For the second season in a row, Covenant College junior forward Will Crumly is the men's basketball player of the year in the USA South conference. He is only the second person to achieve that, the first since the mid-1990s. Sophomore teammate Chris Barnette made the all-conference third team, and senior Mitchell Hollis was the Scots' representative on the all-sportsmanship team. Crumly has averaged 17.5 points and 8.7 rebounds a game this season and surpassed 1,300 college points Tuesday night; Barnette has averaged 14.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and a league-best 4.6 assists. The Scots will face Methodist at 5 p.m. Friday in the USAS tournament semifinals at Danville, Virginia. Host Averett plays Huntingdon in the 7 p.m. game. The final is set for 6 p.m. Saturday.
* Playing two days after their assistant coach died in a car wreck, the Chattanooga State men lost 95-73 in the TCCAA's regular-season finale Tuesday at Columbia State. That left Columbia (20-10, 10-8) seeded fourth for the state/region tournament it is hosting starting Friday - and the Tigers (11-16, 8-10) tied for sixth (and seeded seventh) with Motlow State (14-16) and Roane (11-19). Defending champion Cleveland State (9-18, 6-12) is ninth and opens Friday at 3 p.m. EST against Motlow; Chattanooga State faces 10th seed Volunteer State (4-20, 1-17) at 5. The Lady Tigers and Lady Cougars are seeded second and third in the women's tourney and don't play until Sunday.
* The 10th-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan women blitzed seventh seed Montreat 64-44 as the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament began Wednesday in Kingsport. Hannah Cherry scored 13 points and Hannah Troutt and Madison McClurg added 10 each to lead TWU (10-18), which plays 2 seed Reinhardt (25-2) tonight at 7:30. McClurg had seven rebounds. Nationally 13th-ranked Bryan (28-1) faces Milligan (13-18) at noon.
Soccer
* The Chattanooga Football Club announced Tuesday that one-time CFC player Jerry Saint-Vil is back to help with the club's first professional soccer season, which starts Saturday in Oakland, California. He's already had his first pro season, last year with Tormenta FC in USL League One, and played a variety of positions in 19 appearances. A defender from Haiti, he was All-South Region at Palm Beach Atlantic University. Saint-Vil played for CFC against MLS team FC Dallas in 2018. "Jerry can play center back as well as left back. He is strong, athletic and a great presence in the locker room," coach Peter Fuller said in a club release. "He will be a great addition to our club." Advanced single-game tickets for $13 (children, $7) are on sale along with annual passes and flex packages. The home opener at Finley Stadium is March 14 at 3 p.m. against the Michigan Stars. See chattanoogafc.com.
Softball
* Lee University lost 4-0 and won 3-1 in eight innings in NCAA Division II play Wednesday at ninth-ranked North Georgia (15-3). Abby McKinney was 2-for-3 with a seventh-inning tying home run in the win for Lee (10-5), when Lulu Vasquez was 2-for-4 with the go-ahead single and pitched a three-hitter with six strikeouts. Heritage High graduate Shelby Hammontree had North Georgia's RBI hit in that game, after Ringgold alumna Kaylee Womack had one in game one. Only one of the four fourth-inning runs Lee's Shonna Penney (4-1) allowed was earned.
* Coming off an 8-7 road upset of the NAIA's fifth-rannked Georgia Gwinnett, Bryan gave Cumberland its second loss in nine games this season with an 8-6 win Tuesday in Lebanon, Tennessee. A second game was stopped because of darkness. Janica Ensley went 3-for-4 and Addy Keylon was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI for the Lions (4-5), while Hannah O'Shields and Brianna Nagelhout each batted in two runs.
Golf
* Dalton State seniors Ben Rebne and Isabel Rijos were named the Southern States Athletic Conference golfers of the week, each for the fifth time as a Roadrunner. Rebne, from Heritage High School, won the ChampionsGate Invitational in Florida for his sixth collegiate victory. Rijos was sixth in the women's ChampionsGate Preview.
* Belmont junior Jack Uselton from Tullahoma was an Ohio Valley Conference co-male golfer of the week for his 3-0 record in the President's Day Match Play Championships in Weston, Florida.
Tennis
* Sewanee's Ellie Czura and Catherine Owen were rewarded for their weekend 8-2 win at No. 1 doubles against third-ranked Emory by being selected the Southern Athletic Association women's tennis doubles team of the week.
Fishing
* Four Bryan College boats were among the 156 that began the 2020 FLW collegiate national bass tournament Wednesday on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida, and three were in the first-day top 31, led by Conner DiMauro and Cole Sands in sixth place with a five-fish limit totaling 20 pounds, 1 ounce. Jake Lee and Dalton Price were 21st with 16-6, and Justin Botts fishing solo was 31st at 15-1. Sam Houston State had three of the top five duos, one at 24-11 and two at 20-9.
Compiled by Ron Bush. Contact him at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.