February 2010 Archives

In an effort to Pack Lentz-Eggers gym for the final time in school history, Watauga High School will be having a White out for tonight's sectional final vs West Charlotte at 5:30pm. Fans are encouraged to find anything white and come out and support the Pioneers, as Watauga will be giving away free Whiteout T Shirts to everyone at the door, while supplies last. Two lucky students who come wearing the most white and showing school spirit will be selected to participate in a halftime contest where they could win a free prize worth 25 dollars. The Pioneers will need the fans help tonight, as they face a tough and confident West Charlotte squad that's 20-9 on the season. After defeating Garinger 81-60 on Wednesday and moving on to the sectional finals for the first time in 38 years, the Pioneers will now have to face West Charlotte. The Lions have defeated Porter Ridge (112-58) and Vance (66-47) in the first two rounds of the state playoffs. Good luck to the Pioneers tonight!

The Avery Viking girls will return to the hardwood tonight at 6 or 7 pm as they travel to Robbinsville to face the Black Knights in the sectional finals after they narrowly defeated Hiwassee Dam on Wednesday night 60-58 on Lauren Avery's steal and layup with .7 seconds left. The Black Knights with be a tough match as they are 21-2 on the season after defeating Alleghany 84-57 on Wednesday, but the 23-3 Vikings know a thing or two about winning so they look up to the challenge as they continue their journey to bring a state title back to Avery County. Good luck ladies! 

Appalachian State University women's basketball overcame a sluggish and sloppy first-half play to push past Wofford Thursday evening at the Holmes Center, 76-62. After heading into the break tied at 26 all, the score was knotted once more at 43 apiece before the Black and Gold took control of the game and never looked back. ASU used a 17-4 run to go up 54-49 with 6:43 remaining. Sophomore Canesha Edwards provided the spark during the run, as she tallied seven of her career-high 19 points and hauled in 10 rebounds, recording her second straight double-double. Two Edwards' free throws earned Appalachian its largest lead of the game at 64-54 with 4:03 left to play. Coming up big at the charity stripe at the end of the contest secured the Mountaineers' 14-point win, as Ramirez and Dewart both connected at the free throw line, totaling six points. Ramirez stepped her offensive game in the second-period as she scored 18 second-half points, ending the game with 19, while also dishing out six assists and grabbing five steals. She has now scored in double-figures in 10 straight games and is 42 points away from the 1,000 point mark. The Lady Mountaineers picked up their 11th win in 12 games including their fourth in a row as they move to 18-10 and 14-5 in the SoCon. The Lady Mountaineers' hit the road for their final regular-season game, as Appalachian heads to Statesboro, Ga. to battle the Eagles with a shot at finishing second in the conference on the line. The game is set to begin at 5 p.m. in Georgia Southern's Hanner Fieldhouse.

Donald Sims led four Mountaineers in double-figures and Appalachian claimed the Southern Conference North Division championship outright with an 80-74 win over Chattanooga on Thursday night at the Holmes Center. The Mountaineers never trailed en route to their seventh win in eight games. After leading by as many as 13 points in the second half, ASU saw its advantage dwindle to one point with under five minutes remaining. However, a three-point play by Josh Hunter and back-to-back three-pointers from Sims sparked an 11-4 Mountaineer run that put the game away. Hunter reached double figure points for the third time in the last four games, as he totaled 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting with three free throws. Helping out in the post, Isaac Butts matched a season high with 13 rebounds to go along with eight points on 4-of-6 shooting.The big man came one block shy of matching his career high as he swatted four of ASU's five shots on the night. Kellen Brand recovered from Monday's forgettable offensive outing to score 18 points with four three-pointers and Jeremi Booth finished with 12 points for the Apps. Ricky Taylor sparked the Chattanooga offense, as he matched a career high with 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting. Before the game, Donald Sims and Kellen Brand were given ceremonial basketballs to celebrate both of them joining the 1,000 point club this season. The SoCon North champs now host Samford on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the final regular season game of the season. The squad will honor its five seniors before the contest, beginning at 2:50 p.m.

On Wednesday night, both Watauga Pioneer squads were back in action in the state playoffs. The Lady Pioneers traveled to Marion to battle the 25-1 McDowell Titans. Unfortunately for the Watauga girl's, they couldn't pull out the win over the vaunted Titans defense as they fell 63-42. Nicole Tesh was the only Watauga player in double figures with 12 points. McDowell got off to a sluggish start, but it didn't compare to the chilly shooting Watauga endured,as the Pioneers missed their first six shots before a Nicole Tesh jumper with 4:51 left in the first quarter. The Titans eventually started to find some offense later in the quarter by outscoring Watauga 12-5 and took an 18-9 lead at the end of the quarter. Watauga rallied to trail by 23-19, but McDowell went on a 17-5 run and claimed a 40-24 halftime lead. Then, McDowell slammed the door shut for good by scoring the first seven points of the third quarter and taking a 47-24 advantage in route to the win. The Lady Pioneers ended their 2009-10 season with a record of 11-14 after the Pioneers won their first state playoff game Monday since 1996. The Pioneers lose eight seniors from the 2009-10 edition, five that were playing as the final seconds of the season ticked off the clock.

