Area athletes update …
Radford’s Ayana Avery (West Rowan) scored 20 points to lead the Highlanders to their first Big South Conference win last week.
They beat Longwood 57-51.
Avery shot 8-for-14 and made four 3-pointers. She’s tied for the conference lead with 51 treys in 18 games.
The 5-foot-5 junior is eighth in the Big South in scoring (13.5 ppg) and is tied for 10th in steals.
Avery leads Radford in rebounding (6.2 per game) as well as scoring.
• Shay Steele (West) went 7-for-7 from the floor in her two games last week.
Steele was 5-for-5 in Morehead State’s 83-75 loss against Austin Peay. She had 10 points, four rebounds and two blocks.
Steele accounted for six points, four rebounds and a block in a 74-52 loss to Tennessee-Martin.
• Charlotte’s Ayanna Holmes (Salisbury) hasn’t been shooting well, but she’s been doing enough positive things to start for the 49ers.
Holmes scored two points and had four assists in a 92-86 win at UTEP.
• Gardner-Webb’s Jessica Heilig (Salisbury) played well in two Big South games last week.
Heilig had 12 points in a 56-54 win against Campbell. She had 10 points and eight rebounds when the Bulldogs lost 81-77 to High Point.
The 5-10 junior averages 10.4 points and 6.1 rebounds.
• Kennesaw State’s Kelly Dulkoski (Carson) is recovering from ACL surgery and hopes to be jogging in a month or so.
• Columbia’s Alison Sobataka (West) scored six points in a 65-62 win against St. Andrews.
Sobataka has made at least one 3-pointer in 10 straight games.
• Amy Steller (Davie) scored three points for Pfeiffer in Saturday’s 80-78 loss to Erskine.
Men’s basketball
Isaiah Cuthbertson (West) broke the SAC record with his 24 rebounds in a 64-54 win against Catawba on Saturday. That league record had stood since 1998.
Mars Hill’s school record of 28 was set in 1965 — before the SAC.
Cuthbertson had 15 rebounds at halftime. His huge day raised his rebounding average to 9.6 per game, second in the league.
He also scored a career-best 26 points. Cuthbertson, who was at Catawba Valley Community College before he was signed by Mars Hill, is an amazing late-bloomer.
His career high for points at West was 12. He had a dozen against South Rowan and also Davie.
• Virginia’s Teven Jones (A.L. Brown) was ejected from the Florida State game. Ejection came when tempers flared at midcourt while Florida State was shooting technical free throws. Jones and teammate Darion Atkins were tossed for leaving the bench area.
Jones made his only field-goal attempt in two minutes of action.
• SAC Player of the Week Darius Moose (Carson) was slowed down by Newberry in Saturday’s win over Moose’s Brevard team.
Moose had eight points and six rebounds. He’s averaging 19.8 points per game.
• Surging Augusta routed North Georgia 97-71, with K.J. Sherrill (West) scoring 15 points, and Keshun Sherrill (West) contibuting seven points and six assists.
• Oshon West (North Rowan) had four points and seven rebounds as Louisburg crushed Vance-Granville 104-56.
• Alex Weant (Salisbury) had two points and a blocked shot in a loss to Lynchburg and duplicated those stats in a loss to Bridgewater.
College track and field
Western Carolina’s Alisha Bradshaw (Salisbury) produced her personal best in the weight throw with an effort of 17.9 meters in the Niswonger Invitatonal in Johnson City, Tenn. She placed second.
Bradshaw also took third in the shot put with a throw of 13.8 meters. Bradshaw has the best throw in the Southern Conference so far this season and the second best distance in the shot.
• Western’s Keith Leonard (East Rowan) was sixth in the pole vault, clearing 4.45 meters.
• Tennessee’s Tavis Bailey (A.L. Brown) was second in the shot put at the Virginia Tech Invitational with a throw of 17.47 meters.
• In the Virginia Tech Invitational, East Carolina’s Amber Holloway (West) was 13th in the 400 (1:00.49), 18th in the 500 and ran on a 10th-place 4×4 00 relay.
• North Carolina Central’s Christa Landy (West) was 20th in the 400 (1:01.49) at the Virginia Tech Invitational.