Gardiner

Megan Gardiner topped 1,500 career points with a team-high 25 to lift Mount St. Mary's to an 86-67 victory yesterday over Central Connecticut State in Emmitsburg, clinching the top seed in the Northeast Conference tournament for the Mountaineers (18-6, 16-2).Gardiner passed coach Vanessa Blair (1988-92) for fifth place on the all-time scoring list with 1,501.Coppin State 79, Bethune-Cookman 68: Liesha Mitchell had 28 points and 17 rebounds as the Eagles (11-11, 9-5) rallied for a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference win in Daytona Beach, Fla.Florida A&M 61, Morgan State 52: Teresa Jenkins had a game-high 21 points to lead the host Rattlers (13-9, 12-3)

Freddie Cole scored 18 points as Bethune-Cookman held off visiting Maryland-Eastern Shore, 76-73, last night in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference game. The Hawks (8-13, 6-8) trailed 51-37 with 15 minutes to play, but rallied to take a 62-60 lead on Demetric Reese's three-pointer with 3: 32 left. Bethune-Cookman (9-12, 8-6) tied it on a Johnny McClenton layup before Cole hit a free throw and Tyris Livas sank two more to make it 65-62 with 2: 41 left. UMES got no closer than two the rest of the way. Reese led UMES with 14 points.

Megan Gardiner scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds to help Mount St. Mary's (15-5, 13-1) defeat Fairleigh Dickinson, 80-63, yesterday in a Northeast Conference game in Emmitsburg.Kia Williams (15 points), Vera Feldbusch (12) and Lauren Menichini (10) also scored in double figures for the Mount.Bucknell 71, Navy 54: Lori Houck had a game-high 21 points, including 12-for-12 from the free-throw line, along with eight rebounds and seven assists as the Bison defeated the Midshipmen (13-7, 5-2)

UMBC walked on its court last night with the nation's leading rebounder in Monica Logan and visions of pulling off an upset over longtime nemesis Mount St. Mary's.The Mount came out as the runaway leader in the Northeast Conference, armed with a high-profile coaching staff and the second-leading scorer in the conference in senior forward Megan Gardiner.Chalk up another victory for Mount St. Mary's, which is coached by former Mount standout Vanessa Blair and her first cousin Adrian Branch, who is third on Maryland's all-time men's scoring list and won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers.

In Baltimore CityIndiana man caught by FBI pleads guilty in Net child porn caseAn Indianapolis attorney pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to transmitting child pornography over the Internet from Indiana to Maryland to an individual he believed to be a 13-year-old girl, who was actually an FBI agent.Jeffrey Douglas Cosby, 42, was arrested Aug. 14, 1998, by FBI agents in the lobby of the Gallery at Harbor Place in the 200 block of E. Pratt St. where he was to meet the "girl" with whom, according to the FBI, he had "conversations" over the Internet with the intent of having sex with a minor.

Peter Sellers is extraordinary as Chauncey Gardiner (he's really Chance, the gardener, and therein lies the tale) in "Being There" (8 p.m.-10: 30 p.m., Comedy Central), as a simpleton whose entire view of the world is based on what he's seen on television. Abruptly thrown into the real world, armed with only a satchel and a remote control, he somehow not only fends for himself but becomes the next big thing in Washington.Director Hal Ashby's take on Jerzy Kosinski's novel is a sly triumph, a biting satire on the role of media in today's society.

Marcella Lorraine Gardiner, an amateur actress and director in local and regional theaters, died Friday of complications from a stroke at Windsor Ridge Nursing Home in Woodlawn. She was 70 and had lived at the home for the past eight years.As a divorced mother of three, she was a rate clerk for the Chessie System railroad in Baltimore for 20 years and retired in 1986.But her interest lay in the theater, beginning in 1959 with a supporting role in "Monique" with the Vagabond Players in Baltimore, followed by "The Reluctant Debutante" with the Chesapeake Players of Pasadena.

EMMITSBURG -- Freshman forward Megan Gardiner scored a game-high 30 points to lead Mount St. Mary's to a 75-56 victory over Long Island in a Northeast Conference women's tournament quarterfinal last night at Knott Arena.The Mountaineers, two wins away from a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament, face Monmouth tomorrow at home in the semifinals.Gardiner scored 16 in the first half as the Mountaineers (20-7, 15-3) opened a 41-27 lead, ending the half with a 6-0 run.In the second half, the Blackbirds (11-16, 7-11)

Washington. -- The idea that Colin Powell is a president in need only of an inauguration is a product of the media's boredom and of Mr. Powell's deft application to the media of Bismarck's dictum that you can do anything with children if you will play with them.In their current swooning many journalists are asking, with yearning, whether Mr. Powell is ''another Eisenhower.'' So far, he is less an Eisenhower than a Chauncey Gardiner. Gardiner is the protagonist of Jerzy Kosinski's novel ''Being There,'' and the movie based on it. Chance, a gardener with no last name, is struck by a limousine.

Thomas B. MickleInsurance agentThomas B. Mickle, who had been an insurance agent and manager of a shoe store, died Friday of cancer at his West Baltimore home. He was 79.He retired about 12 years ago after 15 years with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. Earlier, he had worked for 25 years as manager of a Thom McAn shoe store at Pennsylvania Avenue and Laurens Street.Born in Camden, S.C., but reared in Baltimore, he was a 1935 graduate of Douglass High School and attended what are now Morgan State and Hampton (Va.)