On the boys side though, the Pioneers continue to impress as they picked up another convincing win as they beat Garinger 81-60. The game was close for much of the first three quarters, but in the fourth, Watauga used great offense once again to pull away. Brandon Calhoun led all scorers with 26 points as he paced the Pioneers offensive attack. Damien Edwards also pitched in with 17 points, six boards, six assists, six steals, and four blocks, and Casey Quinn added a double double with 13 points and 10 dimes. For the first time in 38 years the Watauga High School Pioneer men have advanced to the sectional finals of the state playoffs, and with the win over the third-seeded MEGA 7 Conference, Garinger, Watauga now moves to 16-8 on the season and hosts either West Charlotte or Charlotte Vance on Friday at 7pm.  

In the second round of the playoffs, Avery continued their winning ways, as they had to get a last second steal by Lauren Avery as she dribbled the length of the court in 4.8 seconds and made the winning bucket with .7 seconds left to edge Hiwassee Dam Wednesday night 60-58. The girl's advance to the third round of the state playoffs as they travel Friday to Robbinsville to play at either 6 or 7pm depending on the weather.

In the second round, the Avery boy's weren't so lucky though, as they feel to Nantahala in the second round of the state playoffs in a game that may be protested because of the officiating. The game never even ended as the officials walked off the court with two minutes remaining. If the loss stands, the boy's end their season at 11-12.

The Ashe Lady Huskies amazing season officially came to an abrupt end Wednesday night. The Ashe girl's lost to Catawba Bandy's 63-50 in the second round of the state playoffs in West Jefferson. The Lady Huskies were the only remaining Ashe basketball team in the playoffs, and looked like favorites to possibly win a state championship, but unfortunately their season came to an end earlier then expected. Mariah McVey had 15 to led the Lady Huskies, while Mallary Clay put in 13, Caitlin Elliott had 11, and Lizzie Hanes chipped in four in the loss. Jesse Story was one of four Trojans in double figures as she scored 19 points to lead Bandy's High School. Ashe finishes the season with a very impressive 24-2. Congratulations to the Ashe girl's basketball team on a great season!

The ASU women return to the court tonight, winners in 10 of their last 11 contests, as the Lady Mountaineers' host Wofford, tonight at 5pm. The contest is ASU's final regular-season home game of the 2009-10 campaign acting as game one of a double-header with the men's team which plays Chattanooga at 7:30 p.m. Appalachian won its third game in a row and tenth in 11 tries Monday evening as the Black and Gold downed SoCon rival College of Charleston 70-54 on ASU's home floor. The win marked ASU's 17th of the season, the most since the 1995-96 season, and the 13th conference win was the most since the 1995-96 campaign as well. Ramirez had the hot shooting hand for ASU, pouring in a career-high 25 points, going 5-12 from behind the arc scoring all of the Apps' three pointers. She also dished out five assists and grabbed four rebounds. The victory also puts ASU one home win away from tying a school-record eight home wins.

Well, following the women's game, the freshly crowned SoCon North Division champs will take the court at 7:30pm as the ASU men battle the Chattanooga Mocs tonight at 7:30pm. The Apps wrap up the final two regular season games of the years at home, as they play tonight against Chatt, and then Samford on Saturday at 3pm.  The Mountaineers wrapped up the SoCon North's top seed and no less than a share of the division title on Monday with a 58-54 win at Elon. Donald Sims led the Mountaineers with 25 points while Ike Butts recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds in the game. The contest was also the 123rd of Kellen Brand's career, tying the guard with D.J. Thompson for first place on ASU's career list. ASU has won six of its last seven games and needs just a win tonight or a Western Carolina loss to win the division outright. The Apps are 7-1 against division rivals this season with the lone loss coming at Chattanooga last month in an 85-80 setback. That five-point defeat was also the largest margin for ASU this year, as the team's five conference losses have come by a combined 16 points.

The Watauga Lady Pioneers will be back on the hardwood tonight after escaping from East Gaston with a 63-58 win on Monday night. The girl's team travels to number three McDowell tonight at 6pm, after they won their first playoff game since 1996 Monday evening. Ironically, East Gaston was the last team Watauga beat in the playoffs. After defeating Page in a thriller on Monday night at Lentz-Eggers Gym 64-62, the Watauga boys will be back in action tonight at 5:30pm. The boys host Garinger tonight, after picking up just Watauga's second post-season win since 1989 on Monday evening. If Watauga wins, the Pioneers will march their way into the sectional finals Friday night against the winner of Charlotte Vance and West Charlotte. The Pioneers haven't been to the sectional finals since 1971-72. 

