Stephenson gets to 500 victories and other sports news

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

When the Georgia Northwestern Technical College men's basketball team pulled out its third win in a row Tuesday night, edging the LaGrange junior varsity 71-69, it gave David Stephenson 500 victories in a 29-year coaching career spanning elementary, high school and college programs. This year also the Lady Bobcats' coach as well as the two-year school's athletic director, Stephenson is 500-297. "First of all, it's hard to believe I've coached so many games, much less to win that many of them," he said in a GNTC release. "What a great win this was tonight. With all the lead changes and all the runs, fast tempo start to finish, and it came down to one final possession. That just makes it even more special." Veshawn Bell had 18 points, six rebounds and four assists for the Bobcats (3-4), and Cameron Sherlin scored 12 points with 3-of-4 3-point success. Devin Watkins added 11 points and nine rebounds, and Tyler Shropshire had eight assists. GNTC was 10-of-21 on 3s while the Panthers were 2-of-21.

• Peyton Luken and Chase England scored 22 points apiece with seven and three assists as Piedmont won 79-62 in NCAA Division III basketball Tuesday night at Sewanee. Jorden Williams scored 21 points with three 3-pointers and Keshonn Carter added 11 points for Sewanee (1-2).

• Bryan College improved to 8-0 overall and 2-0 in AAC men's basketball with an 84-80 home win Tuesday over Reinhardt, but Bryan's Lady Lions lost 52-46 and are 7-2, 3-1.

• Georgia Highlands got 23 points and eight rebounds from VaQueshia Hall, 18 points and 14 rebounds from Aujana Dawkins and 19 points from Tashara Jones in winning 78-62 in women's basketball Tuesday at Cleveland State. The Rome junior college led 42-16 at halftime and outrebounded the home team 42-22. Leading the Lady Cougars (6-4) with 13 and 12 points were Jlynn Majors and Jamesha Mosley. Katrice Harris had four steals and four assists.

• Chattanooga State edged the visiting Snead State women's basketball team 64-60 in a Tuesday game, dropping the Lady Parsons to 2-5.

Volleyball

• Senior outside hitter Rachel Harper from Chattanooga and Boyd-Buchanan School joined Carson-Newman teammate Jenna Wilson on the American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Southeast Region team announced Wednesday. They already had been named Daktronics All-Southeast players. Harper led the South Atlantic Conference with 4.5 points and 3.62 kills per set and had 14 double-doubles this season, when she made the All-SAC first team and the all-region-tournament team.

Bowling

• Imagine being Caleb Zanoska and bowling a 221 game yet having it the worst of six scores for his Walker Valley High School team. It was, in fact, 59 pins below the Mustangs' best in the final round Tuesday against Signal Mountain at Leisure Time Lanes in Cleveland. Led by Nathan Kirby's 280, Walker Valley rolled a collective 1,451 in the third round and a 3,923 for the 26-1 match. Both totals are virtually unheard of in TSSAA bowling. "I think I've heard of a team in Nashville having a 4,000 or really close to it," Signal coach Mark Bracher said, "but I haven't seen anything like this." The last game was even more impressive, he said, because of the site. "It's a tough house," said Walker Valley coach Dean Anderson, whose boys' team is 15-1 and whose Lady Mustangs are undefeated with the top three girls' averages in the area. "The guys just decided they were going to step up and bowl." Signal's team was shorthanded anyway, and Anderson said he told the Mustangs, "'Listen, you're just bowling with a bunch of friends. Relax and have fun.' They took it to heart." He told Kirby that he would "fall out on this floor" if Kirby rolled a 700 series, and Anderson followed through after the 759. Tanner Kincaid added a 718, matching Kirby's first-game 257. Brothers Dakota and Dylan Dawson went 246 and 244 in the final game, and Briton Helton had a 234 with Kincaid's 226.

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