Bryan College senior Morgan Burnette from Knoxville was the Appalachian Athletic Conference's women's basketball player of the week for games of Dec. 10-16, and she gets to reign for a while. The next weekly winner won't be announced until Jan. 7. Burnette had 18 points, 12 rebounds and three assists in the NAIA Division II Lady Lions' two-point loss to nationally ranked NCAA Division I Bethel, and she is second in the AAC in scoring with 17.5 points a game while leading the league with 2.8 steals per game. She also is averaging 6.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocked shots for Bryan (6-4, 1-1), which returns to action by hosting Southern Polytechnic at 3 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
• The Lee University women's basketball team walloped coach Marty Rowe's former program, Brescia University, 106-58 Thursday night in Owensboro, Ky. Jenna Adams had 20 points and seven rebounds, Hollie German scored 17 points and Julia Zimmerman added 14 on 4-of-4 accuracy from 3-point range for Lee (11-1), ranked sixth in NAIA Division I. Karley Miller scored 13 points as the Lady Flames shot 64 percent from the field and 61 percent (9-of-13) on 3s. Julie Whitfill scored 28 points with five 3s for Brescia (7-3), including 21 in the first half. The Bearcats, who were averaging 80-plus points per game, shot 33 percent in the second half and committed 25 turnovers for the game, while Lee had only nine turnovers and registered 30 assists.
Softball
• Whitney Hammond from Girls Preparatory School was one of four Tennessee Lady Vols softball players with perfect 4.0 grade point averages for the fall semester, helping the program to its best-ever academic term with a team GPA of 3.42. Sixteen of the 20 players had fall GPAs of at least 3.0, headed by Erin Gabriel, Anna Renfroe and Ellen Renfroe along with Hammond. The Lady Vols, who went 52-14 and reached the Women's College World Series for the fifth time in eight years last spring under co-head coaches Ralph and Karen Weekly, open their 2013 season Feb. 7 in a tournament at St. George, Utah.
General
• Reservations are being taken for area Fellowship of Christian Athletes fundraiser dinners featuring Georgia football coach Mark Richt and WNBA star Tamika Catchings from the University of Tennessee. Richt will speak at the FCA "Home Team" Banquet on Feb. 28 at the Colonnade in Catoosa County; that's for FCA work in northwestern Georgia, and information for attendance and sponsorship is available at lookoutmountainfca@fca.org and 706-764-1954. Catchings, the reigning WNBA Finals MVP, will headline the southeastern Tennessee FCA's "Road to Victory" Banquet at 6:30 p.m. on March 5 at the Chattanooga Convention Center. Anyone interested in that one should call Jay Fowler at 877-3561 or 309-4255.
Football
• Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy, now a respected NFL television analyst, and Buffalo Bills head coach Chan Gailey will be the featured speakers for the annual Carson-Newman Championship Coaching Clinic to be held March 8-10 at the Music Road Hotel and Convention Center in Pigeon Forge. The gathering includes events for the coaches' spouses. Pre-registration begins after Christmas at 865-471-3466 at a cost of $25 per couple; the price will be $30 at the door. Attendees can go ahead and make lodging reservations at the host hotel by calling 1-800-429-7700; a credit card will hold the room with nothing charged until after the clinic.