Villanova

Betty Okino, a 16-year-old gymnast with a beautiful, slender, long-legged body, wrinkles her nose with disgust. "I am told I have the wrong body type for gymnastics," Okino says. And she frowns. Okino is a gymnast, a very good one. She won a silver medal in the 1992 world championships on the uneven bars. She has a move, a triple pirouette on the balance beam, named after her. But in the last year, Okino has grown two inches, to 5-foot-4 - uncommonly tall for a gymnast. And she has a stress fracture in her back.

TO Villanova students, my thoughts on the controversy about the pro-life sculpture: Abortion is not the difficult choice; that is the easy way out. The tough choice is being responsible and raising the child. Charlie Jurewicz Hazleton, Pa.

TV/Radio: CSN; ESPN-AM (950). Records: Villanova, 3-2, 1-1 Colonial Athletic Association; Maine, 2-4, 1-2 CAA. Coaches: Villanova, Andy Talley (26th season, 182-104-1); Maine, Jack Cosgrove (18th season, 95-105). Series: Villanova trails Maine, 7-6, in the series but won the teams' last meeting in 2007. Villanova outlook: The Wildcats dropped from the top spot to No. 6 in the rankings after their 31-24 loss to then-No. 7 William and Mary two weeks ago. Wide receiver Matt Szczur, the reigning CAA player of the year, missed the game because of a sprained ankle suffered on Sept.

Delaware at Villanova When: Saturday at 3:30 p.m., PPL Park. TV/Radio: Comcast Network/ESPN-AM (950) Records: Delaware, 6-4 overall, 4-3 Colonial Athletic Association; Villanova, 2-8, 1-6. Coaches: Delaware, K.C. Keeler (10th season, 80-46); Villanova, Andy Talley (27th season, 190-115-1). Series: The Wildcats lead, 23-20-1. Last season, Villanova needed overtime to win, 28-21. Delaware hasn't defeated the Wildcats since 2005.

Andre Metzger, two-time runner-up in the World Championships and a four- time all-American at Oklahoma, has been fired as an assistant wrestling coach at Villanova and dismissed from coach John du Pont's Team Foxcatcher. Metzger, seeded second at 149.5 pounds (68 kilos) at the U.S. Olympic trials in Pensacola, is expected to represent the United States at the Olympics in Seoul. Du Pont said Metzger, who was informed May 31 via the mail that he was fired, had told two potential recruits - Jason Culff of Michigan and Chuck Weaver of Oklahoma - not to sign with Villanova this spring because the university did not have its own wrestling room.

Ann Strother ended Connecticut's losing streak at one. Strother scored a season-high 24 points and had 10 rebounds, and No. 8 UConn bounced back from its worst home loss in 21 years with a 72-56 victory over Villanova at the Pavilion last night. Villanova (5-2, 0-1 Big East) led 29-28 at the half but the Huskies (7-1, 1-0), who lost, 77-54, to No. 7 North Carolina on Monday night, rallied in the second half. Lisa Karcic led the Wildcats with 14 points, and Jackie Adamschick had 13.

Briana Weiss hit three three-pointers in the second half to lead Villanova past Wisconsin, 60-54, in a Women's NIT game last night. Stacie Witman scored 17 points and Laura Kurz finished with 15. The Wildcats (17-15) will meet the winner of tomorrow night's Colorado-Gonzaga game on Thursday. If Gonzaga (25-8) wins, the game will be at Villanova. If Colorado (16-14) wins, the Buffaloes will play host.

A sophomore linebacker for the Villanova football team was treated at Pennsylvania Hospital and released after suffering a concussion during practice yesterday, a spokesman for the university's athletic department said. Anthony Johnson of Atlanta was flown by helicopter to the hospital as a precaution after complaining of a headache and nausea in the locker room following practice, the Villanova spokesman said. Johnson was released after being evaluated.

Laura Kurz scored 17 points and Lisa Karcic added 10 as Villanova defeated host Marquette, 46-45, in a women's Big East game last night. Villanova (16-8, 8-2), which has won seven straight conference games, held off Marquette (13-11, 4-6)), which trailed 45-32 with 6:06 left in the game.

THEY CALLED HIM "Hannan the Cannon. " The nickname was a tribute to Joe Hannan's aggressive style of play as a guard on the Villanova University basketball team in the 1940s, a winning team that also included future NBA star Paul Arizin. The team made it to the NCAA quarterfinals in 1949, but fell to Kentucky. Joe was an All-American at Villanova and played for a time with Arizin in the Catskills and the old American Basketball Association before leaving the sport. Joseph Thomas Hannan, a highly regarded referee in high school and college basketball for some 40 years, an executive with General Motors Automotive Credit and First Fidelity Bank, and an Army veteran, died Monday of lung disease.

