UTC lands two January honorees and other sports news

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior forward Zaccheus Mason was named the Southern Conference athlete of the month in men's basketball for January, and UTC sophomore Teghan Henderson was the women's indoor track athlete of the month. Mason led his Mocs to an 8-1 January record by averaging 18.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game. He recorded double-doubles in six games and scored at least 20 points in four. Mason, who prepped at Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, also recorded at least one block in each January game and averaged 4.1 blocks per game in the month. Henderson, from Pickering in Ontario, Canada, ran only once in the month but won by 36 seconds in the 3,000-meter race in the Niswonger Invitational in Johnson City. Her time was 9:35.19. Both her UTC team and Mason's will be in action today in events hosted by Samford in Birmingham.

Baseball

• Tennessee Tech senior first baseman Zach Stephens from Soddy-Daisy is the Ohio Valley Conference baseball preseason player of the year for the second season in a row, and the Golden Eagles are the overwhelming preseason choice to win the league. Senior second baseman Zach Zarzour from Ooltewah and Chattanooga State joined Stephens among the six TTU preseason All-OVC players, including the whole infield. Stephens, also a preseason All-American by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA, batted .336 with 71 RBIs in 2013, when Zarzour hit .300 with 27 RBIs.

Softball

Ooltewah High School graduate Sara Kelley has batted in 12 runs in Carson-Newman's four softball games so far this season. She was 2-for-4 with a triple and four RBIs in the first game and drove in two runs and scored two in game two as the Lady Eagles (4-0) won 15-1 and 9-1 Friday at Fort Valley (Ga.) State. Caitlyn Lance from Ridgeland was 3-for-4 with an RBI in game one, and Braleigh Angel from Baylor was 2-for-3, stole two bases and scored twice in the rematch.

Basketball

• Cleveland High School graduate Ish Sanders was the leading scorer with 25 points as Carson-Newman upended NCAA Division II's seventh-ranked Lincoln Memorial, 79-77, in South Atlantic Conference men's basketball Wednesday night in Jefferson City, Tenn. Sanders made five of nine 3-point shots for the Eagles (13-6, 10-5). LMU is 17-2, 13-2.

• Berry College came from behind both games of a Southern Athletic Association basketball doubleheader Friday night at Sewanee, 65-57 in the women's game and 63-57 in the men's with a 32-12 surge in the final 12:28. Lee McCloud scored 25 points and Owen Jacobs had 20 points and 16 rebounds for the Vikings (4-16, 1-8), while Keshonn Carter and Seth Brown had 14 and 10 points with 11 and 12 rebounds for Sewanee (11-9, 4-5). Emma Cook and Maggie Trimble scored 15 and 14 points and Mel McLean and Chanlir Segarra added 13 apiece for the Berry women (11-9, 4-5), Segarra with nine assists. Paige Lowe and Jamie Chauvin scored 18 and 17 points for the female Tigers (8-12, 1-8), while Casey Hassett had 10 rebounds with 12 points and Kayla Sewell blocked four shots.

Tennis

• The Dalton State men's tennis team is 1-1 after the first two matches of the program's existence, having beat Gadsden State 9-0 on Friday at Lakeshore Park Tennis Center in Dalton. The Roadrunners won 8-1, 8-0 and 8-2 in doubles and gave up only two games in 10 singles sets aside from Nikolay Nikiforov's 6-2, 6-3 victory at No. 1. The DSC women will host Snead State today at 1 p.m.