Led by Gulf South Conference player of the year Erin Walsh with a 4.0 grade point average, Lee University was listed 10th in NCAA Division II in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Top 25 team honor roll for academics. The Lady Flames were the only area team to make the WBCA Academic Top 25s in the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA or junior/community colleges, and they had an aggregate 3.627 GPA for the 2015-16 school year. The Lee women went 20-10 on the court last season, and every member of coach Marty Rowe's team made the GSC honor roll. Upper Iowa University led Division II with a 3.731 GPA.
* Georgia Northwestern has announced its women's basketball schedule for 2016-17, and it starts Nov. 1 at Hiwassee. Then the Lady Bobcats will host Toccoa Falls on Nov. 4 and fellow United States Collegiate Athletic Association newcomer Judson College (Ala.) on Nov. 8 before visiting the Bryan College junior varsity and Welch College on Nov. 10 and 12. The Lady Cats finish the 2016 portion of the schedule with five games in the Rossville Athletic Center: against Oakwood on Nov. 14, Trinity Baptist on Nov. 22, the Bryan JV on Dec. 1 and Trinity Baptist and Southern Crescent Tech in GNTC's Tim Walthour Memorial Tournament on Dec. 9 and 10. The Lady Cats will resume after the holiday break with games against Trinity Baptist and host Florida College at Temple Terrace, Fla., near Tampa on Jan. 6-7 and play eight more regular-season games, ending Feb. 16 at home against the Covenant JV.
Auto Racing
* Austin Patrick of Dalton won the $1,500 top prize in the Super Pro class last Saturday night at the Brainerd Optimist Drag Strip. Patrick won with a 4.74-second burst on a 4.73 dial in his dragster with a 598-cubic-inch big-block Chevrolet engine prepared by Steven Farrow. Richie Clayton of Chattanooga was second in his 454 Chevy dragster. Melvin Croft of Chattanooga won the Foot Brake class with an 8.80-second run on an 8.78 dial in a 1998 Dodge Charger, while Michael Garner of Chattanooga was second with a 6.17 on a 6.15 in a 1969 Chevy Nova. Shelby Whittle of LaFayette was the Junior Dragster victor out of 16 entries with a 7.92 run on a 7.91 dial, with Mattie Keener of Whitwell second. Farrow recently signed a long-term lease with the Optimist Club to take over management of the strip.
Football
* Bradley Central High School graduate Patrick Benson was one of eight Tusculum College football players receiving preseason All-South Atlantic Conference recognition Tuesday. Benson, a 6-foot-3, 325-pound senior offensive lineman, was one of three second-team Pioneers. He started all 11 games last year for a team that allowed only 12 sacks in 478 passes. Running back Isaac Robinson, linebacker Brandyn Bartlett, cornerback Cameron Thomas, place-kicker Will Tommie and long snapper Ian O'Grady gave Tusculum five preseason first-teamers, second most in the league, and linebacker L'Keith Brown and receiver Evan Altizer joined Benson on the second team. Carson-Newman, which had seven first-team selections and five second-teamers, was picked to finish a close second to defending champion Catawba with Tusculum seventh in the eight-team league. Catawba and CNU had 45 and 43 points with three first-place votes each.
Softball
* ProStar Fastpitch standout Rayanna "RJ" Janke went 4-for-5 with a double, a walk, three RBIs and impressive defense in two USA Elite Future All-American 14-under softball games Tuesday in Kissimmee, Fla. Janke is a Coahulla Creek High School freshman who recently committed to play for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Another ProStar Fastpitch representative on the same team, Kaylie Frogge, is recovering from shoulder labrum surgery and not playing, but she called pitches and coached first base, and ProStar CEO Steve Chattin reported that "the coaches and pitchers thought she did a great job." Frogge is a Heritage freshman.