Area athletes update …
Temple’s Shi-Heria Shipp (Salisbury) had a chance to play against the nation’s top team — Connecticut — on Saturday and in front of a sellout crowd of 9,274 fans.
As you might imagine, things did not go well for the Owls (8-7). They lost to the unbeaten Huskies 80-36.
Shipp did OK. She shot 2-for-5 and made both her free throws for six points. She also had three rebounds.
Shipp scored 10 points in a loss at South Florida last week.
• Radford’s Ayana Avery (West Rowan) leads the Big South Conference in 3-pointers with 47.
Avery made three 3s and scored 13 points in Saturday’s 68-61 loss to UNC Asheville.
• Catawba’s Allison Blackwell (Carson) has been out with a concussion but is scheduled to duty on Friday.
• Columbia’s Alison Sobataka (West) had 15 points and seven rebounds in the Koalas’ 85-79 loss to Montreat.
• Pfeiffer freshman Amy Steller (Davie) missed six games with an appendectomy but has returned to the lineup. She had eight rebounds in Saturday’s 57-53 loss at Lees-McRae.
• Jessica Heilig had seven points and five rebounds for Gardner-Webb in Saturday’s 59-57 loss to Longwood.
• Charlotte beat North Texas 61-59 on Saturday. Ayanna Holmes (Salisbury) had four points and two assists, and Olivia Rankin (Salisbury) scored four points.
• Shay Steele (West) scored four points in Morehead State’s 79-58 loss to Eastern Kentucky on Saturday.

Men’s basketball
The Sherrill brothers (West Rowan) helped Augusta win again on Saturday. The Jaguars 12-2) shot 54 percent and won their ninth in a row.
Keshun had 10 points and seven assists. K.J. had 10 points and five rebounds.
Augusta has been receiving votes in the national D-II poll and could make the top 25 when a new poll is released on Monday.
• Darius Moose’s 32-point outing for Brevard boosted his scoring average to 21.1 points per game. The former Carson star is still third in the SAC.
• Mars Hill lost 103-77 to Newberry on Saturday, but Isaiah Cuthbertson (West) turned in another strong outing for the Lions with 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting and six rebounds. He’s still in the SAC’s top five in rebounding and shooting percentage.
• Oshon West (North Rowan) had seven points and four rebounds in Louisburg’s 90-76 win against Lenoir Community College. Louisburg (12-1) is ranked fifth nationally among Division II junior colleges.
• Teven Jones (A.L. Brown) played 14 minutes in Virginia’s rout of N.C. State on Saturday and was credited with an assist.
• Thomasville Prep’s Malik Ford (North) had 14 points and 10 rebounds against Central Carolina Community College.

Pro basketball
Junior Hairston (West) had 28 points and 11 rebounds in his most recent outing in Iceland. Hairston averages 24.9 points and 14.9 rebounds and scored 38 in one game.
• Carlos Dixon (South Rowan) scored 24 points in his most recent game in Japan and is averaging 20.1 points per game.
• Donald Rutherford (Catawba) had 14 points and nine rebounds in his latest outing in Israel. He averages 19.2 points and 7.7 rebounds.

Indoor Track
In the Wake Forest, Invitational, Western Carolina’s Alisha Bradshaw (Salisbury) was sevenh in the shot put (12.37 meters) and third in the weight throw (15.68 meters).
Western’s Keith Leonard (East Rowan) was seventh in the pole vault (4.30 meters).
• In the UAB Blazer Invite, Tennessee’s Tavis Bailey (A.L. Brown) placed second in the shot put (53 feet, 10 1/4 inches) and third in the weight throw (62 feet, 1 inch).

Baseball
Gardner-Webb opens the season at home on Feb. 14 against Penn State.
Redshirt freshman outfielder Scott van der Poel(Salisbury) and junior outfielder Alex Newman (Davie) are on the Bulldogs’ roster.