MASON — Former Southern Illinois University basketball standout Nikki Gilmore was ordered Tuesday to spend the next five years on probation involving a shoving match with a 17-year-old girl she considers to be like a sister.

        The sentencing came five days after Ms. Gilmore, 28, who played for the Salukis in the early 1990s, was convicted of five charges, including felonies, for fabricating two sexual assaults in Mason.

        She faces 15 years in prison when she is sentenced in that case next month.

        In a last-minute plea agreement Tuesday, Ms. Gilmore pleaded guilty in Mason Municipal Court to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct in a December scuffle with Cory Malich, who suffered a cut to the head that required five staples.

        Ms. Gilmore, who played basketball for Athletes in Action, lived with the Malichs as part of that program. She faced trial on an assault charge, which carried a sentence of up to six months.

        Ms. Malich told Judge George Parker that the incident was “a scuffle, a fight, not anything big.”

        Judge Parker also sentenced Ms. Gilmore to 30 days in jail, but suspended the sentence, ordering Ms. Gilmore to have no contact with Ms. Malich.

        Ms. Gilmore's attorney, Carl Lewis, questioned whether police should have charged his client, because the incident was not reported to authorities.

        He said police heard rumors about the incident and the same detective who investigated Ms. Gilmore for the false rape reports decided to look into it, questioning Ms. Malich at school.

        The incident occurred when the two began arguing over a computer and ended in a pushing match, with Ms. Malich hitting her head on a bannister, Mr. Lewis said. “She shouldn't ever have been charged, but I could risk my client's freedom,” he said of deciding not to go to trial.

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