After She Came On Down, She Cashed In

Sheena Lindholm is admittedly a small-town girl, 5 feet tall with freckles and red hair. The daughter of a hay farmer in Blackfoot, Idaho, she struck out on her own and ended up at Eastern Oregon University, where she plays second base on the softball team.

Not in her wildest dreams did the freshman figure on hitting it big so quickly. Lindholm, while visiting Southern California recently with her team, was chosen for a taping of “The Price is Right” and came away with a record $183,688 in cash and prizes, including a 2005 Cadillac convertible.

Now she’s really a small-town-girl-makes-good story.

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Trivia time: Against how many of the NBA’s other 29 teams do the Clippers have an all-time winning record?

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Royal reunion: Bret Saber- hagen versus Mark Gubicza? The former Kansas City teammates faced each other Monday with the latter prevailing, 5-2.

Actually, it was West Hills Chaminade High, whose baseball team is coached by Gubicza, defeating Calabasas, which is coached by Saberhagen, in front of a crowd of about 150. “It turned out to be a big deal,” Gubicza told the Kansas City Star.

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Captain Courageous: The University of Denver hockey team tonight will begin defense of its NCAA tournament championship, led by a defenseman who deserves some kind of a comeback-player-of-the-year award.

During a breakout season two years ago, Matt Laatsch developed infections after undergoing surgery for a bleeding ulcer so severe that he lost more than 50 pounds and was given last rites by a priest.

He recovered in time to help the Pioneers win the 2004 title and is one of three senior co-captains this season.

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If the suit fits: Robert Sarver, owner of the Phoenix Suns, was seen flapping his arms like a chicken during a recent game against the San Antonio Spurs, implying that his opponent was afraid to send out injured Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

As he did so, Spur Coach Gregg Popovich had a revelation. “In life, a lot of questions don’t get answered for us,” he told the San Antonio Express-News.

“I still don’t know where Jimmy Hoffa is buried. I don’t know who Deep Throat was in Watergate. Now, I know who was under the San Diego Chicken outfit for all these years.”

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High hopes: David Cassidy is co-owner of possible Kentucky Derby contender Mayan King and the 1970s teen idol can already smell the roses. “If I could win the Kentucky Derby, there would be nothing on the face of the earth, other than the birth of my son 14 years ago, to compare with the thrill and high of it,” Cassidy said.

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Trivia answer: One. They’re 1-0 against the first-year Charlotte Bobcats after a 99-93 double-overtime victory at Staples Center on Dec. 6.

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And finally: In light of Mark McGwire’s no-denial steroids testimony, a Missouri congressman has proposed the slugger’s name be removed from a stretch of Interstate 70. Greg Cote of the Miami Herald suggests that it be renamed Interstate 5 “so travelers can say they are taking the Fifth.”