Both Avery basketball squads will be back in action tonight as the quest for a state championship continues for both Vikings teams. The Avery boys will start their second round state playoff action at 6:00pm @ Nantahala High School in Topton, NC and the girls will start theirs at 6:00pm @ Hiwassee Dam High School in Murphy, NC. MTN wants to wish both Avery teams the best of luck in their tournament action. 

The Ashe Lady Huskies look to improve on their impeccable season tonight when they host Catawba Bandys tonight at 7 p.m. Coming off an impressive 81-45 win over Madison on Monday evening in which they were leading 20-0 after the first quarter, the Lady Huskies will look to take it to Trojans to continue their successful season. Amidst the Ashe Lady Huskies state playoff push in basketball, the Ashe wrestling team has been tearing up the mat lately. The Huskies have six wrestlers going to the state individual tournament this weekend including: Jeffery Martin (119), reigning state champion Aaron Scott (145), Juan Barrientos (152), Dalton Lewis (160), Jesse Carpenter (171), Josh Wineberg (215). In addition to that, the Ashe County cheerleaders won the state championship this year. The title is the first cheer leading championship in high school history, and only the second team sports state title in all of Ashe County history.

Austin Trotman won his 13th consecutive match but the wrestling Apps fell to Liberty 25-10 Tuesday night in Varsity Gym. The match featured five matches that were decided by three points or less, with the Flames' winning four of the five. Liberty started quick, winning the first three matches, all three decided by three or less. Shaun Smith started the match at 157 with a take-down of Chip Powell. Chad Porter and Kyle Blevins were locked in another close match, with Porter winning 4-2 in overtime. Brad Clark gave Liberty its third straight win to start the match, a 5-2 win over Carter Downs. Trotman was able to get ASU on the board with a hard fought win over Nick Knowles. Dylan Temple followed with a dominating 11-3 major decision over Jacobi Johnson to bring the score to 9-7. The win was Temple's 20th of the year marking the junior's second-straight 20-win season. Josh Pelleteir gave Liberty a boost with a 4-2 win over Ken Altarac, but ASU got right back in it with a 5-2 win over Jonathan Childress. Liberty was able to finish the match the way they started, winning the final three matches. Joe Pantaleo pinned Weston Haney in the first period to give the Flames' an 18-10 lead. At 141 pounds, Scott Clymer earned a 14-2 major decision over Chris Collura to clinch the match. Frankie Gayeski defeated Savva Kostis 8-3 in the final match of the night. ASU falls to 9-11 on the season as the Mountaineers will now get ready for the SoCon Tournament, held in Davidson on March 6. 

The ASU baseball team returned to action Tuesday afternoon and continued on their undefeated ways as they beat Gardner-Webb, 8-2, at McNair Field to improve to 3-0. Appalachian surrendered just one earned run on seven hits in Tuesday's victory. Taylor Miller, Will Helms, Nathan Hyatt, and Chris Patterson combined to toss Tuesday's gem. ASU actually trailed for the first time all season when 0-4 Gardner-Webb jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. However, the deficit was short-lived, as a two-run single by true freshman Tyler Zupcic gave Appalachian a 2-1 advantage in the top of the third. David Towarnicky stretched the lead to 3-1 with a solo home run in the top of the fourth and that would be all the Mountaineers would need, as GWU would only manage to plate an unearned run in the fifth against the Apps' hurlers the rest of the way. ASU scored one more in the seventh and four in the ninth to account for the final margin. Appalachian returns to McNair Field this weekend when it and Gardner-Webb co-host the inaugural North-South Challenge. ASU plays Niagara on Friday at 3 p.m., 2009 NCAA Regional participant Marist on Saturday at 1 p.m., and Niagara again on Sunday at 1 p.m.

In what is the beauty of baseball, a player that is best known as a one hit wonder, literally, can be idolized for generations for just that one hit. One such player is Aaron Boone. Boone officially hung up the cleats this week after 12 years of MLB service as he will join ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" as a baseball analyst beginning in March. Boone had a .263 career average with 126 homers and 555 RBIs and was an all-star in 2003. But what Boone was most famous, or some may say infamous for, is this hit off Tim Wakefield in Game 7 of the 2003 AL championship series, capping the New York Yankees comeback from a 5-2 deficit against the Boston Red Sox. Boone was truly one of the good guys of baseball and following open-heart surgery last March 23, Boone returned to the Houston Astros and went 0 for 13 in September. Teammate Geoff Blum took third base from David Wright after the season's final game and presented Boone with it in the visiting clubhouse, a sign players knew the 36-year-old's playing career was over. 

