Nashville's Rees leads Women's State Open and other sports news

Corinna Rees of Nashville shot a 2-under-par 70 in the first round Thursday of the Golf Capital of Tennessee Women's Open golf tournament at Stonehenge Golf Club near Crossville. That gave her a one-shot lead over Haley Ann Wilson of Fort Mitchell, Ala., with five golfers tied for third at 72 at the Fairfield Glade course. Maddi Everts of Ooltewah is the area leader, tied for 14th at 75, and Chattanoogans Blakesly Warren and Jordan Britt are another stroke back. Manchester's Jenna Burris shot a 79, and former Walker Valley standout Avery George, now living in Macon, Ga., carded an 80.

• The Lee University women's golf team already was announced as the NAIA Scholar Team of the Year for all sports, and on Thursday the Lady Flames were recognized as the Women's Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar top team for 2012-13 for all collegiate divisions with their 3.955 aggregate grade point average. The University of Findlay was second at 3.837 with Alabama third at 3.806 and Angelo State and Dartmouth completing the top five at 3.772 and 3.741. This was the third time in four years for Lee to win the award.

• Emily Javadi followed a freshman golf season at Sewanee that included the medalist honor in the Southern Athletic Association and NCAA Division III All-America status with the championshp of the Chattanooga Women's Golf Association city tournament Thursday at Eagle Bluff. The former Baylor School golfer was the event medalist with a 74 and defeated Carlene Ryon 3 and 2 in the championship-flight final match. Kathy Vaughn edged Virginia Ready 2 and 1 for the first-flight title, and Sonja Herring beat Gail Gann 5 and 3 in the second-flight final. Susan Thurman was the senior division medalist with a round of 82 and had the low two-day gross of 168, while Deedee Raulston had the low net total of 142. Nancy Hora edged Linda Carter for the handicap-tournament win on a scorecard playoff after each had a net 69.

Basketball

• Jacob Freeze from Middletown, Ohio, by way of Lancaster Christian Academy in Smyrna, Tenn., joined the list of Tennessee Temple University basketball signees Thursday. Freeze, who first went to Blackman High in Murfreesboro after moving to Tennessee, averaged about 16 points and five rebounds for the very balanced Lancaster team this past season. He played the wing spots, primarily the 3, but at 6-foot-5 could play more at the 4 for Temple, according to assistant coach Ezell Dodd. "He's really good. I think he's going to impact us pretty quickly," Dodd said. "He can shoot from anywhere and he uses his body well for a freshman. We're not going to be as big as last year, but we'll be quicker." Freeze decided between Temple and Middle Tennessee State largely because of his relationship with Dodd, and he said he felt "this would be a better place for me to start -- and a place where I could grow, as a basketball player and academically, socially and spiritually." He his GPA was over 3.6.

Baseball

• Boyd-Buchanan junior Skyler Anderson was named to the all-tournament team at the 296-team Perfect Game 17-under National Championship baseball tournament as a pitcher for the East Cobb (Ga.) Renegades. He pitched a seven-inning complete-game shutout against the Illinois Elite with eight strikeouts and six hits allowed. He leads the Renegades starters this summer with 40 strikeouts in 37 innings, a 2.06 earned run average and a WHIP of 1.05.

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