From staff reports

HICKORY —  The Catawba men’s basketball team got back in the win column Saturday with a 92-87 South Atlantic Conference victory at rival Lenoir-Rhyne.

Terrence Whitfield led the Indians with 21 points.

Malik Constantine scored 12 points. Devin Cooper had 17 points and six assists. Ben Zemonek had eight points and 11 rebounds.

Marcell Haskett scored 15  of his 17 in the first half. Catawba shot 55 percent before the break.

RJ Gunn got 24 points for the Bears (14-13, 10-12).  Darius Simmons scored 22.

The Indians (19-9, 14-8) will host Newberry on Wednesday in the first round of the SAC tournament.

CATAWBA (92) — Whitfield 21, Cooper 17, Haskett 17, Constantine 12, Zemonek 8, Carter 7, Prophete 6, McLeod 4, Matthews, Robinson.

LENOIR-RHYNE (87) — Gunn 24, Simmons 22, Fowler 19, McClain 10, Bradford 7,  Hawks 3, Fields 2.

Catawba             52    40   — 92

Lenoir-Rhyne    36    51   — 87

Women’s basketball

HICKORY — Catawba’s women’s basketball team pulled out a 62-60 South Atlantic Conference win at Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday to close the regular season.

Lauren Ford made two free throws with one second left after Lenoir-Rhyne’s Laney Fox had tied the game with a 3-pointer with eight seconds left.

Catawba used a huge advantage on the boards and good free-throw shooting to overcome 30-percent field-goal shooting and a 2-for-18 day on 3-pointers.

Lyrik Thorne scored 12 points, while Madison Hallman had 11. Ford and Shemya Stanback had eight points and eight rebounds each.

Karlie Bearden scored 17 for the Bears (11-17, 9-13).

Catawba (22-5, 16-5) tied for second with Carson-Newman but will be seeded fifth in the SAC tournament due to the imposition of an NCAA winning-percentage penalty for a “secondary violation” regarding player eligibility. Catawba will play Wednesday at No. 4 seed Newberry in the first round of the SAC tournament.

Catawba played again without leading scorer Taisha DeShazo, who sat out the third game of a four-game suspension

CATAWBA (62) — Thorne 12, Hallman 11, McIntosh 8, Stanback 8, Ford 8, Barnes 6, Garris 4, Stevenson 3, Downs 2, Phillips, Wampler, Sawyers, Gardner, Bruce.

LENOIR-RHYNE (60) — Bearden 17, McClung 10, Woodruffe 9, Barefoot 8, Weigt 5, Denny 4, Hooks 4, Fox 3.

Catawba            12    15   19   16   — 62

Lenoir-Rhyne    15    16   20    9   —  60

 

Prep basketball

Ashe County’s girls won 53-36 in their twice-postponed 2A second-round game against  Forest Hills on Saturday and will play at Salisbury on Monday night at 6 p.m. in the third round.

The winner of the Salisbury-Ashe County game will play Forbush on Thursday. Fourth-seeded Forbush handled Mountain Heritage 68-50 in a third-round game on Saturday.

• In Greensboro, Kennedi Simmons and Raven Preston combined for 49 points as second-seeded Southeast Guilford beat Central Cabarrus 68-26 in a girls 3A third-round game on Saturday.

• East Surry’s girls hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter and rolled 65-44 against Gray Stone on Saturday in a 1A third-round game played in Pilot Mountain. Cadence Lawson scored 22 for East Surry. Gray Stone finished 25-2.

 

CIAA basketball

CHARLOTTE — Winston-Salem State rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final minutes and rallied to beat Fayetteville State 63-62 in Saturday’s championship game.

It was the 12th title for the Rams, but their first in eight years.

MVP Robert Colon scored 25 points.

A 15-year run for the tournament in Charlotte ended. It relocates to Baltimore next year.

 

 

 

Catawba baseball

CHARLOTTE — The Catawba baseball team extended its win streak to 15 games with a doubleheader sweep of Queens on Saturday.

Strong pitching by Bryan Ketchie and FJ Laxton  keyed a 7-3 win in the opener.

Lee Poteat and Luke Spiva drove in two runs each. Hunter Shepherd collected two hits.

• Shepherd was strong on the mound for six innings in the nightcap and struck out eight, but Catawba (15-2) still needed extra innings to earn its 15th straight win. Catawba won 5-4 in eight innings.

Cameron Morrison had the decisive RBI. Dylan Wilkinson, Shepherd and Jeremy Simpson had two hits each. Jackson Raper hit a two-run homer. Robbie Cowie got the win in relief.

Catawba is  home on Tuesday at 4 p.m. against Mount Olive.

College baseball

Bryson Bebber (South Rowan) had two hits and knocked in a run in Surry Community College’s 17-11 loss to USC-Lancaster on Saturday.

College softball

NEWBERRY, S.C.— Newberry swept a South Atlantic Conference softball doubleheader from visiting Catawba on Saturday afternoon at the Smith Road Complex.

The Wolves (17-3, 2-0) won 4-0 and 5-1 over the Indians (8-8, 0-2).

Selice Daley (9-1) limited Catawba to five hits in posting the shutout in the opener.

Brooke Walser (2-2)   gave up just five hits in the loss.    

Catawba avoided a shutout in the second game when  Brooke Lowery singled and Nicole Hunter walked. Kayla Pedersen delivered a run-scoring single.  Riley Tucker had two hits. Preston Ellenberg (3-2) suffered the loss.

Catawba hosts Wingate in a league doubleheader on Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Catawba lacrosse

SALISBURY — Mars Hill held off a late Catawba rally to claim a 14-13 win in South Atlantic Conference women’s lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon at Shuford Stadium.

Gianna Pezzullo scored three goals for Catawba  (1-3, 0-1) and tied a school record with seven assists. Brooklyn Tilley netted five goals.

Catawba will host Limestone on Wednesday at 2 p.m.