The Watauga Storm boy's u-13/7th grade basketball team won the 3rd Annual Smoky-Mountain Rim-Rocker in Elizabethton, TN. The tournament hosted a nine team field. In game 1 the Storm lost to the Avery Blizzard 26-24. Zeb Speir led the Storm with 7 points, followed by Hunter Shore with 6. The Storm then beat the Abingdon, VA Falcons 41-38. TJ Poulus led the Storm with 8 points, followed by Shore with 7. Kenan Foxx, Matt Tyndall, and Hunter Isaacs pitched in 6 apiece, finally Kory Phillips and Shore joined with 2 points apiece. The Storm  was seeded 2nd in Pool C. On Sunday, in Bracket play the Storm defeated the Elizabethton, TN Cyclones 50-44. Matt Lambert led the Storm with 15 points and 10 boards, followed by Poulus with 14 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. In their semi-finals the Storm defeated the Abingdon, VA Falcons for a 2nd time 34-22. Lambert and Poulus led the Storm with 8 points apiece, followed by Shore and Tyndall with 5 points apiece. In the finals the Sotrm defeated the Kinsport, TN Indians 42-35. Lambert once again led the Storm with 14 points and 15 rebounds, followed by Poulus with 9 points and Tyndall with 8 points. The Storm is coached by Stephen Poulus, Teddy Isaacs, Andrew Webb, and Ethan Poulus. The Storm returns to action in the 3rd Annual Slam Dunk Basketball Tournament in Hillsville, VA March 6 and 7. 

The Watauga Pioneer girl's and boy's teams were in action Monday night in the first round of the state playoffs. As the girl's traveled to East Gaston and picked up a big win 63-58 to move on to the second round of the state playoffs. The Lady Pioneers will now travel to McDowell on Wednesday night to face the Fightin Titans at 6pm. On the boy's side, I have to say it's been a long time since I've seen a game that good in a long time. The Pioneers hosted Greensboro Page for the first round of the state playoffs as the men pulled out a spectacular 64-62 victory to advance to the second round of the state playoffs. The game didn't start out well for the Pioneers though as Gennsboro Page put 29 points up in the first quarter alone to jump out a large double digit lead. Greensboro Page shot lights out for the first quarter and a half to take the Pioneers by storm. But give it to this Watauga squad as they battled back using great defense to force turnovers and beating the Pirates in transition to cut into the lead before the half. The two clubs battled during the third quarter as Watauga continued to chip away at the deficit and deny Page the open lane. Then came the epic fourth quarter as Watauga was finally able to widdle away the page lead and tie the game up. For the final two minutes, the clubs continued to trade buckets until Watauga's Damian Edwards was fouled with 7.6 seconds left with the score tied at 62. With ice water running through his veins, Edwards calmly knocked down both foul shots to set up the final possession. Page slowly got it across the time-line and once they did, Watauga with a foul to give, intelligently fouled them with 2.5 seconds left. After the foul, Page set up a play to get a decent look at a long two point attempt from the left wing, but it came up short and Watauga fans stormed the court. With the win, the Pioneers will now host Grainger on Wednesday night at 6pm for the second round of the state playoffs. 

Over the course of the weekend, we didn't get the chance to talk enough about the Avery girl's tough loss in the conference tournament to Mitchell on Friday. The Lady Vikings fell in a tough contest with the Lady Mountaineers in Friday evening's championship contest, as Lyndsey Jensen and Lakin Norris combined for 43 of the Lady Mountaineer's 59 points, and rolled to a 59-48 victory at Owen High School. The Lady Vikes put up a valiant effort as Sara Wiseman led the way with 12 points and 10 boards for a double double, and Lauren Avery chipped in 10 points for the Vikes, but good Mountaineer defense shut down the Viking attack as Lauren Avery shot just 3 for 14 and the Vikings had 17 turnovers as well as eight missed free throws. Still, because of her efforts, Lauren Avery was named to All-Tournament team while Dylan Eppley was named to the All-Tournament team on the boy's side for Avery.

Nonetheless, the Lady Vikings had a terrific season and continued their efforts on Monday as they faced the Elkin Buckin Elks. Avery made an easy game of it as they came out on top in convincing fashion 81-53. Avery opened the game scoring the first 20 points of the game, holding Hendersonville scoreless in the first quarter to take a 20-0 lead after one period and 37-13 at the half. In the third quarter, Hendersonville's Brooks Walz tried to single-handedly bring the Lady Bearcats back in the game. Avery managed to score only six points in the third quarter, while Walz herself scored 15 in the period to draw the Lady Bearcats to within 14 points at 49-35 after three quarters. Hendersonville cut the deficit to nine mid way through the fourth but Avery rallied back to win 81-53. Four Lady Vikings scored in double-figures in the win, led by Lauren Avery's double-double effort of 16 points and 14 rebounds. Mercedes Bentley added 15 points, Hayley Pyatte finished with13, and Sara Wiseman added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Hendersonville's Brooks Walz led all scorers with 33, but it wasn't enough. The girl's now advance to Hiawassee Dam to face the Eagles on Wednesday for the second round of the state playoffs. On the boy's side, Avery was able to pick up a win over nemesis West Wilkes 65-52 on Monday evening. Avery led 14-7 after one quarter and 24-15 at the intermission as the Vikings held West to just 22 percent shooting in the first half, and 1 of 9 from three-point range. The Blackhawks cut the deficit to 35-32 after the third quarter, but Avery used a late 11-4 run to pull away. Dustin Clarke ended the night with 16 points, 9 assists, and 8 rebounds for the Vikes, while Joey Potter had 15, Kody Hughes scored 11, and Luke Pittman contributed 10 off the bench.The Avery boy's will now hit the road as they travel to Nantahala for their second round state playoff game against the Hawks.

In Ashe County, the Lady Huskies continued their dominant tear as they ran all over Madison 81-45 on Monday night. Mallary Clay led the Huskies with 17 points, MacKinsey Johnson had 12, Chandler Christensen scored 11, and Caitlin Elliott finished with  10 points. The Ashe girl's will now advance to the second round to play Catawba Bandys Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Ashe boy's season unfortunately came to an end Monday night as they were upset by Polk County 62-48. Dylan Carter led the Huskies with 13 points, while Greyson Wells and Cory Roten were held to 9, and Bryson Payne finished with 7.

The Lady Mountaineers continued with their winning ways, as the Mountaineers downed the College of Charleston Monday evening 70-54 at the Holmes Center. After leading by just two points at the break, the Black and Gold grabbed a commanding 48-36 advantage with a little under 15 minutes to play.  Led by junior Sam Ramirez who drilled two treys during the streak, and six Ashlen Dewart points, ASU had its first double-digit cushion of the contest. Another Dewart layup put the Apps up by 14, but the Cougars would not back down, as Caleigh Cromwell and Ericka Williams each connected on three-pointers to make it a nine-point game at 58-49 with 7:45 remaining. A final Jade Hughes' trey pulled C of C back within eight points, after Canesha Edwards continued her clutch play, hitting two jumpers, but Hughes' effort was not enough as six final Ramirez free throws down the stretch iced the game for ASU. Edwards was on fire for Appalachian as well, as she tallied her first double-double of the season, hauling in 11 rebounds and recording 10 points. Fellow guard Chakeitha Weldon was also strong on the boards, tying Edwards for a game-high 11 rebounds. The 11 rebounds are a career-high for the 5-8 point guard. Holding the Cougars' to a dismal 23 percent shooting from the floor in the second half and just 23 second period points, Appalachian was able to run past College of Charleston and notch its 17th win of the season.The win completes the season sweep of the Cougars and improves ASU to 17-10 on the 2009-10 campaign and 13-5 in the conference, while College of Charleston drops its second game in a row, falling to 19-10 overall and 13-7 in league action. Vying for a second place spot in the SoCon, the Mountaineers play their final home game of the season, as the Apps welcome Wofford to the High Country on Thursday at 5pm. 

After a terrible shooting night, the Mountaineers used clutch free throw shooting to beat the Elon Phoenix 58-54 on Monday night and wrap up their third North Division title in four years and the North's top seed in next month's SoCon tourney. With the game knotted at 49, the Apps used four free throws coupled with a Josh Hunter put-back to put the Apps up 55-50 with 1:40 remaining in regulation. Elon's Adam Constantine responded with a layup at the other end and a pair of free throws on the ensuing possession to cut the deficit to 55-54 with 41 ticks left. Jeremi Booth was then fouled and sank 1-of-2 foul shots with 32 seconds remaining. Down by two points and with the shot clock turned off, Chris Long brought up the ball for Elon and attempted a runner from the right baseline to tie the game with 19 seconds on the clock. Booth grabbed the rebound off the glass and made an outlet to Sims who was fouled. Sims knocked down both shots to improve to 6-of-8 from the line on the night. Elon received the ball for one final possession as Booth deflected a pass out of bounds and Hunter grabbed the game's final rebound to secure the 58-54 win. Sims bounced back from a rough first half to finish the game with a game-high 25 points. Butts recorded his sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 boards. Hunter battled early foul trouble to score eight of his 10 points and grab six of his seven rebounds in the second half. Appalachian returns home to host Chattanooga on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. A win in either game or a Western Carolina loss would give the Mountaineers an outright division title.

Well, needless to say, it was a busy few days in sports over the weekend. After both the Watauga girl's and boy's teams were swept from the conference tournament, both Watauga teams will have another crack at postseason play as they begin the state playoffs. The Watauga boy's play tonight at home beginning at 7pm against Greensboro Page, and the girl's travel to East Gaston to play at 7pm as well. The cost for admittance will be $6.00 to the boy's game, and only State Passes will be accepted. 

