The Lee University women’s basketball team pinned the first loss of the season on longtime nemesis and nationally top-ranked Union University, 56-51, and the Lee men won 71-67 in the Gulf South Conference doubleheader Thursday night in Jackson, Tennessee. Both women’s teams shot 35 percent from the field, but Kayla Tillie was 5-for-7 including 3-of-4 on 3-point shots while scoring 15 points for Lee (10-3, 4-1). Tillie also led the Lady Flames in rebounds with eight, and Abby Bertram scored nine points. Jada Smith had 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Union (12-1, 4-1), which was 3-for-20 on 3s and 8-of-17 on free throws. The Lady Bulldogs lead the series 29-4. Colton Blevins scored all 15 of his points in a 38-29 first half for the Flames (8-5, 5-0), and Cody Jones, Ryan Montgomery and Michael McGuirk totaled 17, 14 and 12 in their team’s seventh victory in a row. Samory Gueye scored 21 for Union (7-6, 2-3).
» Dalton State won 67-55 at home over Faulkner in Southern States Athletic Conference men’s basketball as Sean Chislom had 15 points and 15 rebounds and Randy Bell also scored 15 points. Raheem England added 12 on 6-of-9 shooting plus seven rebounds in the fourth consecutive win for the Roadrunners (8-5, 3-2). Faulkner is 9-4, 2-3.
UTC’s Fabian Gutierrez was the Southern Conference wrestler of the month for December.Wrestling
» Fabian Gutierrez, one of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s two standout 125-pounders, was honored Thursday as Southern Conference wrestler of the month for December. Gutierrez, a sophomore, began the month with a second-place finish to then-eighth-ranked Ryan Millhof of Arizona State in Southern Illinois-Edwardsville’s Cougar Classic – after wins by pin and technical fall – and in the Mocs’ dual at Ohio he pinned a past NCAA tournament qualifier. Gutierrez is 15-4 overall and ranked 20th nationally at 125 by InterMat Wrestling.
Golf
» The 2018 NJCAA Division I Fall Preview golf champion has signed to play the next three years for UTC. In his first semester at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Alabama, Matt Smith tied for third in the Wallace State Invitational with a 6-under-par 210 for 54 holes in addition to winning the national Preview in Viera, Florida, with a 4-under 212. He had top-five Class 3A state finishes as a junior and senior at Clements High School in Athens, Alabama, and was a four-time county champion. “There were a lot of Power Five conference schools talking to him, trying to get him to wait another year to evaluate him further,” UTC coach Mark Guhne said in a school release Thursday. “We believe in what Matt brings to our team. I think that (three-year) commitment was as important to him as it was to us. We missed out on him in high school. When I say ‘we,’ I mean a lot of (NCAA) Division I coaches. Matt has the ability to be a major contributor.”