The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football team officially ended the Russ Huesman coaching era with its third consecutive top-10 final ranking. Huesman’s last set of Mocs were 10th in the Football Championship Subdivision coaches’ poll released Monday, to go with a No. 13 placement in the final STATS FCS Top 25 for the 2016 season. Southern Conference rivals Wofford and The Citadel were Nos. 9 and 10 in that one, and The Citadel (10-2) and Wofford (10-4) sandwiched the Mocs (9-4) at Nos. 9 and 11 in the coaches’ list. Huesman’s new team, Richmond, wound up 10-4 and No. 8 in the poll headed by national finalists James Madison (14-1) and Youngstown State (12-4). UTC has been ranked in the Top 25 for 48 consecutive weeks, the sixth-longest active streak in the FCS.
Basketball
* UTC’s Jasmine Joyner was the College Sports Madness Mid-Major and Southern Conference women’s basketball player of the week for games of Jan. 2-8. She averaged 22 points and 10.5 rebounds and blocked nine shots in the Mocs’ two road wins. While moving up to 18th on the all-time NCAA list for career blocks, she shot 68 percent from the field and 90 percent from the free-throw line. She also totaled five assists and only two turnovers and one foul. She leads the nation in blocked shots this season with 63. The UTC women will host East Tennessee State at 2 p.m. Saturday.
* Covenant College freshman Caleb Haynes from Section, Ala., is the USA South men’s basketball rookie of the week for the second time in a row. He had a career-high 16 points, five rebounds and three assists in a 93-82 overtime win against LaGrange in the Scots’ only contest of the week. He scored seven points in overtime and shot 7-of-10 from the field for the game. The Scots host Maryville at 7:30 tonighit.
* Lee University pulled out two close Gulf South Conference home wins Monday against West Florida, 89-86 in double overtime in the women’s game and 66-64 in the men’s. The men’s victory ended a four-game losing streak and finally got first-year Flames coach Bubba Smith his 200th collegiate win. Jervon Johnson was 6-of-11 on 3-point shots and scored 23 points for the Flames (7-6, 3-4), while Keevin Tyus had 15 points and 10 rebounds and Cody Jones scored 11 points. Erin Walsh scored 26 points with four 3s for the Lady Flames (10-3, 5-2), who got 18 points, eight rebounds and three blocks from Lindsey Roddy, 15 points from Abby Bertram and 13 rebounds and five assists from Shelby Brown. Roddy tied the score at 67 with two seconds left in regulation, and Carrie Cheeks made one of her four blocks at the other end to send the game to overtime. Lee took control early in the second overtime with a 6-0 run and held on with defense and free throws. For West Florida (10-3, 5-2), Imani Mulmore scored 20 points and Katie O’Neal had 18, including the tying free throws at the end of the first extra period, while Toni Brewer scored 15 and Courtney Meyer had 20 rebounds and four blocks with 12 points.