For the second straight year, Cleveland State will be playing Walters State for the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII women’s basketball championship.
After nationally eighth-ranked Walters improved to 31-0 for the season by beating Southwest Tennessee, Cleveland’s second-seeded Lady Cougars held off third seed Roane State, 60-56, in the final game Thursday at Gallatin, Tenn. That sets up a 5 p.m. EST final today for a berth in the women’s national tournament in Lubbock, Texas. Freshman Leisa Butler led the Lady Cougars (24-5) with 19 points, while JLynn Majors and Ny’Asia Holmes added 11 and 10. The top two men’s seeds, Southwest Tennessee and Motlow, play today at 3. Southwest’s Saluqis beat Chattanooga State 83-67 in the semifinals.
‘ Dalton State lost 73-66 to Auburn-Montgomery in a Thursday quarterfinal game of the Southern States Athletic Conference men’s basketball tournament.
That left the Roadrunners, who won the NAIA Division I national championship in the program’s first year of eligibility last season, 19-11 for this season. They had two first-team all-conference selections in Jordan Bowling and Jalen Robinson, and DSC’s Jamaine Burrey was the SSAC defensive player of the year. Marcel Hawkins made the All-SSAC second team. Bowling, the MVP of the 2015 national tournament, also was the Champions of Character representative. Robinson became eligible for DSC on Dec. 30 and wound up leading the team in scoring at 14.8 points per game. Burrey is fifth in the NAIA in steals with 65. Hawkins had 16 points and three steals and Robinson and Burrey had 14 and 13 points with 12 and seven rebounds in Thursday’s loss.
‘ Covenant College not only won the USA South basketball tournament and is playing tonight at Emory in the school’s first NCAA Division III national tournament, but coach Kyle Taylor’s Scots also received the USAS sportsmanship award for their sport, following the Covenant men’s soccer team in the fall.