Covenant College will host the USA South men’s basketball tournament semifinals and final Friday and Saturday after holding off Huntingdon, 67-66, in a quarterfinal game Tuesday night on Lookout Mountain. Covenant (18-8), the No. 1 seed from the West Division, got 18 points and nine rebounds from Will Crumly, 17 points with five 3-point baskets and four steals from James Mitchell and 13 points and seven assists from Bailey Spragg. Isaiah King scored 18 points for the Hawks (13-13), the West fourth seed. Layups by Spragg and Mitchell Hollis put the Scots up 65-64 and 67-64 with 1:52 and 1:02 to go, and the only score after that was a layup by Huntingdon’s James Harris (10 points) at 0:36. King missed a jump shot and Mykel Woods a tip try in the final six seconds. Friday, Covenant will play Methodist at 7 p.m., after Maryville faces Averett at 5 p.m.
‘ After completing a 26-0 run through the Appalachian Athletic Conference, the 28-1 Bryan College Lady Lions moved up from 13th to 12th this week in the NAIA Division II coaches’ poll. With a national tournament berth already secure, they are seeded No. 1 for the AAC tourney that starts Thursday morning in Kingsport, Tennessee. No. 21 Milligan (25-5) is seeded second; Tennessee Wesleyan’s Lady Bulldogs (20-8) are third. Bryan (15-13) is seeded fourth in the eight-team men’s field.
Tennis
‘ The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s tennis team won its fifth straight match with a 6-1 victory over NCAA Division II program Carson-Newman at Baylor School on Tuesday. The Mocs improved to 5-2 in 2019 with singles wins from Polina Goloputova, Caroline Hall, Delaney Edwards, Emma Van Hee and Anna Didkovskaya. UTC won a hard-fought doubles point with 7-5 victories by Annie Tarwater with Bogdana Zaporozhets (rallying from down 5-1) and Goloputova with Hall.
Baseball
‘ Lee University pitcher Alex Butler from Chattanooga and Baylor School was selected the Gulf South Conference baseball freshman of the week for his six shutout innings in a 2-1 victory over Valdosta State. Butler (1-0 with a 1.13 earned average) allowed only four hits and one walk in the game.
‘ Sewanee sophomore left-hander Trey Holland repeated his selection from last week on the national D3baseball team of the week, as chosen by D3baseball.com, and this time he was joined by Tigers teammate Jared Demkowicz. Holland additionally was the Tennessee Sports Writers Association college pitcher of the week for his seven-inning two-hit shutout of MacMurray that also included a career-high 11 strikeouts. Demkowicz batted leadoff in two wins over MacMurray and had only three official at-bats but also walked four times and was hit twice by pitches for an .889 on-base percentage. He hit a three-run home run and scored five runs.
‘ Bryan senior first baseman Lake Burris from North Murray High School gave southeastern Tennessee a sweep of the TSWA weekly college honors as the state player of the week. In four games last week, Burris batted .615 (8-for-13) with four homers, a double, 10 RBIs and seven runs scored. He’s batting .357 through 12 games with a .905 slugging percentage, seven homers and two doubles in 15 hits and 19 RBIs.
Lacrosse
‘ Lee’s Dariana Blanton was named the GSC women’s lacrosse freshman of the week for her five goals and nine draw controls in the Lady Flames’ 20-17 season-opening win over Erskine. Her fifth score capped Lee’s 4-0 game-ending run.
Fishing
‘ Braden Marshall of Hixson finished sixth Saturday in the FLW Bass Fishing League’s Choo Choo Division season opener on Lake Guntersville. His five-bass limit totaled 20 pounds, 9 ounces, earning him $763. Chad Aaron of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, won $4,363 with his first-place 25-14. Austin Banther and Greg Lamb of Harrison finished 19th and 20th at 15-13 and 15-5, and Daniel Trevino Jr. of Langston, Alabama, got the $580 big bass award for one weighing 8-12. Hixson’s David Freeman and Athens’ Todd Harris were second and third among the co-anglers at 15-14 and 14-3, good for $1,041 and $692.