CHICAGO -- The wife of Chicago Bulls guard Craig Hodges was charged with aggravated battery yesterday by the Northbrook, Ill., police after she allegedly doused Hodges with gasoline and then threw a lighted match at him in front of an elementary school.

Carlita Hodges, 30, allegedly threw the match at her husband yesterday after he had just dropped off his two children, a Cook County state's attorney's spokesman said. The Bulls guard was not injured.

The Hodges, both residents of Northbrook, are separated and in the process of getting a divorce, the spokesman said. The Bulls player has temporary custody of the couple's two children, pending a final disposition by the court, he said.

The match burned out before it hit Hodges, who had jumped out of the car he had used to drive his children to Grove School in Northbrook.

At that point, Carlita Hodges allegedly threw a second lighted match that also went dead before it struck Hodges, the spokesman said. Carlita Hodges then reportedly got into Hodges' car, took the keys from the ignition and drove off in another vehicle, stranding Hodges outside the school.

Hodges ran into the elementary school where officials already had called police after they were alerted by the two children that their mother and father were fighting, the spokesman said.

Carlita Hodges reportedly said that she wanted to get Hodges' attention, that she wanted to talk to him, the spokesman said.

Police later arrested her at an inn, where she was returning a rental car, the spokesman said. The Northbrook police could not be reached for comment. She was being held in the Northbrook Police Department lock-up pending a bond hearing today.

The Bulls guard, reached at home last night, said he had "no comment" about the alleged incident.

Physically, Hodges said he was "OK," but was not sure if he would be at practice today.

Hodges, who missed 19 games after arthroscopic knee surgery, wasreactivated from the injured list Tuesday night before the Bullsplayed the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bulls general manager Jerry Krause also said he had no comment on the matter.