From staff and wire reports
Catawba’s women’s basketball team lost to Johnson C. Smith 83-68 on Saturday in the final day of the Comfort Suites Classic at Goodman Gym.
Catawba missed its first 13 shots and fell behind 14-0.
The Indians trailed 49-31 at halftime.
Catawba (4-2) rallied within 75-64 in the second half, but the Golden Bulls (4-3) scored the next eight points to clinch the victory.
Demetria Bell had 19 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Golden Bulls, who beat Catawba 60-41 on the boards. J.C. Smith had 23 offensive rebounds.
Maggie Sullivan scored 20 points for Catawba. Pamela Muldrow had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
n Lenoir-Rhyne rolled over Virginia Union in the other Comfort Suites game on Saturday.
Amber Holt hit five 3s and scored 17 points for the Bears (4-1), who broke a school record with 12 3-pointers.
Dashia Chandler had 13 points for the Panthers (2-3).
Sullivan represented Catawba on the all-tournament team. L-R’s Holt and Denise Moore, J.C. Smith’s Bell and Virginia Union’s Tonaye Smith rounded out the squad.
J.C. SMITH (83) ó Bell 19, Breaux 14, Stywalt 14, Quattlebaum 8, Jackson 6, McClelland 6, Morris 5, Matthews 4, Hatcher 3, Jones 3, Smith 1.
CATAWBA (68) ó Sullivan 20, Muldrow 10, N. Long 9, K. Long 9, Clark 7, Connor 5, Higgins 4, Whitley 4, Dameron.
J.C. Smith 49 34 ó 83
Catawba 31 37 ó 68
n Men’s college basketball
Livingstone defeated Lincoln 74-70 on Friday and took on Wilberforce on Saturday in the Lake Shore Classic in Gary, Ind.
n Wingate’s men rallied to beat fifth-ranked Northern Kentucky 72-69 on Saturday.
Catawba’s men take on Northern Kentucky (4-1) today at 2 p.m. at Wingate’s Cuddy Arena.
DeMario Mattox led Wingate (3-3) with 15 points.
n Junior Hairston (West Rowan) scored 11 points and had six rebounds for Towson in a 64-47 loss to unbeaten Villanova in the Palestra on Friday.
n Michael Gore (South Rowan) had three points and three rebounds for Coker in an 88-66 loss against Liberty on Friday.
n Women’s college hoops
N.C. State’s Shayla Fields (Salisbury) scored 23 points in a 58-42 loss to Florida International on Friday and had 23 points and seven rebounds in a 66-51 loss to Auburn on Saturday.
n Sophilia Hipps (North Rowan) scored 14 points and had four rebounds for South Carolina State in a 67-64 victory against UNC Asheville on Saturday.
It was the first win of the season for S.C. State.
n Bartles with new team
Brett Bartles (A.L. Brown) was released earlier this month by the Cincinnati Reds and has signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The former Duke standout batted .241 with three homers, eight doubles and 23 RBIs while playing at Dayton, Sarasota and Billings in the Reds organization in 2008.
Bartles, a 30th-round pick by the Reds, batted .322 with five homers and 28 RBIs while playing for the Gulf Coast Reds and Billings in 2007.
n Abdalah 5th in region
Local runner Marianne Abdalah, 9, placed fifth in the 10-under division in the 30th annual Foot Locker Cross Country Southeast Championships at Charlotte’s McAlpine Park on Saturday.
The Southeast region is 14 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Abdalah received a gold medal for placing in the top 10 and all-region recognition.
Abdalah will compete in the AAU National Championships next week in Decatur, Ala, and her 7-year-old brother, René, will compete in the 8-under division.
n West Christmas BBQ
West Rowan High School Athletic Boosters are currently taking orders for their Christmas BBQ.
Money raised will be used to support all sports on campus.
The club is selling Boston Butts and turkeys for $25, pork shoulders for $35 and pork loins for $40.
Pick up will be Tuesday, Dec. 23 after 8 a.m. at the school.
Ordering deadline is Dec. 15.
Contact Margaret Meek at m.d.meek@hotmail.com or 704-636-8027 to place an order or for more information.
n College football
Josh Bush (West Davidson) made two tackles for Wake Forest in a 23-10 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday.
n Billy Riddle (Davie) made two tackles for Appalachian State in a playoff victory over South Carolina State on Saturday.
n Prep basketball
Hard to believe, but the 10-team NPC will begin conference basketball games on Tuesday.
West Rowan’s games with Mooresville on Tuesday have been postponed because of the Falcons’ involvement in the 3A football playoffs.
n Tar Heel women win
FREEPORT, Bahamas ó Imam McFarland scored 16 points to lead No. 2 North Carolina, but one of her 14 rebounds may have been the most important play of the game.
McFarland grabbed her own miss and scored with 11 seconds remaining to help the Tar Heels hold on to beat Oregon State 82-78 on Saturday night in the title game of the Junkanoo Jam.
“Our coaches have been working us hard on getting aggressive around the basket, and really focusing on going after the ball,” McFarland said. “We’ve had several rebounding practices recently, and I think that extra effort really paid off.”
The win was North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell’s 791st, moving her closer to becoming the fourth Division I coach with 800 career victories.
“I thought we played really well in the first half, but we didn’t maintain that same intensity in the second half,” Hatchell said. “But the good thing is we won, and we’ll learn a lot from a win like this. We’ve got to learn to dictate play and take it to the other team for the full 40 minutes, but we’ll get better.”
Brittney Davis scored 22 points and Talisa Rhea added 18 for the Beavers (3-1).
North Carolina (8-0) opened an 11-2 lead and cruised to a 45-30 halftime advantage, but the Beavers slowly cut down the deficit in the second half.
The Tar Heels still led 75-62 with 6:25 left when they suddenly went cold, going scoreless for the next 41/2 minutes. Oregon State pulled within three on Brittany Kennedy’s 3-pointer with 2:56 left, then to within one on a basket by Davis with 45 seconds remaining.
North Carolina called a timeout and set up its offense, and Cetera DeGraffenreid missed on a long 3-point attempt. McFarland grabbed the loose ball, missed a putback, got her own rebound and finally scored to give the Tar Heels an 80-77 lead.
“I’m really proud of the way our team played tonight,” Oregon State coach LaVonda Wagner said. “We played as a team.”