Over the weekend, the Avery Lady Vikings advanced to the conference tournament final against Mitchell, but they fell to the Mountaineers 59-48 on Friday night. The girl's were down 30-18 at the half and couldn't muster enough of a rally to beat Mitchell in the loss. Out of the conference tournament losses came good news for Avery though, as both Avery teams will host a state playoff game tonight. The Lady Vikings will begin their quest with the #3 seed from the Mountain Valley Conference, the Elkin Lady Bucking Elks, at 5 PM in Viking Gymnasium. In the boy's game, the Vikings will host a rematch with #3 MVC seed West Wilkes. Avery defeated the Blackhawks in its lone meeting this season, as the second meeting in Miller's Creek was canceled due to inclement weather. With an opening round win, the Lady Vikings will either host Rosman or travel to Hiwassee Dam for its potential second round contest. A win from the Avery men will set up either a home game with Swain or a road game at Nantahala.

The weekend was also a busy one for Ashe County, as the Huskies competed in the MVAC conference tournament. On the boy's side, the Huskies fell in the semi-finals to Starmount 64-58. Even though they lost, they still racked up the honors as Marc Payne was named MVAC coach of the year, Greyson Wells was named MVAC player of the year, and Greyson Wells and Bryson Payne were both named to the All-Conference Team. In addition to that, Cory Roten was named honorable mention to the All-Conference team. On the girl's side, the Lady Huskies first defeated Starmount 50-40 in the semi-finals and then beat Wilkes Central 46-25 to win the conference title. The Lady Hukies raked in the honors as well, as Lizzie Hanes, Mariah McVey, Caitlin Elliott, and Mallary Clay were all named to the All-Conference team. Mallary Clay was named the MVAC player of the year, Laura Foster was named the MVAC coach of the year, and Mariah McVey was named the Tournament MVP. Both Ashe teams will host the first round of the state playoffs as the girl's face Madison County at 6pm and the boy's face Polk County at 7:30pm. 

ASU Softball opened their season, and in busy fashion. Caitlin Wainright pitched a complete game, striking out seven and Allie Cashion drove in the game's only run to give the Lady Mountaineers a 1-0 win over Indiana State in the season-opener on Friday. Katie Boyd went 1-for-2 in the opener with a stolen base, and she worked a walk that brought Cashion up to the plate for the game-winning hit. In the second game, Boyd hit a two-run homer but ASU had six errors and fell to the University of Memphis 5-2. ASU was cruising until the fifth inning, when the Tigers scored all five of their runs, aided by four ASU errors in the inning. Hannah Dow suffered the loss, going 4.1 innings, giving up four earned runs and striking out five with no walks. ASU softball then beat IPFW and Southeast Missouri State on Saturday at the Blues City Classic to move to 3-1 on the season. ASU jumped out to a 5-0 lead in route to a 6-2 win over IPFW as Allie Cashion hit a three-run double in the first inning, and freshman Frannie Seader picked up her first collegiate win, pitching six innings, allowing five hits while striking out five. In the second game, Katie Boyd, McKenzie Phillips and Hayley Grabner each had two hits as the Mountaineers hammered Southeast Missouri State 10-2 Saturday night. ASU scored five runs in the second to break the game open. The Mountaineers tacked on two more in the third with RBI hits by Phillips and Grabner, and then tacked on three more to invoke the eight-run rule to end the game. On Sunday, Caitlin Wainright pitched another gem but the Lady Apps were unable to score, as they fell to McNeese State 1-0 in the Blues City Classic. McNeese scored the game's only run in the bottom of the seventh inning, as Heather Mosser delivered a one-out single and was replaced by pinch runner, Holly Lawrence.  After a sacrifice bunt to move Lawrence to second, Tiffany Denham hit a single up the middle and Lawrence just beat the throw to give McNeese the win. ASU now stands at 3-2 on the season as they are back in action next weekend when they compete in the North Carolina A&T Invitational in Greensboro.

Matt Andress, Jordan Jessup, and Chris Patterson combined to surrender just three hits as they led the ASU baseball team to a 6-1 win over Presbyterian in the season opener for both teams on Friday afternoon at USC Upstate's Harley Park. Andress limited Presbyterian to just one hit over six innings of work, striking out four in the process. Jessup was nearly as impressive in his Appalachian debut, as the junior transfer from Surry C.C. allowed just two hits while striking out six over 3.1 innings of relief. Wes Hobson led the Apps offensively, going 1-for-2 with a home run, two RBI, and two runs scored. On Saturday, the Mountaineers received sterling performances on the mound again and claimed the championship of the season-opening Marriott Classic with an 11-0 win over host USC Upstate. Appalachian saw Ryan Arrowood, Tyler Jackson, Nathan Hyatt and Seth Grant shut out USC Upstate on just six hits. Arrowood set the tone by striking out a career-high eight over five innings of work. After a pitcher's duel for the first four innings, ASU's offense exploded for four runs in the fifth, all of which came courtesy of the long ball. Hector Crespo and Jason Wallace led off the frame with back-to-back homers and Jerod Faggart added a two-run blast to cap the four-run fifth. The Mountaineers plated seven runs in the seventh inning, as Crespo delivered once again with a two-run single. Fellow true freshman Tyler Zupcic also drove in two runs with a double as the Apps sent 11 men to the plate in the seven-run stanza. Appalachian is now 2-0 as they return to action on Tuesday at 2:30pm against Gardner-Webb in the first of four-straight games at Forest City, N.C.'s McNair Field. 

