Area athletes update …

Senior Jessica Heilig (Salisbury) scored 22 points and had eight rebounds  for Gardner-Webb in a 75-62  women’s basketball victory against Winthrop on Saturday.

Heilig reached the 1,000-point mark for her career last week with a layup against Charleston Southern.

A late bloomer, Heilig has been a bigger scorer in college than high  school, which is a rare thing.

She  scored 649 points at Salisbury and averaged 9.7 points per game as a senior. She played on three straight 2A state championship teams for the Hornets from 2009-11.

• Olivia Rankin (Salisbury) had 10 points and seven rebounds for Charlotte in Saturday’s 74-54 win against Texas-San Antonio.

• Ayana Avery (West Rowa) made two 3-pointers and scored eight points in Radford’s 64-57 win at Charleston Southern on Saturday. Avery has made 63 3-pointers this season.

• Fayetteville State’s Doreen Richardson (Salisbury) had 10 points, six rebounds and five assists in Saturday’s 62-55 loss to Winston-Salem State.

• Shay Steele (West Rowan) scored 12 points in Morehead State’s 57-56 loss to Belmont on Saturday.

Men’s basketball

Brevard’s Darius Moose (Carson) had 24 points and three blocked shots in Saturday’s 79-65 loss to Coker.

Moose averages 17.1 points per game for the Tornados.

• Isaiah Cuthbertson (West Rowan) made a game-winning layup for Mars Hill  with less than a second left against  Queens on Saturday.

Cuthbertson scored 16 points and had nine rebounds.

•Keshun Sherrill (West Rowan) scored 22 points to lead GRU Augusta to a 77-66 win against USC Aiken.

The Jaguars have won eight in a row.

College softball

Sydney Poole (East Rowan) pitched a shutout for Pfeiffer on Friday against Winston-Salem State.

Poole (2-2) pitched a four-hitter and struck out five.

• Ericka Nesbitt (East Rowan) is off to a great start for Campbell. The  shortstop batted .481 and scored nine runs in her first seven games.

• North Carolina A&T’ second baseman Zebresha Blakeney (A.L. Brown) went 3-for-9 with three runs in her first four games of the season.

• Belmont Abbey’s Kat Starnes (South Rowan) had two hits and drove in a run in a loss to Montevallo.

College baseball

Freshman Connor Johnson (East Rowan) is 3-0 for  Catawba. Johnson has a 1.65 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings.

• Catawba center fielder Blake Houston (South Rowan) is batting .455 with 12 runs scored in nine games.

• Freshman Chance Bowden (Salisbury) has knocked in seven runs for Catawba.

• Jesse Park (Carson) has  pitched two scoreless innings in relief for Pfeiffer.

• East Carolina’s Eric Tyler (South Rowan) had a double on opening day against Virginia.

• Ryan Foster (Davie) pitched five innings in his first start and beat Ball State.

• Guilford’s Michael Pinkston (West Rowan) had a hit in his first college at-bat on Saturday.

College swimming

Queens freshman McKenzie Stevens (Salisbury)  was outstanding in the Bluegrass Conference Championships.

Stevens was part of a 4×800 free relay team that broke the meet record with a 7:16.26 clocking.

Stevens placed third in the 200 butterfly and fifth in the 1000 freestyle.

College tennis

Christopher Newport’s Alexandra Drye (Salisbury) is off to a great start.

Drye has played at No. 1 and No. 2 singles and is 3-0.  She’s  also 3-0 playing at No. 3 doubles.

Pro baseball

Jerry Sands  (Catawba) will be with another new team in Spring Training.

Sands, 27, signed a minor league contract with the Cleveland Indians.

Sands has batted .240 with five homers in 273 MLB plate appearances with the L.A. Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays.