By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
Area college athletes roundup …
Hey, this Jamel Carpenter guy might be pretty good, after all.
At the rate he’s going, Carpenter (West Rowan) may be inducted into the CIAA Hall of Fame next week.
A two-time Rowan County Player of the Year who spent the last two seasons at Florida Community College, Carpenter has scored 30 points in each of his first two basketball outings for Fayetteville State’s Broncos.
On Saturday, he sparked a 100-85 win against Lincoln, shooting 11-for-14 from the field and drilling five 3-pointers. He also pulled down 10 rebounds.
n Meredith’s season started a little later than most, but Brittany Cornelius (East Rowan) wasted little time showing she plans to have a big senior year.
Meredith lost to Eastern Mennonite 86-76 in its opener on Friday, but Cornelius hit five 3-pointers, scored 25 points and had seven rebounds.
Twenty-four hours later, in an 80-65 loss to Virginia Wesleyan, Cornelius had 23 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.
n South Carolina State senior guard Sophilia Hipps (North Rowan) continued her sizzling start with 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists in a 59-54 victory against Furman on Saturday.
With S.C. State clinging to a two-point lead with 40 seconds left, Hipps made a steal and hit two free throws to help the Bulldogs hold on.
n Rio Grande’s Doug Campbell (Salisbury) stayed hot, canning 20 points in a 96-72 loss to Cedarville on Saturday.
Carpenter, Cornelius, Hipps and Campbell, players from four different Rowan schools, all sccored 20 or more on Saturday ó quite a day for local basketball.
n You haven’t seen Lees-McRae senior Renee´ Roberson’s name on the “Area Athletes’ list yet mostly because she won’t be in action this semester.
Roberson (West) is currently a student in Ireland, working toward her degree in international studies.
Coach Sebastian Wild said he’s looking forward to Roberson returning to the court for the Bobcats in January.
n Katie Wise (South Rowan) hit her only shot attempt for UNC Asheville in an 82-58 victory against the Lees-McRae-less Bobcats on Saturday.
FOOTBALLScotty Robinson (Salisbury) made a major contribution to East Carolina’s 37-21 win against UAB on Saturday.
The senior made four solo tackles and assisted on seven others. He had two tackles for loss and also shared a sack. His big plays caused 17 yards in losses for the Blazers.
n Tristan Dorty (West) made three tackles for Wake Forest in a 41-28 loss against Florida State on Saturday.
n Appalachian State’s Gordy Witte (Salisbury) assisted on two tackles in Saturday’s 19-14 victory against Western Carolina.
Witte and the Mountaineers will take on South Carolina State in the first round of the FCS playoffs.
n Mark Sides (South) kicked off once in that game for Western’s Catamounts.
n In a 35-14, season-ending victory against Savannah State, N.C. Central freshman Frankie Cardelle (Salisbury) had a very busy day.
He was 5-for-5 on PATs, averaged 64 yards on six kickoffs and punted four times for an average of 31 yards.
Cardelle’s handled punting duties for the Eagles down the stretch and averaged 36.6 yards on 12 boots.
He finished 31-for-33 on PATs and 11-for-20 on field goals. He paced the Eagles in scoring with 64 points.
n Ben Erdman (West) averaged 36.5 yards on his two punts in Coastal Carolina’s 30-23, season-ending loss to Charleston Southern on Saturday.