Explosive Mount St. Joseph guard Alex Louin committed to the Villanova women's basketball team on Wednesday morning, and after that, one of the first texts she received was from Episcopal Academy's Megan Quinn. The prospect of playing with other local players such as Quinn, who will attend Villanova in the fall, will make the transition to college basketball "easy and fun," Louin said. Louin, who as a junior this past season led the Magic to the District 1 Class AAAA final and the state tournament, had narrowed her search to Villanova and Boston College before picking the Wildcats, largely to be closer to home.

In the days leading up to this week's Major League Baseball first-year player draft, Malvern Prep graduate Leon Stimpson has noticed many of his summer-league teammates and predraft workout comrades endlessly staring at their cellphones. They're waiting for a phone call, a text message, an e-mail - any clue from a major-league club or scout - about where their immediate future lies. So it goes for hundreds of prospects across the country, especially for those such as Stimpson - a product of Division III Alvernia College - who aren't wasting time pondering how to spend the multimillion-dollar signing bonuses they likely won't receive.

Ashley Howard has left the Xavier staff to take a job as an assistant basketball coach at Villanova, Musketeers head coach Chris Mack told the Cincinnati Enquirer on Thursday. Wildcats head coach Jay Wright, through a spokesman, declined comment. Villanova has an opening on its staff after the departure last week of Raphael Chillious, who returned to the bench at Washington after spending one season with the Wildcats. Howard, who starred as a guard at Monsignor Bonner High School and Drexel, spent four seasons as an assistant coach at La Salle and four in the same capacity at Drexel before going to Xavier, where he spent one season.

As the North Carolina bus inched its way through traffic on the Blue Route toward Villanova Stadium in the rain late Thursday afternoon, no one thought to ask Margaret Corzel if she knew any shortcuts. That's a pity, because she probably could have helped. This weekend's NCAA Division I women's lacrosse Final Four is a homecoming for several players. But few can make as strong a claim as Corzel, a redshirt sophomore defender for North Carolina. Corzel grew up 10 minutes away in Berwyn, and played in high school at Merion Mercy.

ASHLEY HOWARD could be setting some kind of City 6 record when Villanova officially announces, probably sometime next week, that he is the newest assistant to basketball coach Jay Wright. Howard, a 2004 Drexel graduate, spent 4 years as a La Salle assistant and another 4 years as an assistant at Drexel. He spent last season as an Xavier assistant. So Villanova will be the third of the six city Division I schools in his first decade as a coach, certainly a unique résumé. Howard, the son of St. Joseph's Prep and Maryland great Mo Howard, will replace Raphael Chillious who was one of Wright's assistants last season.

Johns Hopkins senior defenseman Tucker Durkin , from Huntingdon Valley and La Salle College High, was named a first-team all-American on Thursday. Durkin earned second-team honors as a sophomore and first-team honors last season. He led a Johns Hopkins lacrosse team that ranked third nationally in scoring defense (7.79). Drexel's Robert Church and Ben McIntosh were named honorable-mention all-Americans. Church led the Colonial Athletic Association with 3.8 points per game.

Calling a typical American engineering school a boys' club would be an understatement - on average, women make up 18.2 percent of engineering undergraduates nationwide. It's a statistic that hasn't gone unnoticed, with colleges and universities across the country scrambling to draw more women and minorities into engineering majors. Villanova University is no exception - and on Sunday, 31.4 percent of the engineering students who crossed the stage at graduation in Radnor were female.

The winners of Saturday's quarterfinals in the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse championships will head to Villanova for the semifinals on May 24. The championship game is slated for May 26 at Villanova Stadium. The Division II and III semifinals and title games are both Saturday and Sunday in Owings Mills, Md. Maryland, undefeated in 20 games, is the top seed in Division I and will host unseeded Duke (14-5) on Saturday. No. 4 Syracuse (17-3) will host No. 5 Florida (18-2)

Gov. Corbett urged Villanova Law School graduates Friday to embody the passion of Abraham Lincoln and the integrity of Sir Thomas More as they embark on their careers. At the school's commencement, Corbett praised those men, both lawyers, for standing up for what they believed in though it ultimately cost them their lives. Both "chose honor over convenience," Corbett told 233 graduates and their friends and family at Villanova's Pavilion. Corbett, who was state attorney general and had a private practice for many years before becoming governor, gave a short speech exhorting the graduates to work hard, act ethically, think logically, and always look at the facts.