ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — University of Tennessee at Chattanooga junior golfer Stephan Jaeger is tied for first after Thursday’s first round at the 85th New Year’s Invitational at the St. Petersburg Country Club. The former Baylor School player shot a 5-under-par 67 to match St. Petersburg resident Michael Barbosa, a former Georgia Tech player, atop the leaderboard. UTC freshmen Davis Bunn from Knoxville and McKeehanon Rue from Athens shot 75 and 76.
General
* University of Tennessee track star Phoebe Wright from Signal Mountain and Red Bank High School will be honored as the state’s female athlete of the year Feb. 11 at the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame banquet at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel. The Lee University women’s soccer team will be one of the state’s three NAIA national champions honored; the 2008-10 champions will be joined by the Cumberland University baseball team and the Union University women’s basketball team. Wright was the NCAA’s 2010 indoor and outdoor 800-meter champion. UT tennis player John-Patrick Smith is the male athlete of the year, former Lady Vols softball pitcher Monica Abbott is the female professional athlete of the year and major league baseball pitchers R.A. Dickey (UT), David Price (Vanderbilt) and Matt Cain (Germantown High School) share male pro honors.
Basketball
* Former Brainerd High School player Jessica Jones hit the winning shot and totaled 15 points in Mars Hill’s 70-68 NCAA Division II basketball victory Wednesday at Newberry.
* MARYVILLE, Tenn. — Alex Dean totaled 29 points and seven rebounds and made a three-point play off a putback to get the Chattanooga State men’s basketball team to a second overtime, where it edged the Maryville junior varsity 93-89 on Thursday. Michael Robertson added 12 points and Philip Jurick had 11 points, 11 blocks and 19 rebounds for the Tigers, playing for the first time in 26 days. Dustin Baxter scored 37 points for Maryville.
* CLEVELAND, Tenn. — The Cleveland State women’s basketball team also played for the first time in 26 days and thumped Chattahoochee Tech on Thursday, 80-54, but the Chattahoochee men tripped the Cougars in overtime, 87-83. Mariah Lawrence scored 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting, 5-of-6 on 3-pointers, and Kierra Johnson had 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Lady Cougars (12-1). Shamika Hayes scored 24 for the visitors. Keith Johnson had 25 points, Lortavious Smith scored 17 and Fitzgerald White had 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists for the Cougars.
* WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Kiaira Cooper scored 15 points and Jessie Blankenship had 13 points and 11 rebounds as Covenant College downed Salem 65-57 in women’s basketball Thursday. Cooper made seven of eight free throws down the stretch.
* Brooke McKinnon scored 25 points and Madison Lee had 16 points and five assists as Lee University won 94-50 in women’s basketball at Tennessee Temple. The Lady Flames (10-3) won’t play Saturday as scheduled because of the death of coach Marty Rowe’s mother. Cherelle James had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Temple.