Area Sports Notes: Bryan women roll to AAC tournament title

Assorted Sports Equipment on Black
Assorted Sports Equipment on Black

The Bryan College women's basketball team did not settle for second-placing its way into the NAIA Division II national tournament. Already assured of joining Reinhardt in Sioux City, Iowa, as the two faced off for the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament championship Saturday in Kingsport, Tenn., the Lady Lions roared to a 75-58 victory with 21 points and 11 rebounds from Amber Levi and 19 and eight from Karli Combs. Deandra Luna scored 11 points and Tonesha Allison also had eight rebounds for Bryan (25-9). Jada Hubbard from Heritage High School led Reinhardt (26-9) with 22 points and also had eight rebounds, while Rebecca Cheeks from Sonoraville had 12 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

-Covenant College lost 96-77 to host Maryville in the USA South men's championship game Saturday. Dante Hoppa had 19 points and five assists and Emier Bowman from Dalton High School had 18 points, seven rebounds and four steals for Maryville (22-6). Caleb Haynes had 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting and nine rebounds and Berto Dryden contributed 13 points and five assists for Covenant (18-10), and both made the all-tournament team. Will Crumly scored 14 points with four 3s, Patjo Twagirayezu added 10 points and Bailey Spragg had six assists and matched James Mitchell with four steals. The 18-10 record ties the program record for best season winning percentage.

-Despite 21 points and 16 rebounds from Carnilious Simmons and 20 points from Reed Dungan, Dalton State lost 92-82 at Middle Georgia State in its Southern States Athletic Conference regular-season finale Saturday. Aaron Burress scored 10 points for nationally 15th-ranked Dalton State (22-7, 14-4). The SSAC tournament starts Wednesday in Montgomery, Ala.

-Friday night in Rossville, Georgia Gwinnett's men led host Georgia Northwestern by only a point with eight minutes to play but pulled away to an 84-69 win. The Bobcats ended their season 4-19. Cole McKeehan and Justin Smith scored 15 and 11 points and Tyler Phillips had 15 rebounds with 10 points in defeat. J.T. Langford had nine points and seven rebounds.

-University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball assistant coaches Katie Burrows and Walter Offutt will be the guest speakers for the Chattanooga Quarterback Club's noon luncheon meeting Monday at Finley Stadium, and the public is invited. They will be discussing their teams and this week's Southern Conference tournament. Attendance costs $12 with a meal, $4 without.

Fishing

-Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Ga., zoomed up the leaderboard Saturday in the third day of the FLW Tour bass tournament on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida and is in sixth place among the 10 pros going back out for the final round. Gross has weighed 55 pounds, 6 ounces after his 23-9 Saturday; the leader is Chris Johnston of Ontario at 62-0. Andy Morgan of Dayton finished 48th and won $10,000. UTC golf coach Mark Guhne was the 47th co-angler.

Baseball

-Jumpei Akanuma pitched a seven-inning no-hitter with 11 strikeouts in Lee Universiy's 10-0 Gulf South Conference baseball win Saturday against visiting West Alabama. Akanuma made only 76 pitches and walked no one. Jordan Howard was 3-for-3 with two runs batted in and three scored, and Miguel Pimentel was 3-for-4 and Spencer Mossburg 2-for-3, each with an RBI and a run. Chase Gadau had three RBIs and Dalton Ney was 1-for-1 with two RBIs.

-Bryan College went 2-1 in baseball games Friday and Saturday against LSU-Shreveport and is 14-1 for the season. The Lions lost 9-8 in 10 innings, after trailing 8-2 in the eighth, and won 8-4 and 10-7. Fernando Garcia went 4-for-5 with two home runs, three RBIs and three runs in the loss and was 2-for-2 with an RBI and a run in game two, when Wade Weinburger homered, singled and plated three runs and Luke Henderson allowed one run in five innings pitched. In Saturday's game David Scoggins homered and drove in three runs and Rodney Tennie doubled and singled.

-Covenant got solo home runs from Caleb Bloye, Jonah Carignon and Christian Murray and a three-run double from Tyler Moore in defeating preseason favorite LaGrange 10-4 in USA South baseball Saturday. Joel Johnson was 3-for-4 with an RBI triple and scored two runs for the Scots (4-6, 2-1). Bloye also scored two and had two hits along with Trenton Nobles, C.J. Edmond and Daniel Johnson.

Tennis

-Washington and Lee senior Michelle Fleenor from Chattanooga and Girls Preparatory School was the Old Dominion Athletic Conference women's tennis player of the week for last week, after going 2-0 at both No. 1 singles and No. 2 doubles in 9-0 and 8-1 team wins.

Upcoming Events