a pace to win four games for his $4.5 million.

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Right perspective: Paul Azinger did not play particularly well in the British Open five years ago on the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, but that doesn’t keep him from admiring the place as he prepares for the start of this year’s championship today.

“When you’re walking over bridges that are older than your country,” he said, “it says something about what makes the place so special.”

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The real MVP: How valuable was Matt Williams to the San Francisco Giants?

Before he fouled a pitch off his foot June 8, the Giants were 21-16. While their third baseman has been sidelined, they have gone 14-23.

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Trivia answer: The Little Ice Maiden.

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Quotebook: San Jose Shark Coach Kevin Constantine after the Sharks drafted five players from Finland: “I guess you can say we added some Finns to the Sharks.”