Chattanooga State rolls into nationals
The No. 2-seeded Chattanooga State women routed fourth seed Dyersburg State 85-59 for the 2020 TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII basketball championship Tuesday at Columbia, Tennessee. Host Columbia State defeated Jackson State 81-73 in overtime in the men’s final. Coach Stacey Franklin’s Lady Tigers (27-5) have won 24 of their last 25 games and take a 15-game winning streak into the NJCAA Division I national tournament March 17-21 in Lubbock, Texas.
› The No. 2-seeded Lee University basketball teams beat the visiting Mississippi College women 72-55 and the Auburn-Montgomery men 81-57 in Gulf South Conference quarterfinal games Tuesday night. The GSC semifinals are set for Saturday at Samford University in Birmingham. Abby Bertram had 26 points with four 3-point baskets, eight rebounds and four assists for the nationally 11th-ranked Lady Flames (26-3), and Taylor Boggess had 12 points and five steals. Earlier in the day, Bertram and Haley Schubert were named to the All-GSC first team, and Lee’s Marty Rowe was coach of the year. Bertram averaged 13.6 points, 3.3 assists and 2.5 steals per game in the regular season, and Schubert averaged 12.2, 2.7 and 2.0. Alabama-Huntsville’s Aryn Sanders from Signal Mountain made the All-GSC second team. Lee senior Ryan Montgomery made the men’s first team after averaging 18.1 points and 5.9 rebounds, and he had 25 points and 10 rebounds Tuesday, when Parker Suedekum had 20 points, five steals and four assists for Bubba Smith’s Flames (22-6). Josh Lowe added 12 points and eight rebounds, and Quay Kennedy grabbed 11 rebounds.
› Heritage High School principal Ronnie Bradford announced in a released statement Tuesday that Eddie Bryant has resigned as girls’ basketball coach. Bryant, who will remain at the school as a teacher, has coached the program since its inception in 2008. He led the Generals to 171 wins and to the GHSA Class AAAA Elite Eight in 2019 and won region championships in 2016 and 2019. “I greatly appreciate everything that Coach Bryant has done to build the girls’ basketball program and support the student-athletes at Heritage High,” Bradford said. “His commitment … goes well beyond the season, and he has organized annual summer camps and developmental camps. Coach Bryant remains a strong pillar of the Heritage community and dedicates countless hours to support our students and school.” According to Bradford, assistant coach Megan Crawford will take over the program on an interim basis and will continue to work with assistant coach Mark Gamble.
› Tennessee Tech sophomore point guard Jr. Clay from Chattanooga and McCallie School repeated on the All-Ohio Valley Conference men’s basketball second team after averaging a team-high 13.4 points a game in the 2019-20 regular season, along with 3.9 assists. He finished the schedule with 24 consecutive double-digit scoring games, and he led Tech also with 56 steals.
GOLF
› Led by the second medalist performance in a row and seventh collegiately for senior Ben Rebne, the NAIA’s sixthranked Dalton State men’s golf team finished second to third-ranked Point, 871 to 874, Tuesday in the Sand Shark Invitational in Okatie, South Carolina. No. 1 Coastal Georgia was third at 876. Rebne closed with a 69 for a 7-under-par 209, and longtime Heritage High School and DSC teammate Sport Allmond was seventh at 216. Matthew Cleary was 14th, and Eli Hendricks tied for 19th.
› Covenant College senior Nathan Hawkins tied for seventh place individually at 151 in leading the Scots to sixth at 634, one shot behind Cleveland State, in the Callaway Gardens Invitational on Monday. All 36 holes were crammed into one day because of weather concerns for Tuesday.
Will DeMerrseman tied for 17th at 156 and
Crawford Collett shared 20th at 158 for Covenant. The fifth-place Cougars were led by Wes Spillers’ 11th-place 153 and Colbe Cagle’s 158.