From staff reports
Catawba’s women’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the SAC tournament with a 75-65 win against Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday at Goodman Gym.
Catawba cruised despite shooting 2-for-17 on 3-pointers. The Indians, who ended a long drought in the tournament, outrebounded the taller Railsplitters (14-13) by a margin of 51-35.
Chloe Bully led the second-seeded Indians (18-9) with 19 points.
Dana Hicks had 17 points and 18 rebounds, while Nisha Long had 13 points and eight assists.
Reserves played a big role in the romp.
Taylor May (South Rowan) scored 11 points and had six rebounds, and Quaneasia Coleman had 10 points and seven boards.
Dayshalee Salaman poured in 19 points for seventh-seeded LMU.
Catawba will meet No. 6 Newberry, a 60-54 winner against Tusculum, on Saturday at 8 p.m. in Hickory.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL (65) — Salaman 19, Cochran 14, Nelson 9, Boddie 9, Bradford 6, Aldridge 4, Musa 4, Samite, Barnett, Richardson.
CATAWBA (75) — Bully 19, Hicks 17, Long 13, May 11, Coleman 10, Connor 5, Lewis, Clay, Merritt, Sullivan.
Linc. Memorial 32 33 — 65
Catawba 37 38 — 75
Catawba men
The season ended for Catawba’s men’s basketball team on Wednesday with a 76-57 loss at Anderson.
The top-seeded Trojans (23-4) rolled into Saturday’s tournament semifinals in Hickory.
Leading eighth-seeded Catawba (9-18) in his final game was senior Justin Huntley. He scored 16 points.
Anderson shot 68 percent before halftime and took a 40-28 lead into the break. The Trojans went a sizzling 11-for-16 on 3-pointers for the game.
Catawba shot 45 percent for the game and was a dismal 2-for-15 from 3-point distance.
Keon Moore added 13 points for the Indians. Tyrece Little scored nine points and grabbed six rebounds.
Denzail Jones scored 15 to pace the Trojans.
CATAWBA (57) — Huntley 16, Moore 13, Little 9, Thomson 7, Drakeford 6, Gilmore 4, Watson 2, Lovelace, Tamer, Strickland.
ANDERSON (76) — Jones 15, Shugart 10, Trull 10, Cobb 9, Hash 8, Lamb 7, McDowell 6, Sledge 6, Adekambi 3, Daniel 2, Jones, McGowan.
Catawba 28 29 — 57
Anderson 40 36 — 76
Prep baseball
Carson got a complete-game pitching effort from sophomore Dillon Atwell and won 7-5 at Cox Mill on Wednesday.
“Atwell pitched a tremendous a game, kept them off-balance and got stronger as the game wore on,” Carson coach Chris Cauble said. “His command was outstanding.”
Atwell fanned eight and walked two. Carson hurlers have shown exemplary control so far this season.
At the plate, the Cougars (1-1) banged out 14 hits.
Chase Johnson and Greg Tonnesen had three apiece, while Colton Laws, freshman Heath Mitchem and Scottie Hinson had two each.
The game was tied 3-3 when Carson scored four runs in the fourth. A hit by Tonnesen got the big inning started.
Austin McNeill had a first-inning triple that led to a run. Laws had two RBIs.
Travis Watkins had two hits and two RBIs for the Chargers.
Carson is scheduled to play at home on Friday afternoon against Robinson.
South Rowan is scheduled to play this afternoon at Northwest Cabarrus, with North Rowan at Lexington.
The Salisbury-Concord game scheduled for Friday has been moved up to tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Concord due to the Spiders’ involvement in Friday’s 3A basketball regional.
North Rowan lost 6-0 to South Stanly on Tuesday in its YVC opener.
South Stanly’s Russ Weiker fired a one-hitter, struck out 10 and walked one.
Thomas Tucker had the only hit for the Cavaliers.
Local golf
Forty-two GARS members played at McCanless earlier this week.
Low ‘A’ flight player with a net of 64.27 was Gerald Barker.
Low ‘B’ flight player with a net of 69.83 was Bert Bollinger.
Low ‘C’ flight player with a net of 63.49 was Bobby Whitesides.
Low ‘D’ flight player with a net of 69.12 was John Garver.
7th-grade hoops
China Grove’s girls beat West Rowan 30-9.
Keara McClary and Krista Peninger scored seven points each for the Red Devils.
West Rowan’s boys beat China Grove 64-37.
“It took a little while for us to find our rhythm, but when we did, we played very well and came out on top,” West coach Sam Moore said.
