NPC sweeps South Ark
National Park swept South Arkansas Community College Thursday night as the college honored its sophomores who were playing their last home regular season games.
Prior to the women’s 71-58 win, NPC credited its three sophomores — Imani Honey, of Mountain Pine, Jaide Vavra, of Glenwood, and Katie Walthall, of Little Rock — for their contributions to the program the past two years.
The Nighthawks kept the Lady Stars from a single field goal in the first six minutes as both teams used a tough defense to keep the score tight. With NPC trailing 5-4 with under four minutes left, the Nighthawks hit a 14-4 run to close out the quarter with an 18-9 lead.
Honey took control in the second quarter, putting up 6 points of her own, to push the team out to a 34-24 advantage at intermission.
Vavra and freshman India Atkins took over from behind the arc in the third quarter as the Nighthawks outscored the visiting team 25-7 to take a 59-31 lead going into the final 10 minutes. The Lady Stars hit a 16-2 run over the next four minutes to cut their 28-point deficit to 14, but Honey added 6 more to help the Nighthawks pick up their second consecutive Region II win.
Atkins led the team with 16 points, Honey added 15, and Vavra had 14.
NPC also honored the men’s team’s seven sophomores — Kamren Roelke, of Hot Springs; Kam Vick, of Little Rock; Joe Ramey, of El Dorado; Terry Clardy Jr. and Jakilyn Kaiser, both of Conway; Tyler Tolliver, of Mayflower; and Sayvon Traylor, of Conyers, Georgia — prior to the team’s 98-85 win.
NPC took control of the game early as Ramey, Clardy and Traylor helped lead the Nighthawks to a 19-2 lead over the first six minutes. The Stars took advantage of foul trouble to pull within 41-34 with 3:26 remaining.
Ramey hit a late field goal before the Stars hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to trail 53-45 going into the break.
The Stars kept the spread within 6 for much of the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the Nighthawks hit a 15-5 run, fueled by 3-point shooting from Vick and dominance in the paint by Ramey to secure the win.
Ramey led the Nighthawks with 19 points, Traylor added 15 points, Clardy had 14 points,
Vick scored 12 points, and freshman Kylil Anderson notched 10 points in the win.
GAC NAMES BASEBALL WEEKLY AWARDS
The Great American Conference announced its seventh weekly awards for the season with Henderson State shortstop Joe Myers picking up the Player of the Week award while Arkansas-Monticello’s Mason Philley earned the pitcher’s award.
Myers went 8 for 14 in the Reddies four games last week, opening up with two hits and three RBI in a non-conference game againts Arkansas Tech and went 6 for 9 with a three-run home run in the team’s sweep of Southwestern Oklahoma State.
Philley collected 15 strikeouts in six innings of work in the Weevils’ 8-1 win, including eight straight strikeouts to end his time on the mound. His 15 fanned batters is the third-best in NCAA Division II this season and the most by a league pitcher against a conference opponent in GAC history.
Others nominated for the player award included Southern Arkansas’ Kobe Morris, UAM’s Grant Shepherd, Harding’s Cody Smith, Northwestern Oklahoma State’s Maques Paige and Oklahoma Baptist’s Hector Ruvalcaba. HSU’s
Matthew Baker, Harding’s Andrew Bradshaw, SAU’s Zach Smith, Oklahoma Baptist’s Brett Biggs and NWOSU’s Scott Creedon were nominated for the pitcher’s award.
GAC SOFTBALL WEEKLY AWARDS ANNOUNCED
Southeastern Oklahoma State swept the GAC’s weekly softball awards as Kady Fryrear earned the player accolade while Cheyenne Mahy was named Pitcher of the Week.
Fryrear hit four home runs in a 14-at bat stretch after not hitting one in her first 54 at bats. She went yard against Pittsburg State, in backto-back at bats against Southwest Baptist and against SAU.
Mahy picked up her first save and moved to 8-1 with four wins during the Savage Storm’s 6-1 week, allowing just one earned run with a 0.38 ERA.
Others nominated for the pitcher’s award were Ouachita Baptist’s Nikki Schneider, Harding’s Lily Tanski, SAU’s Sydney Wader and East Central’s Taia Harris. Harding’s Ashton Bryce, OBU’s Jillian Jones, HSU’s Abbie Moore, East Central’s Gabi Quintanilla, Southern Nazarene’s Brooklyn Sparkman and Oklahoma’s Jocee Sparks were also nominated for the player award.