Area sports briefs: Indians lose pair at Carson-Newman

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 1, 2011

From staff reports
Catawba’s men’s basketball team lost 74-66 in its SAC opener at Carson-Newman on Wednesday night.
The Eagles (5-3) led 37-33 at halftime.
Antoine Davis scored 21 points for the Eagles, and Ishmael Sanders had 16.
The Indians (3-3) were led by freshmen Willie Gilmore (15 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Tyrece Little (13 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks).
High-scoring Keon Moore was held to nine points on 3-for-16 shooting.
Catawba shot just 3-for-19 on 3s and hit just 33.9 percent from the field.
The Indians got as close as 60-56 with 5:47 left on a 3-pointer by Lee Martin, but the Eagles held on.
Catawba is home on Saturday afternoon against unbeaten and fourth-ranked Lincoln Memorial.
CATAWBA (66) — Gilmore 15, Little 13, Moore 9, Knight 8, Huntley 6, Martin 5, Lovelace 3, Strickland 3, Thomson 2, Tyree 2, Watson.
CARSON-NEWMAN (74) — Davis 21, Sanders 16, Eubanks 14, Johnson 11, Smith 4, Leatherwood 3, Pope 2, Johnson 2, Elliott 1.
Catawba 27 39 — 66
C-Newman 33 41 — 74
Prep realignment
Preliminary realignment plans were released this week by the NCHSAA for the 2013-14 academic year.
It should be emphasized that this is the first draft, not the finished product. There will be changes, tweaks and adjustments.
Computers were employed to determine optimum conferences based on school size and geography, but there were some weird results, including North Lincoln somehow finding itself in a 3A league with Cabarrus schools Central Cabarrus, Concord, Cox Mill, Hickory Ridge and Northwest Cabarrus.
The best news is North Rowan is certain to escape the widely scattered 1A YVC. The Cavaliers are slated to play in a 2A league that projects to include Salisbury, High Point Andrews, Lexington, Thomasville, Trinity, West Davidson and Wheatmore.
The NCHSAA wants to carve up the NPC like a Thanksgiving turkey, with the four Rowan schools staying together as a group, but the three Iredell schools being shipped west to play against new foes in the Hickory area.
Believe it or not, the new playmates projected for West Rowan, East Rowan, South Rowan and Carson in a six-team league are Asheboro and Southwestern Randolph.
It’s hard to justify that combination. Davidson schools Ledford, East Davidson and Central Davidson also will be 3A and are quite a bit closer to Rowan than the Randolph schools. But the initial draft has that Davidson trio playing in a league with Forsyth and Guilford opponents.
The NCHSAA’s first draft doesn’t change much for Davie. The six CPC teams are projected to stay intact in a 4A league, and they’ll be joined by Winston-Salem Parkland.
A.L. Brown is projected to be part of a 4A league that includes Hopewell, Hough, Mallard Creek, Mooresville, North Meck, Robinson and Vance.
Mount Pleasant is projected for a 2A league consisting of primarily Union County schools.
Catawba women
The Catawba women’s basketball team lost 79-71 at Carson-Newman in a SAC opener on Wednesday night.
Jolysa Connor led Catawba (2-4) with 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Nisha Long had 14 points and seven assists. Freshman Mallory Clay had 13 points and three steals. Dana Hicks had 10 rebounds.
Catawba trailed by 19 at halftime. The Indians scored 50 points in the second half and got within six points with 1:33 remaining.
Zoriah Williams scored 18 points to lead the Eagles (5-1)
Catawba plays a SAC game at home at 2 p.m. on Saturday against Lincoln Memorial.
CATAWBA (71) — Connor 17, Long 14, Clay 13, Bully 9, Hicks 8, Lewis 5, May 3, Merritt 2, Coleman, Morrison, Welfare, Sullivan, Mull.
CARSON-NEWMAN (79) — Williams 18, Dye 13, James 12, Miles 11, Depew 8, Howard 7, Hunter 6, Moody 4.
Catawba 20 51 — 71
C-Newman 39 40 — 79
College softball
Elon freshman pitcher Chelsea White (East Rowan) is progressing right on schedule from the torn ACL she suffered in the 3A state championship tournament and is now throwing fastballs and changeups at about 75 percent.
