McMakin, Billikens win WNIT crown

Ocean Lakes High graduate Kyla McMakin scored 20 points to help Saint Louis beat Minnesota 69-50 in Edwardsville, Illinois, for the Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship.

McMakin, a 5-foot-11 graduate student, wrapped up a notable career, all under coach Rebecca Tillett.

McMakin guided Longwood to the 2022 Big South title and an automatic NCAA Tournament berth, then followed Tillett to Saint Louis. They helped the Billikens win the 2023 Atlantic 10 tourney for their first NCAA bid, and then took this year’s WNIT. McMakin scored 1,990 points for Ocean Lakes and 2,899 in college.

West Virginia guard JJ Quinerly, a Lake Taylor High graduate, gained more All-America honorable mention, this time from the National Basketball Coaches Association. She previously got it from the Associated Press.

COLLEGE MEN’S LACROSSE No. 2 UVA rolls

No. 2 Virginia (10-1), celebrating its 1999 NCAA championship team, breezed past North Carolina 14-6 before a seasonhigh 5,136 at Klöckner Stadium in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both, extending the Cavaliers’ winning streak to seven.

No. 1 Salisbury (12-0) dominated the first half and won 18-12 at No. 7 Christopher Newport (8-4) in a Division III showdown.

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Led by Laci Campbell’s five hits, Virginia Wesleyan (15-6, 5-1 Old Dominion Athletic Conference), ranked 12th in Division III softball, swept Guilford 8-4, 8-0 in Virginia Beach. The Quakers fell to 12-10, 4-2.

UVA golfer Amanda Sambach faded to a tie for 14th at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in the only one of the three rounds played at the Masters venue in Georgia.

Sambach, fourth after 36 holes on two other courses, shot 4-over-par 76 to finish at 2-over 218, matching her 14th-place finish a year ago. She is No. 8 in the NCAA rankings and No. 16 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.