Hailey

Colette Hailey and B.J. Banjo combined for 37 points yesterday as No. 12 Mercy beat No. 13 John Carroll, 47-41, at Mercy. Hailey (21 points) and Banjo (16) accounted for nearly 80 percent of the Magic's offense, helping their team build an early 17-4 lead before holding on in an Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference game. After Banjo's hot shooting - two three-pointers and 10 points in the first 3:29 - forced John Carroll to switch from a zone to a man-to-man, Hailey took over, using quick drives to beat her defender.

Even with her team trailing host Archbishop Spalding by as many as 11 points in the early moments of yesterday's Interscholastic Association of Maryland quarterfinal, Mercy coach Mary Ella Marion remained the picture of tranquillity. "It seemed like we were getting good looks at the basket," Marion said. "They just weren't dropping." Once they began to fall, however, the No. 11 Cavaliers fell right with them, as the Magic shot 52 percent from the field over the final 2 1/2 quarters in a 72-59 win. Mercy (17-8)

Hailey, a 20-year-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin who entertained thousands of visitors to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, died late Saturday in the aquarium's hospital pool after a long battle with a painful liver disease.Born wild in the Gulf of Mexico, Hailey was captured in 1981. The aquarium acquired her and two other dolphins from a Florida company just before the 1990 opening of the Marine Mammal Pavilion.In 1995, Hailey was diagnosed with hemochromatosis, a disorder in which the liver is unable to properly capture and store iron, leaving damaging iron deposits in vital organs.

"Detective," by Arthur Hailey. Crown Publishers. 400 pages. $24.In South Florida, anything is possible.It's a place where police officers murder drug dealers for their cash and cocaine. Where Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci turned up after defecting from Romania. Where a church elder and anti-smut civic leader is caught on videotape with a nymphomanic housewife, her police officer husband filming the steamy action from a bedroom closet.It's a place with enough fodder to support dozens of authors, from Elmore Leonard and Edna Buchanan to Carl Hiaasen -- and now, Arthur Hailey.

SALISBURY -- Hundreds of police from 20 states formed a seven-mile funeral procession yesterday through this city to the Wicomico Presbyterian Church where they mourned a brother officer, Tfc Edward A. Plank Jr., who was shot to death on a dark highway earlier this week."

A 12-year-old East Baltimore boy was arrested yesterday after a city police officer caught him holding a gun and 58 small bags of heroin for a New York drug dealer, who had hired the boy for $15 a day.The boy, whose name is being withheld because of his age, is charged as a juvenile with intent to distribute heroin, possession of heroin and possession of a deadly weapon -- namely, a .40-caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol, police said.It's not the first time a Baltimore youth has been solicited into the drug trade.

Oliver HaileyScriptwriter, playwrightLOS ANGELES -- Oliver Hailey, a playwright and television scriptwriter with credits including episodes of "McMillan and Wife" and "The Cosby Show," died at home of liver cancer. The 60-year-old, who had suffered from Parkinson's disease for 10 years, died Saturday in suburban Studio City, said his wife, novelist Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey.His 1981 made-for-TV movie "Sidney Shorr," on which the series "Love Sydney" was based, brought him an Emmy nomination and a Writers Guild award.

Officials at the National Aquarium in Baltimore are breathing easier, now that a bottlenose dolphin calf born there last month seems to be getting stronger.The calf, born March 26, appears to be gaining weight again after returning to a more normal nursing pattern, senior mammalogist Nedra Hecker said yesterday.Last week, officials were concerned because the calf was losing weight and didn't appear to be getting the nourishment it needed."It was scary," Mrs. Hecker said."We're still concerned about the calf.