The ASU women's basketball team downed UNC Greensboro on Saturday afternoon at the Holmes Center, beating the Spartans 67-49 in the Apps' annual "Pink Zone" day. After taking an eight-point lead into intermission, Appalachian used an 11-3 run over the course of a three minute span in the second period to grab a 49-37 advantage with a little over 10 minutes remaining. Continuing to provide a spark for the Apps, Anna Freeman drilled five more points in the remaining six minutes of the contest and Chakeitha Weldon added four to propel ASU to the 18-point win. Anna Freeman ended the contest with a game-high 18 points and 12 rebounds, tallying her sixth double-double of her career. She also had four steals and three blocks. With the win the Mountaineers complete the sweep of UNCG and improve to 16-10 on the season and 12-5 in the conference. The Mountaineers continue with their home-stand, as the Apps welcome College of Charleston to the High Country, tonight at 7pm.

Donald Sims scored 10-straight Mountaineer points in the second half as ASU defeated Tennesse Tech 81-68 in the ESPNU BracketBusters event on Saturday evening. The Golden Eagles cut a double-figure ASU lead down to four points with 13 minutes to play in the contest before Kellen Brand scored on back-to-back possessions to spark a 10-2 run and regain a comfortable lead. From there, Appalachian sank 12 of its final 14 free throw attempts and never let TTU come any closer than seven points in the game's last 10 minutes. Sims finished the game with 25 points and two assists. He drained all 10 free throw attempts to extend his season-long streak to 42 consecutive foul shots. Jeremi Booth contributed 15 for the Apps, and Kellen Brand and Isaac Butts also reached double figures for Appalachian, as Brand finished with 16 points and Butts chipped in with 15. Winners of five of their last six games, the Mountaineers return to SoCon play tonight at Elon. The squad needs just one win in its final three regular season games to lock up the North division's top seed for the SoCon Tournament. 

Watauga High School's great finish to the season unfortunately came to an end for both the girl's and boy's teams Thursday night in Hickory. The women, after an easy win over Fred. T Foard Tuesday night, fell to South Caldwell 60-34 in the Northwestern 3A/4A Conference Tournament. On the boy's side, the Pioneers couldn't muster a comeback as they fell to Hibriten 72-45 Thursday night. Congratulations nonetheless to both Watauga teams on making great runs in the conference tournament.

In Avery County, the Lady Vikings jumped all over Hendersonville in the first half on the way to cruising to a 69-51 win on Thursday. The Lady Vikes jumped out to a 37-13 halftime lead and survived a monster night by Hendersonville's Brooks Walz to hold on for the win. Walz led all scorers with 33 points, including 26 in the second half when the Bearcats tried to rally a comeback, but Lauren Avery helped lead a balanced Viking attack with 13 points to secure the win. The Lady Vikings move on to the 1A title game tonight at Owen High School at 7pm. On the boy's end, unfortunately the Vikings weren't as lucky as they came up just short in a 78-74 loss to the Mitchell Mountaineers. The Avery boy's trailed 43-43 at the half and tried to make a comeback but fell just short in the loss. Congratulations to both Avery County teams!

The ASU track and field team hosted the Mountaineer Open on Thursday with plenty of great performances to give them confidence going into next weekend's SoCon Championships. On the men's side, Landon Powell finished second in the 55m dash with a season-best time of 6.36. In the 200m, Justin Thomas finished with a season-best time of 22.75 to take home a runner-up finish. The Mountaineers also took home the top three positions in the 300m, with John Svoboda leading the way with a 34.95. Dennis Moore and AJ Dohanic followed closely behind with times of 36.26 and 36.81, respectively. Combs finished with a second-place finish with a time of 50.55 in the 400m, while Bud Galloway set a new Holmes Center record in the 800m for an Appalachian athlete, turning in a personal-best time of 1:55.53 to earn a third-place finish. Brian Graves and Mike Walker took the top two spots in the 3000m run with times 8:54.30 and 9:01.84. Matt Boruff set a new personal-record in the pole vault with a mark of 16-0.75 to move into a tie for second place in school history. His effort earned a first-place tie with Lees-McRae's Jonathan Arthur. Darius Purcell and Brad Triplett tied for second place in the high jump with a leap of 6-4.75. DeSean Pearce took home third place in the long jump with a 21-09 mark for the Mountaineers. In the shot put, Malcolm Styers led the way with a 51-0 toss to take home first place.

