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That shopping spree will have to wait.

Dudley basketball players Helen Terry and P.J. Hairston, who won $800 in Friendly Center gift cards at a free throw shooting contest during last weekend's Pizza Hut Invitational, cannot accept their prizes under NCHSAA rules, the association announced Wednesday. Doing so would violate the association's "Amateur Rule," which prohibits student-athletes from using their athletic skills for monetary benefit.

The fundraiser, in which anyone could pay a dollar to enter an elimination-style shootout, raised $1,703, Greensboro Sports Commission president Marc Bush said. Terry would have won $500 for outlasting Hairston, who would have received $300. Instead, their winnings will be split between the third- and fourth-place finishers, Wavey Boyd, also a student at Dudley but not a member of any athletic teams, and Carter Stanley, a student at Mendenhall Elementary School. Boyd and Stanley will now receive $500 each instead of their original $100.

Greensboro Sports Council president Brett Schulman said this was the first time the fundraiser has faced this kind of issue, and that high school and college athletes will be prohibited from participating in the fundraiser in the future.

"It's unfortunate," Schulman said, "but I'm glad we know now."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com.