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Sports
Former NBA Player Charles Shackleford, 50, Found Dead
Serena Wins 23rd Grand Slam After Beating Her Sister
Serena Williams talking to the press. Her sister Venus is in the background.
Serena Williams has won her record 23rd Grand Slam singles title, and her sister was right there on court to give her a congratu- latory hug.
The all-Williams final — the first at the Australian Open since Serena won the first edition of the family ri- valry here in 2003 — went to the younger sibling 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday night.
With her record seventh Australian title, the 35-year- old Williams moved ahead of Steffi Graf for the most major titles in the Open era. Margaret Court has the all-time record and was also in the crowd for the final at Rod Laver Arena.
Court won 24 majors, but collected 13 of those before the Open era which began in 1968 after the sport became professional.
The victory also ensured Serena Williams will re- gain the top ranking, which she lost in September after 186 straight weeks when An- gelique Kerber won the U.S. Open.
It was Serena’s seventh win in nine all-Williams Grand Slam finals, and the first since Wimbledon in 2009. It was 36-year-old, No. 13-seeded Venus Williams’ first trip back to a major final in 7 1⁄2 years.
“This was a tough one,” Serena Williams said. “I really would like to take this moment to congratulate Ve- nus, she’s an amazing per- son — she’s my inspiration.
“There’s no way I would be at 23 without her — there’s no way I would be at one without her. Thank-you Venus for inspiring me to be the best player I can be and inspiring me to work hard.”
Williams has won 15 ma- jors since last losing to Venus in a Grand Slam final, at Wimbledon in 2008. That was the seventh and last major title that the older of the Williams sisters won.
BEAUTY UNLIMITED
ALONNA
This week's Beauty Unlimited feature is the lovely Alonna. This young lady loves taking pictures, and says she's hoping to build a very nice portfolio and take her career to the next level. We hope this ex- posure helps in realizing her goals. We thank you Alonna for allowing us to feature you as this week's Beauty Unlimited feature.
Police in North Carolina say former North Carolina State basketball star Charles Shackleford has been found dead in his home. He was 50.
Kinston police spokesman Woody Spencer said Shackleford’s body was found there Friday. The cause of death hasn’t been deter- mined and an investigation is underway. Spencer didn’t say what circumstances led au- thorities to the home.
The 6-foot-10 Shackle- ford averaged 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds a game in three seasons at N.C. State.
He played six seasons in the
CHARLES SHACKLEFORD
NBA for New Jersey, Philadel- phia, Minnesota and Char- lotte, averaging 5.4 points and 4.8 rebounds for his career. Online records show he also spent three years playing in Turkey and Greece.
LeBron James First To Score 20,000 Points For Cavaliers
LeBron James became the first player in Cavaliers history to score 20,000 points for the franchise in Sunday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
James came into the game needing six points to set the mark. He reached it with 9 minutes, 39 seconds remain- ing in the second quarter, scor- ing a layup to give him 20,001 points in his 10 seasons with Cleveland.
He has nearly twice as many points as the Cavs' second- leading scorer, Zydrunas Il- gauskas, who had 10,616 points with the franchise.
"I'm blessed I've played with some great teammates in this uniform the last three years and obviously my first seven in the league," James said. "Those guys set screens
One Of Hockey’s Wayne Simmonds
LEBRON JAMES
for me, they rebound the ball, kick it to me, they work their tails off for me to be able to put up 20,000 as a Cav. For me, I just got to do my part. That's bust my butt in workouts, off- season and practices and see what happens. It's just the teammates I've had have given me assists. Like tonight they blocked shots and let me get out in transition and assisted me. It's pretty cool."
Few Black Players Is All-Star Game MVP
Wayne Simmonds was named MVP after the Hockey All- Star game after scoring the tie-breaking point for the win.
Wayne Simmonds first All-Star weekend after a 9-year NHL career and having Wayne Gretzky for a coach, according to the player, was surreal.
Then in a dramatic ending, he scored the tiebreaking goal to become the All-Star Game MVP in his former home city, the Philadelphia forward could only think of one word for his West Coast trip.
"Weird," Simmonds said with a grin.
Simmonds completed his hat trick with 4:58 to play, and fill-in coach Gretzky led the
Metropolitan Division to a 4-3 victory over the Pacific Division on Sunday in the final match of the 62nd NHL All-Star Game.
Simmonds won the truck awarded to the game's MVP after he put the Metropolitans ahead with a clever goal.
Right off the faceoff follow- ing Atkinson's goal, Sim- monds playfully flicked the helmet of Drew Doughty, his former Los Angeles teammate, to distract the Norris Trophy- winning defenseman. Sim- monds then skated around him and converted a pass from New Jersey's Hall.
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