White hopes to be released from rehab by doctors in January and plans to play this season. She’ll wear No. 11 for the Fighting Phoenix, the same number she’s worn since the started playing softball.
Pfeiffer women’s hoops
Jodie Lemons had 11 points and 16 rebounds as Pfeiffer’s women’s basketball team rolled 82-51 against Barber-Scotia at Merner Gym on Tuesday.
Pfeiffer (4-3) set a school record with 10 blocked shots. Brittany Cox added 19 points for the Falcons. Lindsay Lee had 12 points and 16 rebounds for Barber-Scotia.
College men’s hoops
Brevard’s Darius Moose (Carson) had six points and eight rebounds in Wednesday’s overtime loss to Anderson.
College football
Livingstone senior defensive back Kirkland Davidson, who had three interceptions this season, will be participating in the inaugural D-II vs. NAIA Senior Bowl on Saturday in Middletown, NY.
Mars Hill’s record-breaking running back Jonas Randolph was named the Super Region II Offensive Player of the Year.
Nineteen SAC players made the Daktronics all-region squad, but none from Catawba.
Prep wrestling
Salisbury opened the season by splitting a pair of matches at Albemarle on Wednesday.
The Hornets lost to East Rowan 49-27 but bounced back to beat the host Bulldogs 65-18.
Tyrell Blakeney (106 pounds), Sam Murph (113), Skylar Mikkelson (126), Roy Vinson (132), Raylon Coleman (145), Holden Hughley (152), Donovan Perez (160), Demetri Barber (170) and Parker McKeithan (285) registered pins against Albemarle.
D’Andre Hunter won by tech fall and Josh Billingslea won via forfeit.
Prep hoops
Sarrah Holman scored 12 points for Carson’s girls in Tuesday’s win against Cox Mill. Her name was omitted from the boxscore.
Carson is at home tonight for a quadupleheader against Central Cabarrus. The varsity girls game should get started by 6:30 p.m.
Jayvee hoops
Kaleigh Troutman scored 16 points to lead East Rowan’s jayvee girls to a 43-17 win against Hickory Ridge on Tuesday.
Amani Ajayi scored 13 for the Mustangs (2-0), while Shelby Davis had eight.
Krystia Jones scored eight for the Ragin’ Bulls.
East is at home against Mount Pleasant on Friday.
8th-grade hoops
Girls
Southeast 40, China Grove 11
Taylor Martin led the Patriots (1-2) with 18 points. Shanice Miller and Addison Collins added 10 each.
West 35, North 32
The Bulldogs (3-0) were led by Khaila Hall’s 14 points. Jessica Yates scored eight, and Tatciana Cowan added six.
Yates and Peyton Greene paced the Bulldogs on the boards.
Special Washington led the Mavericks with 16 points.
West travels to Knox today.
Sacred Heart hoops
Sacred Heart’s varsity boys fell 50-45 to Winston-Salem’s Our Lady of Mercy at the Boyd Dolphin Tank.
Joseph Harrison made four 3-pointers, went 6-for-6 from the foul line and led the Dolphins with 20 points.
Max Fisher had nine points, five rebounds and five steals, while Walker Latimer had eight points and eight boards. Reilly Gokey scored five points, and Justin Boyd played outstanding defense.
Sacred Heart plays Friday at Concordia Christian.
Sacred Heart’s jayvee boys beat Our Lady of Mercy 31-16 on Tuesday.
Will Taylor led the Dolphins (3-1) with eight points. Michael Childress had seven points and five assists. Jack Fisher had six points and eight rebounds. Eric Turnbull scored six points in a fourth- quarter run.
The jayvee Dolphins play Friday at home against Concordia Lutheran.
Sacred Heart’s jayvee girls overcame a 9-0 deficit to beat Our Lady of Mercy 25-14.
Mary Sobataka had nine points for the Dolphins, Anne Marie Metz scored eight, and Julia Honeycutt six.
YMCA hoops
J.F. Hurley YMCA still is looking for teams for its Senior High Church League basketball. Any church team interested can call Kenno Shoaf at the YMCA at 704-636-0111. The season begins on Thursday, Dec. 15.