From staff reports
Shayla Fields (Salisbury, N.C. State) is playing professional basketball in Turkey. Her season got under way on Oct. 25.
n Charlotte’s K.J. Sherrill (West Rowan) and Shamari Spears (Salisbury) are expected to see action when the 49ers play a home exhibition against J.C. Smith at Halton Arena at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
n Senior Michael Gore (South Rowan) and the Coker Cobras open with an exhibition game at Pittsburgh on Sunday.
n George Washington freshman Shi-Heria Shipp (Salisbury) will take part in a FOX SportsSouth televised game on Dec. 1 when GW travels to Tennessee.
n South Carolina State’s Sophilia Hipps (North Rowan) opens the season Nov. 15 at home against Savannah State.
The senior averaged 14.3 points per game last season, hit 80 percent of her free throws and drilled a team-high 53 3-pointers.
n UNC Asheville’s Katie Wise (South) should be healthy for this season. The 6-foot-3 Wise torn an ACL her senior year in high school and redshirted last year. UNC Asheville welcomes Mars Hill for an exhibition on Friday.
n Meredith’s Brittany Cornelius (East Rowan) opens the season on Nov. 20 in a tournament in Harrisonburg, Va., against host Eastern Mennonite. The senior led the Avenging Angels in scoring (13.3), rebounding (7.6), assists and steals last season.
n Lees-McRae senior Rene Roberson (West) opens the season with an exhibition game at Appalachian State on Sunday.
n A number of former county standouts will soon debut in the Division II ranks, including Catawba’s Taylor May (South), Brevard’s Katelynne Poole (East), Pfeiffer’s Kia Rice (Salisbury), Elizabeth City State’s De’Rya Wylie (Salisbury) and Shaw’s Shemieka Brown (North).
Brown and the Shaw Bears play an exhibition game at Old Dominion on Nov. 10.
n Quon Cuthbertson (North) has a chance to make an impact at Guilford Tech Community College this season.
n Doug Campbell (Salisbury) is back for his junior season at Rio Grande, Rashonda Mayfield (West) returns for her second season at Voorhees, and Carly Booth (Davie) is back at Pfeiffer.
n Livingstone athleticsLivingstone’s volleyball team wrapped up the season with a sweep of Voorhees on Sunday. Lashaundra Ferguson had 17 kills for the Blue Bears, who finished 16-8.
n CIAA footballThree teams tied for first place in the CIAA’s Eastern Division with 5-2 records when regular-season play concluded on Saturday.
Bowie State won the right to play in the league championship game by coming out on top in a coin toss with Virginia Union and Elizabeth City State.
Athletic directors simultaneously flipped coins. Bowie State’s AD flipped a tail, while the other two coins were heads.
Bowie State (6-4), which lost its last two games, now will take on Western champ Fayetteville State (7-3) in Durham this Saturday at 1 p.m.
Call (757) 865-0071 to order tickets.
n Shrine BowlWest Rowan’s varsity cheerleaders are one of six squads invited to participate in the Shrine Bowl parade and to cheer at the game.
West’s Chris Smith and K.P. Parks were named to the Shrine Bowl team.
n Cross countryDavie County’s girls placed fourth in the 4A Midwest Regional at Hagan Stone Park and qualified for Saturday’s state meet at Tanglewood.
Freshman Anna McBride was sixth in 19:47.7 for the War Eagles. Caitlin Tutterow (20th), Holly Thompson (27th), Emerald Tuthill (44th) and Heather Whitehead (45th) were Davie’s other scorers.
Mount Tabor’s boys and girls swept regional titles.
Davie’s boys finished 11th. The War Eagles were led by Jacob Whitaker (47th) and Johnny Zarbock (48th).
n Action begins at Tanglewood at 10:30 a.m. with the 1A boys state championship. The other seven races follow.
n UNC Asheville’s Adam Vick (Salisbury) was 57th in 29:51 in the 8K Big South Championships held at Shady Oaks in Winston-Salem.
n Western Carolina’s Olivia Jacobs (South Rowan) ran 20:58.55 in the 5K Southern Conference Championships at Elon and finished 82nd.
n Prep soccerThe NCHSAA state playoffs are set to start on Wednesday.
CCC champ Salisbury (20-1-1) will play host to a wild card team in the first round.
Carson finished fourth in the NPC and will be in the 3A bracket. Official brackets had not been posted Sunday night, but the Cougars will likely head to Marvin Ridge (16-2-1).