Lee women win GSC quarterfinal
Lee University beat the West Georgia women 88-78 but lost 68-58 to the Delta State men in Gulf South Conference basketball tournament quarterfinals Tuesday night in Cleveland. Erin Walsh and Carrie Cheeks each scored 17 points for the Lady Flames (23-6), Walsh with five 3-pointers, and Abby Bertram and Taylor Boggess scored 15 and 13. Shelby Brown had nine rebounds with 11 points and Maddie Long had nine assists. Chase Cullen scored 22 and Bryce Copeland was next with nine for the Flames (1612), who led for 36 minutes and by 16 early. Also Tuesday, Walsh was named first-team all-conference for the second year in a row, and Cheeks was a second-team selection. Walsh has 1,781 career points, Cheeks 1,245 and 800 rebounds. Union University senior guard Chelsea Shumpert, a transfer from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, was voted the GSC women’s player of the year. She led the league with 24.8 points per game in the regular season.
GOLF
› Led by individual runner-up Scott Odell, the Lee men’s golf team finished second in the 12-team Saint Leo tournament in Dade City, Fla. Lee shot a 285 Tuesday for an 853, eight shots behind third-ranked Nova Southeastern. Odell closed with a 68 for an 11-under-par 205, while Dylan Lillard tied for seventh at 212 and Evan Spence was ninth at 213.
› Dalton State’s Isabel Rijos and P.J. Shields are the Southern States Athletic Conference golfers of the week for Feb. 19-25. Rijos won the Georgetown College Invitational and Shields, from LaFayette, was the men’s runner-up there. He is ranked fifth in the NAIA by Golfstat.
BASEBALL
› The Bryan College baseball team dropped to 14-2 with a 15-8 loss Tuesday at Cumberland University. CU (9-5) hit six home runs, including four by Rayden Sierra, who drove in eight runs. For the Lions, Fernando Garcia was 4-for-5 and Wade Weinburger had two hits, each with two RBIs and two runs scored.
› Berry College scored five runs in the top of the first inning and won 9-7 Tuesday at Covenant as Dylan Beasley went 3-for4 with three RBIs and two runs. Spence Johns allowed one hit and struck out seven batters in his five innings pitched for the Vikings (7-3), but the Scots (4-7) halved an 8-0 lead with a four-run sixth and kept threatening. Donny Lewis and Caleb Bloye each was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and combined for three runs for Covenant, and C.J. Edmond was 2-for-4.
› Cleveland State is 8-5 in baseball after beating the Piedmont junior varsity 8-1 and 5-0. Ryan Inches and Jared McDonald pitched a five-hitter with seven strikeouts in the first game, when Logan Peterson was 3-for-4 and Hunter Oliver, Trey Martin and Joey Roberson each had two hits and an RBI and Cameron Payne had two RBIs for the Cougars. Oliver was 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs and an RBI and Hooper Mills batted in two in the rematch, and Jackson Etter and Greg Tye allowed just two hits and struck out 10.
› Lee’s Jumpei Akanuma was chosen GSC pitcher of the week for his seven-inning no-hitter against West Alabama last week. It was the Flames’ first no-hitter as an NCAA program. Akanuma (2-1, 2.81 ERA) struck out 11 while allowing no walks in 76 pitches. UWA’s two baserunners came on errors.
SOFTBALL
› Lee sophomore Taylor Moran from Silverdale Baptist Academy was the GSC softball player of the week after batting .615 with two homers, a triple, a double and eight RBIs in five games. She is batting .429 with nine extra-base hits and 16 RBIs for the Lady Flames (11-6).
› Campbellsville won 6-2 twice at Bryan on Tuesday, dropping the Lady Lions to 3-11 with eight losses against teams ranked in the NAIA’s top 12. Allison Walker had a two-run double in defeat.
› Kelsey Payne from East Hamilton batted in two runs in each game as Brenau won 4-3 over Ferrum and 11-1 over Grove City in tournament play Tuesday at Myrtle Beach. Savannah Moore from Soddy-Daisy had three RBIs in the second game for the Golden Tigers (7-1).