Around the Region: Wesleyan women, Bryan teams win AAC tourney openers

Assorted Sports Equipment on Black
Assorted Sports Equipment on Black

The Tennessee Wesleyan and Bryan College women's basketball teams advanced as seeded in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament Wednesday at Kingsport, Tenn., and the 10th-seeded Bryan men beat seventh seed Truett McConnell, 72-67, as Oteriah Lee and Reagan Johnson scored 19 and 15 points and Brice Cusick and Tyler Yoder had 12 and 11 points and 12 and nine rebounds. Bryan's Lady Lions (15-14) downed Columbia 82-53 as Megan Billingsby and Amber Levi scored 19 and 18 points, Erisha Talley collected 11 rebounds and Brandi Whitted had six assists and matched Tonesha Allison with three steals. Wesleyan (15-13) topped St. Andrews 75-58 with 18 points and four assists from Gina Dick, 15 points, six assists and nine rebounds from Hunter Simpson and 13 points and two blocked shots from Madison Walkup. Levi, from Dayton, and Simpson, from Madisonville, made the All-AAC first team along with freshman of the year Rebecca Cheeks of Reinhardt and Sonoraville High School, and Walkup, Billingsby and Reinhardt's Erika Woodfin from Dade County were second-teamers. Bryan's Lee and Tennessee Wesleyan's Tre Tiller from Central High were All-AAC men's first-teamers.

- Covenant College junior Patjo Twagirayezu from Rwanda was picked for the All-USA South men's basketball second team for the 2016-17 season. Twagirayezu leads the Scots (14-11) with 13 points a game. Three-sport senior Z Arima was Covenant's all-sportsmanship-team representative.

Softball

- CBS MaxPreps has released its Xcellent 50 preseason national softball rankings and Ooltewah is rated No. 33. "It means somebody feels good about us, but I've told the girls, 'Don't get too involved with what people say,'" said Ooltewah coach Jon Massey, who returns most of the team that ended up one game short of last year's Class AAA state tournament. "Nothing matters until May. Last year we didn't make it." The website also released its preseason All-America softball team and the Lady Owls' Kayla Boseman, who is committed to Mississippi State, is among three juniors selected with 29 seniors. Boseman hit .589 last year with 21 homers and 89 RBIs and had a 19-4 pitching record. Massey said Boseman injured her neck and back in a car wreck recently but is hopeful of being ready for the season opener in mid-March. "She's obviously a talented ballplayer," Massey said. "She can do a lot of things."

- Berry won 5-4 and 8-0 over Covenant in NCAA Division III softball Wednesday at Warner Park. Senior shortstop Sarah Moore from Baylor had two hits, three RBIs and two runs scored in each game for Berry (10-0). Whitney Gribble from Murray County was the winning pitcher in the first game, when Jordan Brett was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Casey Grover was 2-for-3 for Covenant (4-4).

- Cleveland State's softball team won 9-1 and 4-3 over the Cumberlands junior varsity. The Lady Cougars (4-3) scored three runs in their last at-bat to get the sweep, as Mekala White hit a two-run homer and Brittany Arnold drew a winning bases-loaded walk. In the first game Macy Bryant was 3-for-3 with a home run, a double and an RBI single and Arnold also had three hits behind Kaley Cagle's two-hit pitching.

- Lee University's scheduled doubleheader at Lincoln Memorial was rained out.

Baseball

- Bryan's baseball team is 9-5 after beating Toccoa Falls 4-1 and 6-4 at the LakePoint Complex at Emerson, Ga. Justin Morhardt was 3-for-3 with a homer and three RBIs in the first game, and C.J. Owens hit a three-run homer in game two.

- Oglethorpe edged visiting Covenant 8-6 in NCAA Division III baseball. Joel Johnson scored two runs in defeat.

Lacrosse

- Lee University's first-year women's lacrosse team lost its Gulf South Conference opener Wednesday at Young Harris, 23-1. It was moved from Lee to Young Harris because of wet conditions, and the April 12 matchup now will be in Cleveland. Madeline Perrigo scored her third goal of the season for Lee (0-3).

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