Area Sports Briefs: Catawba women lose on road; 11 Indians on All-SAC football

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, November 16, 2016

From staff reports
CHARLOTTE — The Catawba women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome 34 turnovers in falling to host Johnson C. Smith 87-77 on Tuesday night at Brayboy Gym.
Five Indians fouled out.
The Golden Bulls improved to 2-1, while the Catawba Indians fell to an identical 2-1 mark.
Bri Johnson scored 27 points and Terri Rogers posted another double-double with 17 points and 12 boards, but Catawba shot just 39.7 percent and committed 10 more turnovers.
The hosts began to pull away late in the opening quarter. The Golden Bulls built an 18-14 lead to double-digits over the last five minutes of the period. Malia Rivers capped a 10-3 run on a three-pointer that made it 28-17 with 1:20 to go. The lead would move to 16 in the second quarter before Catawba trimmed the deficit to 48-38 by the half.
Rogers had Catawba within five at 71-66 with three minutes left, but Blaire Thomas hit a key three-pointer and the Golden Bulls went 11-of-12 at the line over the final 2:19 to take the win.
Anika Jones led JCSU with 28 points, going 8-for-16 with four 3-pointers. Krista White added 15 points and Thomas 12.
Serena Brown also reached double figures for Catawba, scoring 16 points and handing out six assists. Brianna Hodges and Alexis Newbold each grabbed seven rebounds.
Catawba will host Fayetteville State on Saturday at 2 pm.
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Rogers was named South Atlantic Conference Women’s Basketball Player of the Week. The award covers games played the first week of the season and was announced by the league on Tuesday.
Rogers, a junior from Burlington, averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds and shot 65.5 percent from the floor in a pair of home wins last week.

Women’s basketball
MISENHEIMER — Pfeiffer topped Meredith, 67-40, on Monday.
Amy Rhoney had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Meredith.
Pfeiffer’s Sydni Bickford had 17 points. Ariana Tillman tallied six assists and as many steals.

Women’s volleyball
Catawba fell in three sets to host Newberry in the opening round of the South Atlantic Conference Volleyball Tournament on Tuesday night at Eleazer Arena.
The Wolves won the match 27-25, 25-15 and 25-22 to improve to 20-11, advancing to the semifinals. Catawba ends its season at 16-13.
Catawba was led by Alex Hopper with nine kills and Audrey Hoffman, who had eight kills and three blocks. McKenzie Garrison and Bri Howard both had five kills with Garrison adding 16 digs.
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The top-seeded Wingate Bulldogs survived a tough test from eighth-seeded Tusculum College Tuesday night, but ultimately prevailed in four sets in South Atlantic Conference Tournament quarterfinal action in Cuddy Arena. Wingate won by scores of 26-24, 20-25, 25-17 and 25-23 to improve to 27-5 overall, advancing to Fridays semifinals.

Men’s basketball
KNOXVILLE –– After withstanding a 21-0 run early in the first half, Appalachian State University men’s basketball did not surrender on Tuesday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena.
Appalachian closed to within just seven points at 99-92 with 58.0 seconds remaining, but eventually fell to Tennessee, 103-94.

College football
Catawba has 11 All-SAC players.
First-team honorees are guard Quinzavious Sands, linebackers Kyle Kitchens and Trey Evans, defensive lineman C.J. Barksdale, long snapper Steven Bartlett and cornerback Case Woodard.
Second-team picks are linebacker Jamal Lackey (Davie), kicker Brennan Lambert (South Rowan), guard T,J. Olsen, receiver Sam Mobley and cornerback Cris Page.
Newberry quarterback Raleigh Yeldell was tabbed the South Atlantic Conference Football Offensive Player of the Year, while Wingate defensive lineman Ryan Edwards was tabbed the League’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Craig Rucker of Mars Hill was named the SAC Offensive Freshman of the Year and Jay Boyd from Tusculum was tabbed the Defensive Freshman of the Year. Mars Hill offensive lineman Joe Hillin garnered the Jacobs Blocking Trophy and Newberry mentor Todd Knight picked up South Atlantic Conference Coach of the Year honors.
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Carson-Newman Director of Athletics Allen Morgan introduced offensive coordinator and 1973 alumnus Mike Turner as the football program’s 18th head coach during a press conference Tuesday afternoon in the Ken Sparks Athletic Complex.
The announcement came 24 hours after 37-year head coach Ken Sparks announced his retirement.
Turner is the architect of one of the most potent offenses in college football.
Since 2007, the Carson-Newman offense has averaged 330.6 yards rushing per game and scored an average of 38.4 points.
Turner was an assistant at Catawba early in his career.

North Hills
The varsity middle school girls of North Hills Christian defeated Tri-City in their season opener 26-17.
Ashley Mays had six points. Abigail Zunk had eight points and six steals. Elizabeth Jones had 12 points and 18 rebounds.

8th-grade hoops
Erwin’s girls won against Mooresville, 39-12.
Colbie Perry scored 14 points, while Carleigh Perry had 10. Liza Simmerson scored nine for the Eagles (4-0).

NCHSAA
Olivia Archer of Lake Norman Charter High School and Keimon Bailey from John A. Holmes High School have been named recipients of the NCHSAA Performance of the Week awards.
Bailey, a junior at Holmes, rushed for 286 yards on just 15 carries including two touchdowns to help the Aces defeat Currituck 42-13.

Local golf
Fifty-six GARS 56 members played in foursomes at Rolling Hills.
Low ‘A’ Flight player was Ross Howard with a net of 61.23. Low ‘B’ Flight player was Gary Morgan with a net of 62.46.
Low ‘C’ Flight player was Ed Lockhart with a net of 62.42.
Low ‘D’ Flight player was Larry Perrell with a net of 65.56.
John Goodman made an eagle on the Par-4 No. 16 hole.
Winsten Mahaffrey, 79, shot a 79. Dick Hatoway, 84, shot an 82. Guy Schenck, 84, shot an 80. Ralph Brown 85, shot an 85. Bert Bollinger, 87, shot an 85.