State sports briefs

Arkansas State reveals 2017 schedule

Arkansas State University will play 12 regular-season games at the Convocation Center in Jonesboro, in addition to hosting the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, according to the team’s 2017 schedule that was released Thursday.

The Red Wolves open the season at the Bluegrass Battle, hosted by Kentucky, on Aug. 25-26 before playing their only midweek nonconference match Aug. 29 at Southern Illinois. They’ll host a home tournament for the second consecutive season Sept. 1-2, where they’ll face Virginia Tech, SMU and Ole Miss, before playing in the UCA Invitational on Sept. 7-9 at Conway.

Sun Belt play begins for the Red Wolves, who are the defending West Division champion, on Sept. 22 against defending East Division champion Coastal Carolina. Arkansas State will host Appalachian State the next day before going on the road for matches at Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana-Monroe.

The Sun Belt Conference Tournament is scheduled for Nov. 16-19. All-session passes for the tournament are on sale now, while single-session passes will be available at a later date.

SOFTBALL UCA adds three

University of Central Arkansas Coach David Kuhn announced three additions to the Sugar Bears’ roster Thursday.

Libby Morris, a 5-9 shortstop from Grove, Okla., spent the past two seasons at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, where she helped lead the Lady Norse to consecutive NJCAA National Tournament appearances and was a two-time All-American. She hit .419 last season with 10 home runs and 58 RBI.

Rachel Haberman, a 5-10 pitcher and utility player from Okemath, Okla., played with Morris at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M. She hit .339 with 13 doubles, 8 home runs and 48 RBI last season while going 3-1 with a 3.37 ERA in the circle, where she had 28 strikeouts in 351/3 innings.

Maddy Prough, a 5-9 pitcher from Bentonville, is a two-time

Player of the Year who led the Tigers to consecutive Class 7A state championships. She had a career record of 60-7 with a 1.25 ERA and 521 strikeouts.

BASKETBALL Williams transfers to UAFS

Former Greenwood guard Lundon Williams, who played two seasons at Harding University before transferring to the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith as a student last year, signed a letter of intent Thursday to play for the Lady Lions.

As a freshman at Harding in 2015, Williams averaged 6.8 points and 1.9 rebounds per game while helping lead the Bisons to a berth in the NCAA Division II Tournament. She averaged 10.6 points and 3.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore. She will have two seasons of eligibility remaining with the Lady Lions.

Williams led Greenwood to a Class 5A state championship in 2012 and a Class 6A state championship in 2014 as a senior, when she averaged 17.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game. She was the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Newcomer of the Year in 2011 and the Sophomore of the Year in 2012.

UAFS men sign transfer

Chris Crawford, a 6-3 guard from Connors State College in Warner, Okla., will transfer to Arkansas-Fort Smith next season.

Crawford, who originally signed with Oral Roberts but transferred to Connors State after one semester, averaged 14 points, 7 assists and 4 rebounds per game last season for the Cowboys. He was a first-team all-conference and second-team all-region selection who led the Cowboys (27-7) to the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season title, the NJCAA Region II Tournament title and a berth in the NJCAA National Tournament.