UTC tops Bruins and loses to Ole Miss

OXFORD, Miss. -- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga softball team split two games Friday to open play in Ole Miss's Red and Blue Classic, beating Belmont 10-2 in five innings before losing 9-6 to the host team. Against the Bruins, UTC freshman Cheyenne Willis and junior Kasey Tydingco each had three RBIs and senior Michelle Fuzzard pitched a three-hitter. Fuzzard, Jessica Traxler and Sara Poteat each scored twice. Tydingco homered and Willis had a two-run hit as the Lady Mocs went up 5-0 on Ole Miss, but rain delayed the game after 4 1/2 innings and the Rebels rallied when play resumed. UTC freshman pitcher Taylor Deason, who had allowed just two hits in the first four innings, gave up six runs, five earned, on four hits while recording only one out in the fifth. Traxler was 3-for-4 against Ole Miss, and Poteat finished the day a perfect 6-for-6 with a stolen base and three runs scored, raising her team-leading batting average to .558.

• PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. -- Lee University beat Thomas 5-0 but then lost for the first time in 14 games this season, 11-3 to Trevecca Nazarene, at the NFCA NAIA Leadoff Classic softball tournament Friday. Kelsey Barnes was 3-for-4 with two doubles, three runs and two RBIs and Tabitha Farrow had three RBIs in the two games, and Laurel Allen and Jennifer Ringle had two hits apiece and totaled three runs in the win, when Brittany Bralough pitched a six-hitter.

Boxing

• FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Jasper resident and Sequatchie County High School student Emily Dagnan from Chattanooga's Westside Boxing Club defeated Karla Herrera of Los Angeles in the women's 132-pound semifinals Friday of the USA Boxing National Championships. Dagnan won 19-10 and faces Rashida Ellis of Lynn, Mass., in the weight-class final today.

Football

• Notre Dame High School quarterback Josh Moore has become a late addition to Eastern Kentucky's football signees for 2012. The 6-foot-2 Moore passed for 40 touchdowns and more than 4,000 yards during his Irish career and ran for three TDs. He said his offensive mentor of the past four seasons, assistant coach Charles Fant, "had a huge impact on my athletic career and even a bigger impact on my life." Moore also praised Notre Dame, the other coaches, his teammates and his parents for helping him earn this NCAA Division I opportunity. Heritage defensive lineman Justin Adekoyau (6-5, 280) was a signing-day recruit for the Colonels.

Basketball

• ROME, Ga. -- Top-seeded Lee University, tied for fifth in the NAIA Division I rankings, barely held off Emmanuel in the semifinals of the Southern States Athletic Conference women's basketball tournament Friday. The Lady Flames won 57-55 as Hollie German one-upped herself from the day before with 28 points, this time making five 3-point shots and nine of 10 free throws. Angela Spann scored 12 points for Lee (30-2).

• The Georgia Northwestern men's basketball team extended its season Friday night with an 58-57 win over Southern Crescent Tech in the NJCAA Division III Region XVII quarterfinals at Oxford, Ga. Alex Miller had 23 points and eight rebounds and Justin Dempsey and Bud Todd scored 12 and 10 points for the Bobcats (8-19), who led by 11 points in the first half but had to hold on at the end. Southern Crescent had the ball with 25 seconds to go and missed two shots in the final 10 seconds. After winning their region playoff last Saturday, GNTC's Lady Bobcats (5-15) play today at 2 p.m. in Rockville, Md., against nationally sixth-ranked Region XX champion Montgomery College for a spot in the national quarterfinals.

• Former Covenant College women's basketball coach Roy Heintz was voted coach of the year in the Gulf South Conference for his third season with Alabama-Huntsville's Lady Chargers. They went 21-5 in the regular season, two years after a 4-20 record.

Track & Field

• Chattanoogan Danielle Alfano was one of 19 King College athletes earning a total of 32 NCAA Division II All-Southeast Region designations for the 2012 indoor track and field season. Alfano was all-region in the 800-meter and mile runs.

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