Lee University senior forward Summer Lanter from Soddy-Daisy already was the Gulf South Conference women’s soccer player of the year. Now she is the D2CCA South Region player of the year, and Lee senior defenders McKenzie Bricker and Meagan Newman join her on the all-region first team. The Lady Flames, 17-4-1 and ranked sixth nationally in Division II, are the only region member with three first-teamers, and they play GSC rival West Florida today at 4 p.m. at Carson-Newman in the NCAA tournament’s South Region final. Carson-Newman then will play Columbus State for the Southeast title, and that winner will play Lee or UWF on Sunday. Lanter has 19 goals this year, including 10 in the last six matches. “She is a tremendous leader for us and has such a knack for scoring goals in crucial moments,” coach Chris Hennessey said in a Lee release.
* Regular-season Appalachian Athletic Conference champion Bryan College (12-6) plays at No. 1 seed Martin Methodist (20-1) in the opening round of the NAIA women’s soccer tournament Saturday, and AAC tournament champion Tennessee Wesleyan (13-4-2) plays at sixth seed Keiser (15-2-1) in Florida. Martin Methodist, both the regular-season and tournament champion in the Southern States Athletic Conference, is making its 14th consecutive national-tournament appearance.
Tennis
* University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s tennis coach Chad Champer announced Thursday the signing of three-time Alabama Class 6A individual state champion Lilly Holmes from Florence High School. She is a four-star prospect according to Tennisrecruiting.net, which has her as the No. 2 prospect in Alabama and No. 44 in the Southeast. “Not only is she going to be a great player here at UTC, but she is also an excellent student and fun lady,” Camper said in a UTC release. “The first time I watched her play, I knew I needed to get this girl on our team. She has a big game and a great work ethic.” Also a two-time member of her state’s Southern Junior Cup team, Holmes was an undefeated prep state champion as a freshman and a sophomore and was her school’s overall athlete of the year as a junior.
Carley BramanRunning
* After leading Girls Preparatory School to a state cross country championship, Carley Braman signed scholarship papers this week to run for Georgia Southern. She will compete on the Eagles’ cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams. She also talked to Auburn, LSU and Berry College and said her final two were Auburn and GSU. “I like the girls on the team, and the coaches, and I plan on studying nursing and they have a good nursing program,” she said Thursday at a GPS celebration of her signing. Braman finished seventh, fourth, third and second in her four state cross country meets, while the Bruisers were third, third, second and first. She led them each time. She was fifth in the 3200 in the state track meet last spring, when she helped GPS finish second in the 4×800 relay. “She’s certainly the most decorated distance runner we’ve had at GPS in 20 years,” coach Jeff Gaither said. “She puts in a lot of work, and she may be the most durable distance runner I’ve ever worked with. I never had to back off in her training. She’s got the most out of her ability at this level, but I think she will get even better in college.”
Basketball
* Tennessee Wesleyan won an AAC basketball doubleheader at Bryan on Thursday, 77-68 in the women’s game and 73-68 in the men’s. Hunter Simpson had 20 points, nine rebounds and six assists and Kenzie Conn scored 16 points for TWU’s Lady Bulldogs (3-2, 2-0). Deandra Luna scored 21, Karli Combs added 13 and Tonesha Allison had 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals for the Lady Lions (3-2, 0-1). Kenny Dean had 18 points and seven rebounds and Aundre Reid had 10 points and eight rebounds for the Bulldogs (3-5, 1-1), while EJ Bush and Isaiah McClain scored 13 points apiece, Brice Cusick had 10 rebounds with 11 points and Terrance Scales had seven assists for the Lions (5-2, 0-1).
Golf
* Dalton High School’s Katelyn Skiffen will stay nearby to play college golf. She signed this week to continue her career at Dalton State, which is ranked No. 2 in the NAIA. A three-time all-state golfer, she was part of a Georgia state champion team with the Lady Catamounts and was the medalist at this year’s SJGT Grand National Junior Classic at Opelika, Ala. “It is really exciting to add Katelyn to the Roadrunner family,” DSC coach Jim McGrew said in a release. “She is the kind of student-athlete that will help us contend for championships and represent our program in a positive way. The fact that is a hometown product makes it that much more special.” Skiffen said she is “really happy” for the opportunity. “I had several other offers, but I felt like Dalton was the best fit for me not only for golf but for my education.”
General
* Covenant College is leading the USA South Presidents Cup overall and women’s standings through the fall sports seasons. Covenant won the West Division regular season and the conference tournament in volleyball, finished second in men’s and women’s cross country and reached the tournament semifinals in both women’s and men’s soccer.