The Lee University basketball teams officially began their seasons Friday with GSC/SSC Challenge wins in two states. The Lady Flames pulled away from Saint Leo in the last five minutes for a 75-66 victory in Lakeland, Florida, and the Lee men edged Palm Beach Atlantic 83-80 in Carrollton, Georgia. Abby Bertram led the Lee women with 20 points, including eight in a row after the game was tied at 58, and Camryn Grant and Haley Schubert scored 15 and 13. Lindsey Roddy had eight rebounds. For the Flames, Ryan Montgomery hit five of six 3-point tries and 9 of 10 free throws in scoring 28 points, and Kentrell Evans had 15 points and 10 assists. Josh Lowe scored 13 points.
* Sewanee began its men's season and its Lon Varnell Classic with a 97-85 win Friday against Johnson. Covenant beat Birmingham-Southern 71-66 with 18 points and 15 rebounds from Will Crumly and 17 and 13 points from Chris Barnette and Zack Allen. Joey Knox had 32 points and seven rebounds and Michael Barry had 25 points and six assists for Sewanee, which got 11 points from Jordan Warlick and 10 plus nine rebounds from Adrian Thomas and made 27 of 31 free throws.
Soccer
* The Covenant soccer teams both got past Greensboro College in USA South tournament semfinals Friday, the Lady Scots on penalty kicks (3-1) after a scoreless tie at Maryville and the Scots by a 4-1 score on Lookout Mountain. The finals are Saturday at 6 p.m. at the two sites, against the Maryville women and N.C. Wesleyan men. Lucy Sandhoff had 13 saves for the Lady Scots (10-5-3), and Addy Cronan, Paige Simons and Kyra Duble made PKs. Jesse Riggs had a goal and two assists and Josh Brower a goal and one assist for the Covenant men (18-2-1), whose other scores were by Parker Owen and Mercer Stout.
* The top-seeded and 16th-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan University men's team lost at home for the first time this season Friday, 2-1 to Union College in an Appalachian Athletic Conference semifinal. George Green scored in the 87th minute from a Montel McKenzie assist for TWU (15-3-2), which already had earned a place in the NAIA national tournament with its AAC regular-season title. Edson Bangali scored two first-half goals for Union (11-8-1).
* The third-seeded Sewanee women wound up 8-7-2 for 2019 with a 3-0 loss to No. 2 seed Rhodes in the Southern Athletic Association semifinals in Danville, Kentucky. The Lynx (13-5) had margins of 21-4 in shots, 12-3 in shots on goal and 9-2 in corner kicks. Sam Bourgeois had nine saves in defeat.
* The Dalton State College women ended their season at 6-11 with a 3-1 loss at No. 3 seed Bethel (12-4-1) in the Southern States Athletic Conference tournament. DSC's Adrianna Arjoon scored at 78:06, double-assisted by Sophia Venable and Rocio Carrizales.
Volleyball
* The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga lost 3-2 for the sixth time in eight matches Friday, this one at Furman (6-18, 6-7 Southern Conference), but got 25 kills and nine digs from sophomore Maia Rackel and 17 kills on .424 shooting from senior Dani Szczepanski, back from an Oct. 11 injury. Also for the Mocs (5-21, 0-13), Gylian Finch had 14 kills, Maddie Halsey 55 assists and Megan Kaufman 22 digs. The set scores were 21-25, 27-25, 23-25, 25-21, 15-7.
* Sewanee rallied to edge Millsaps 3-2 (23-25, 14-25, 25-22, 25-23, 15-10) in the SAA tournament in Birmingham, Alabama. Destiny Stewart and Lilly Reilly had 19 and 15 kills and 25 and 19 digs and Constance Connolly had 53 assists and 12 digs for the Tigers (20-9). Anna Ball had 26 digs, Sydney White added 14 and Stephanie Price had nine kills.
Field hockey
* Alex Hornsby's overtime goal at 73:09 extended Sewanee's season at least one day with a 2-1 win over fourth-seeded host Transylvania in the SAA tournament Friday. The fifth-seeded Tigers (6-10) got an earlier goal from Buckley Norman and seven saves from Barbara Canty. They play undefeated Centre in a semifinal Saturday.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.