For the second year in a row, Bryan College's Taylor Hasty was the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association's NAIA coach of the year. A former standout player at the Dayton school, he goes into his 10th season as head coach - he's also the athletic director now - fresh off the Lions' third NAIA national opening-round postseason appearance. The 2017 Lions totaled 38 wins, and their Justin Morhardt was the Appalachian Athletic Conference player of the year and a 22nd-round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves. AAC coaches predicted Bryan to finish second behind Tennessee Wesleyan in the 2018 standings. TBCA executive director Pat Swallows said in a release that his organization "tries to select a school that is doing the right thing in the way they go about running their program as well as show consistent success in their program." Said Hasty: "Awards like this aren't possible without the hard work of many. Thanks to Jordan Day, Clint McAuley and Cody Rhinehart for their work on behalf of our program. To our players - this is in recognition of you - you guys play the game!"
Basketball
-Lee University won the women's game in Saturday's Gulf South Conference basketball doubleheader at Alabama-Huntsville, 77-74, but lost the men's, 91-78. Lee's Lady Flames (9-2, 2-1) outscored UAH (6-3, 1-2) 20-12 in the fourth quarter. They trailed by six points with six minutes to go but rallied and took a 73-71 lead on a Carrie Cheeks layup and closed out the win with a basket and two free throws by Abby Bertram. Cheeks had 18 points and seven rebounds, Erin Walsh scored 18 with four 3-pointers and Bertram scored 16. Taylor Boggess added 11. For the Lee men (7-3, 2-1), Michael McGuirk scored 13 points, Parker Suedekum had 12 points and five assists and Keaton Dotson tallied 10 points. Ryan Montgomery and Colton Blevins each had seven rebounds with nine points.
-Berto Dryden and Patjo Twagirayezu each had 17 points and six rebounds as the Covenant men won 83-69 at Brevard. Caleb Haynes scored 13 points and Bailey Spragg had 12 points and four assists for Covenant (4-3).
-NAIA Division II member Bryan College made a fourth-quarter surge Saturday against the visiting Martin Methodist women, ranked 19th in NAIA Division I, but lost 61-59. Deandra Luna had team highs of 16 points and four assists for Bryan (9-4), which got 14 points from Karli Combs, 14 rebounds from Tonesha Allison and eight rebounds from Amber Levi. Brooklyn Blanchard led Martin Methodist (10-4) with 16 points.
-The 13th-ranked Dalton State men lost 65-64 at Martin Methodist and now are 7-3. Jemeereo Spain made 11 of 11 free throws in scoring 21 points for the host Pulaski team, which wiped out an 11-point halftime deficit. Sean Chisolm scored 15 points and Isaiah Box, Carnilious Simmons and Reed Dungan added 13, 12 and 11 for Dalton State, which shot 5-of-23 from 3-point range and 20-of-59 from the field overall.
Academics
-Seventeen University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletes received degrees in the school's December commencement ceremony Saturday at McKenzie Arena. Eight of those have earned All-Southern Conference recognition, and 11 have been part of at least one SoCon championship. The nine football players receiving degrees were Alejandro Bennifield, Tanner Dillard, T.J. Jenkins, Jesse LoScudo, D.J. Prather, Taylor Reynolds, Chandler Rogers, Alphonso Stewart and Lucas Webb. Soccer had three graduates: Brandy Herrera, Peyton McCollum and Ellie Myrick. Two from women's tennis were Rachele Gazzola and Claire Mulyadi, matched by wrestlers Bryce Carr and Michael Pongracz. Volleyball's Lauren Greenspoon was the other. She was an honors graduate along with Dillard and Myrick. Mulyadi and LoScudo got master's degrees.