Basketball

Hometown helps legend Jackie Stiles fight cancer — The tiny Kansas hometown of a legendary former women’s basketball player who set college scoring records is raising money to help its favorite daughter fight a rare form of cancer. The farming town of Claflin, Kansas, is helping raise money for Jackie Stiles as she prepares for surgery Friday to treat eye cancer, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Students in a senior class at Central Plains High School set up an online fundraiser Tuesday to help Stiles with some medical costs her insurance will not cover. The goal is $5,000. Student Colton Potts may not have been born yet when Stiles played basketball at Central Plains, but the 18-year-old knows how important she is to the town of 700. “Living in Claflin, she’s a living legend here,” Potts said. “When I was a second- or third-grader, I met her at a basketball camp her dad put on. When she came in, it was like meeting Michael Jordan.” Stiles, 39, put Claflin on the map playing for Missouri State University, where she set the Division 1 NCAA women’s scoring record with 3,393 points. After college she played in the WNBA for the Portland Fire and was named rookie of the year in the 2000-01 season. She currently helps coach Missouri State’s women’s basketball team.

— From wire reports