The Honors Course in Ooltewah has been selected as one of 10 golf courses to host a 2018 Drive, Chip and Putt regional qualifier. The one at the Honors is Sept. 24, 2017. Others will be held from Sept. 3 at Pinehurst in North Carolina to Sept. 30 at Torrey Pines in California and Oct. 1 at Winged Foot in New York, with other famed sites that have hosted USGA national events in between. From the regionals, 40 boys and 40 girls ages 7-15 (grouped as 7-9, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15) will compete for national championships on April 1, 2018, at Augusta National Golf Club. That's the Sunday before the Masters tournament. The free initiative is a joint effort of the USGA, the Masters and the PGA of America. Local qualifying is set for 268 sites in May through August, including the UTC Player Development Facility on Hickory Valley Road on June 24, with three players advancing from each venue in each age/gender category to subregionals. Two in each category will advance from there to the regionals. Online registration will begin Jan. 25 at drivechipandputt.com.
Basketball
* Tennessee Wesleyan University split a home Appalachian Athletic Conference doubleheader against Bluefield on Wednesday, with the women winning 70-61 and the men falling 81-73. In the women's victory, TWU (10-7, 8-3) Hunter Simpson had 12 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and two steals, Savannah Atkins scored a game-high 14 points, Summer Morris added 13 and Kenzie Conn had 10. TWU trailed 17-10, 29-22 and 43-40 at the quarter breaks. In the men's loss, TWU (11-5, 7-3) - which led 41-29 at halftime - was paced by Johnson Decembre with 12 points and Lenny Pradia with 10, while Kenny Dean had 10 rebounds and QD Cox had six assists.
* Bryan College split a home AAC doubleheader against Allen (S.C.) University on Wednesday, with the Lady Lions winning 76-61 and the Lions losing 86-77. In the women's victory, Erisha Talley scored 23 points - she had nine rebounds to just miss a double-double - on 8-of-9 shooting with five assists, and Megan Billingsby had a double-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Amber Levi and Kaylee Smith each scored 12 points for the Lady Lions (8-8, 6-4), who led 21-19, 44-29 and 62-47 at the quarter breaks. For the Lions (4-13, 1-8), who were tied at 35 at halftime, five players scored in double figures: Wray Fuller and Oteriah Lee (20 points apiece), Brice Cusick (13), Reagan Johnson (12) and Tyler Yoder (10). Cusick had nine rebounds with three steals and Johnson eight rebounds, while Lee had five assists.
* The Georgia Northwestern women's basketball team fell to 0-11 for the season with a 48-35 loss Tuesday at four-year school Judson College. GNTC, with only five players in uniform, fell behind 17-4 but got the margin to single digits starting the final quarter. Sharqueva McCoy had 14 points and 16 rebounds in defeat, while Sprite Dyer had nine points and eight rebounds and Katy Phillips had seven rebounds with eight points.
Noah CochranRunning
* Silverdale Baptist Academy senior Noah Cochran signed scholarship papers Wednesday afternoon to run cross country and track for Bryan College. He told a gathering at Silverdale that "running has been a huge part of my life since I was little" but he really didn't think about participating collegiately until his junior year. By then he was interested in Bryan for its spiritual principles and atmosphere and specifically for his major of Christian ministries. "It's great how it's worked out," said the two-time state qualifier who has run an 18:45 cross country 5k and a 5:08 1600 and an 11:20 3200 in track. "I am very excited to have a kid like Noah at Bryan College," third-year Lions coach Josh Bradley said. "You build a program with kids who work hard and have high character, and Noah has that in droves." Said Jeff Cochran, Noah's father and SBA's coach: "I'm of course very proud, and I hope this is the beginning of the running program here being recognized and having guys and gals moving on to colleges."
Bowling
* The Girls Preparatory School bowling team earned its sixth consecutive Division II Middle/East Region championship Wednesday with a 24-3 defeat of Pope John Paul II. The Baylor girls lost to Father Ryan. McCallie won the boys' region title by beating Donelson Christian Academy.