The Bulldogs (9-2) led 34-18 at halftime. Kortez Weeks led the Bulldogs with 16 points. Armoni Hogue scored 12. Jovon Quarles had nine, Brendon Westbrook scored seven, Brandon Walton had six, and Rodney Howell scored five.
Hogue had seven rebounds. Howell pulled down five.
Dillon Norton led the Red Devils with 10 points. Jacob Cheeseman had six, and Walker Joyce scored five.
North Hills hoops
North Hills’ middle school girls beat Park Ridge Christian 38-21 in the semifinals of the PAC-8 basketball tournament.
Dajah Glenn scored 17 points, and Marissa Murdock had seven.
The North Hills boys advanced with a 57-32 semifinal win against Covenant Classical.
Wes Fazia scored 20 points, Alex Link had 13, and Garrett Beck scored six.
The North Hills girls will play Success Institute for the championship today at 4 p.m., while the NH boys will play Statesville Montessori at 5:15.
Youth basketball
The 14U Phenoms opened the AAU season by winning the East Surry Open.
The Phenoms defeated Pulaski County (Va.) 62-52 and lost to the Carolina Bearcats 64-49 in pool play.
The Phenoms defeated the Statesville Predators 53-29 in a quarterfinal, rallied from a 15-1 deficit to beat the Davie Fastbreak 58-54 in a semifinal and beat Surry’s Bearcats 67-64 in overtime in the final on Kreshon Alexander’s buzzer-beater.
Leading the Phenoms were Donnell Alexander, Austin Russ, Wes Fazia, Deshawn Troutman, Alexander, John Yang and Alex Yang.
Other team members are Bryson Collins, Amara Morris, Ian Bradshaw, Donte Hill, Deshaun Minter, Landon Goodman, Max Fisher and Bravon Goodlett (injured). Next for the Phenoms is the Boone Roundball Classic on March 9-11.
College hoops
Anderson’s Nick Trull and Mars Hill’s Kristen Metcalf were named SAC Basketball Scholar-Athletes of the Year.
Catawba baseball
Brett Underwood went 4-for-4 to lead Catawba’s baseball team to an 8-7 win at Belmont Abbey on Wednesday.
Catawba trailed 6-1 early against the Crusaders (12-7).
The bullpen work of Clay Watson, Nate King, Ryan McClintock and John J. Tuttle (A.L. Brown) keyed the comeback. King got his first win of the season. J.J. Jankowski pitched the ninth for the save.
Catawba (10-4) had 15 hits, including two each by Ryan Bostian (South Rowan), Julio Zubillaga (Carson), Keaton Hawks and Chris Dula.
Caleb Shore (South) drove in a run for Belmont Abbey.
The Indians host Newberry in a SAC series this weekend.
ML Baseball
Relief pitcher Bobby Parnell (East Rowan) has added a knuckle-curve to his repertoire in a bid to earn a spot on the opening day roster of the New York Mets.
Parnell, 27, debuted in the big leagues in September, 2008, but is still trying to carve out a defined role.
The Mets signed Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco and acquired Ramon Ramirez — all right-handed relievers — in the offseason. Veterans Manny Acosta and Tim Byrdak also are assured of relief roles, so Parnell appears to be battling with a half-dozen hopefuls for one of the two remaining jobs in the bullpen.
Parnell, who got married in the offseason, still has two minor league options remaining.
Catawba softball
Catawba split Wednesday’s doubleheader with Limestone.
Catawba bounced back for a 5-1 win after dropping the opener 4-2.
The Indians (13-6) got two homers from Tara Gibbs in the nightcap.
Emily Huneycutt (7-1) won the second game, and Brittany Murray also homered.
Prep soccer
North Rowan’s soccer team beat South Stanly 2-1 on Wednesday to open YVC action.
After a flat first half, the Cavs got rolling with second-half goals by Dakota Honeycutt and Meredith Sokolowski.
Wrestling
Competing for the Naval Academy Prep School, wrestler Matt Cusack (Davie) won the Northeast Conference Championship at 165 pounds.
Cusack went 4-0 in the meet at New Hampshire and qualified for the NCWA Nationals to be held on March 8-10 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
College lacrosse
Steven Ridolfo scored six goals to lead Catawba’s 10th-ranked men’s lacrosse team to a 9-8 win against Pfeiffer on Wednesday.
ASU athletics
Appalachian State’s Anna Freeman (East Davidson) was named to the All-Southern Conference team.