TWU, Bryan reach AAC final
On a layup by Hunter Simpson with 1.2 seconds to go, the fifth-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan women’s basketball team edged top seed Milligan 62-61 in the Appalachian Athletic Conference tournament semifinals Friday at Kingsport, Tenn. Wesleyan (18-13), which won the tournament the last two years, will play for a three-peat at 2 p.m. today against No. 6 seed Bryan (17-14), a 60-54 winner Friday against No. 2 seed Reinhardt. One of them will be the first AAC women’s team ever to win four games in four days for the title. The Wesleyan men lost 95-77 to top-seeded Union College (293). Milligan’s women already have a berth in the NAIA Division II national tournament, and today’s winner will join them there. The Lady Buffs (23-9) had an 11-point lead on TWU early in the third quarter and were up 59-53 with 4:08 left in the game, but a 7-0 run capped by a Simpson basket at 1:03 put the Lady Bulldogs ahead until Kelly Barnett scored with 12 seconds to go. Simpson countered for the win, and she had 20 points and 11 rebounds while Gina Dick scored 17 points. Erisha Talley and Megan Billingsby each had 14 points and 10 rebounds for Bryan, which trailed 35-25 before dominating the second half, and Amber Levi added 13 points. Rebecca Cheeks from Sonoraville High School had 10 points and 13 rebounds for Reinhardt (27-5), which shot only 25 percent from the field (17 percent in the second half ), and Jada Hubbard from Heritage scored nine. Tre Tiller had 22 points, seven rebounds and three steals as the TWU men wrapped up an 18-13 season, and Justin Simmons and Kenny Dean scored 14 and 12 points.
› Adrian Thomas had 17 points and eight rebounds as Sewanee routed Hendrix 87-61 in the Southern Athletic Association men’s quarterfinals Friday at Memphis, and the Tigers’ All-SAA first-team duo of Jorden Williams and Brody Stone added 12 and 10 points. Williams also had five assists for Sewanee (15-11), which shot 62.7 percent from the field and 57.1 percent on 3-pointers. The Tigers face host Rhodes at 4 p.m. CST today. Earning his third All-SAC honor, Williams was second in the SAA for the regular season with 16.3 points per game, and Stone averaged 15.2. points and a leaguehigh 10.9 rebounds.
› Sewanee sophomore Bella Taylor was named to the All-SAA women’s basketball first team, and sophomore Sue Kim and junior Hannah McCormack were second-team selections. Taylor led the league in minutes played, scoring (20.5 ppg) and 3-point percentage (.415), and Kim was the SAA leader in assists per game (4.2), total assists (101) and steals (68). McCormack led the Tigers with 16 points as their season ended Friday in Birmingham with an 88-62 loss to Oglethorpe in the league tournament. Taylor had 14 points for a season total of 505, breaking Kim Valek’s 30-year-old school record.
BASEBALL
› Sewanee won 10-5 and lost 15-4 in baseball against visiting Wheaton on Friday. Jackson Cooper was 4-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored and Trey Akins homered and singled and batted in three runs in the win for the Tigers. Max Murray was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, Riley Brandvold was 2-for-4 with two runs and winning pitcher Drew Mancuso homered. He allowed five hits and one run and struck out eight in his seven innings. Jared Demkowicz had two RBIs in each game for Sewanee and homered in the loss, when he matched Cooper and Murray in going 2-for4; Cooper doubled twice and scored twice. The teams meet again today at 1 CST.
› Covenant lost 6-3 at LaGrange in its USA South opener Friday. Luke Harvey had two hits and an RBI and Forrest Hunter was 2-for-4 for Covenant (5-5).
› Tennessee Wesleyan lost 8-4 to Campbellsville on Friday, but Collin Ridout was 4-for-5 with a two-run homer for the Bulldogs (6-7). Cody Erickson was 2-for-3. TWU hosts Campbellsville again Sunday after hosting Shawnee State in a doubleheader starting at noon today.
› Chattanooga State hosts Cleveland State in a nonconference doubleheader today, starting at noon.