On the women's side, Ashley McKiver set a new season-best mark in the 55m dash with a time of 7.17 to win first, and she was joined in the top-three by Shenita Martin (7.37, 2nd overall) and Christina Parker, who finished third with a time of 7.39. Parker also took home a first-place finish in the 200m with a time of 26.22. Joanna Davis claimed runner-up in the 200m with a season-best time of 27.05. D'Shawrna McLucas posted the fourth fastest 300m in school history while claiming a first-place finish with a time of 41.42. Nadia Liriano was the runner-up with a time of 42.31. Lynda Hiller earned a third-place finish in the 400m with a personal best time of 57.72. Naadia Crutchfield also claimed a second-place finish in the long jump with a leap of 16-4.25, while Erika Ivey earned a runner-up spot in the triple jump with a mark of 36-10.25. Gayshawna Watkins took home first place in the shot put with a toss of 41-04.5 and runner-up in the weight throw with a season-best effort of 52-9.5. The Mountaineers swept the top three spots in the high jump, with Rebecca Hazeltine taking home first place with a 5-7 jump. Hazeltine was followed by Bridgette Hills and Julie Ward who tied for second with a mark of 5-3. Ward also claimed a second-place tie in the pole vault, sharing runner-up honors with Ashley Beale with a mark of 11-6.50. Appalachian State track and field will be back in action a week from today, traveling to Clemson, S.C. to defend their Southern Conference Indoor title.

ASU softball officially opens its 2010 season at the Memphis Blues City Classic where the Mountaineers are playing Indiana State today at 10 a.m. in the opener, and Memphis at 2:30 p.m. in its second game of the day. The Mountaineers are looking for a solid start to the season after a 26-29 record last season that saw ASU finish in a tie for second in the Southern Conference, its highest ever finish. Following the first day of the tournament, the Apps will play IPFW on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. and Southeast Missouri St. at 9:15 p.m. The Mountaineers finish the weekend with an 11 a.m. game on Sunday versus McNeese State. With six starters returning after a record-setting 2009 season, ASU will have even loftier expectations for 2010. The Apps are led by 2009 all-region performer Katie Boyd. Last year, Boyd put together the best single-season performance in ASU softball history, setting school records in seven offensive categories and leading the Southern Conference in eight categories. She played all 55 games at third base last season but will also see time at catcher this year. 

Appalachian baseball officially opens their season today at 4 p.m. versus Presbyterian. The Mountaineers then take on the host, USC Upstate, on Saturday at 1 p.m. Both games will be played at USC Upstate's Harley Park. Head coach Chris Pollard's Mountaineers are in search of the program's fourth-straight 30-win season after ASU went 20 years without reaching the 30-victory plateau. Despite their losses to the MLB draft the last couple of years, the cupboard certainly isn't bare for the Mountaineers, who return six starting position players and two starting pitchers from last year's club including preseason and all-conference selection Wes Hobson, and preseason all-conference selection David Towarnicky.

The Lady Pioneers game against South Caldwell in the semifinal of the Northwestern Conference at Hickory High School was postponed from Wednesday to today because of inclement weather. The Watauga's girls' team will play today against South Caldwell at 4 p.m., which will be followed by the Watauga boys team playing Hibriten at 5:30 p.m. All of the games today, plus the championship games that are scheduled for Friday, will be played at Hickory High School.

Wednesday's games between the Avery Lady Vikings and the Mitchell Lady Mountaineers was canceled due to snow Wednesday. The game will not be made up and instead, the teams plan to return to action today in the semifinal rounds of the conference basketball tournaments. Due to the cancellation of Wednesday's games, the Avery girls will enter the Western Highlands Conference Tournament as a #2 seed, with Mitchell as the top seed. In addition to that, the games on top today for Avery have been moved up, as the Avery girls will play Hendersonville at 4pm and the Avery boys will tip-off against Mitchell at 5:30pm, with both games being played at Owen Middle School. Now, for the ever amusing part of this tournament, if the Avery and Mitchell ladies teams meet in the tournament championship game and Avery wins the conference tournament, the two teams will meet again for a third contest (likely on Saturday) to determine which team will receive the #1 Western Highlands Conference seed for next week's state 1A girls basketball playoffs. So, while the snow has taken many games away the past few weeks, it definitely hasn't taken the excitement. 

In Ashe County, the Lady Huskies continued their dominance as they ran the West Wilkes Lady Blackhawks off the court 65-13 on Wednesday night. In addition to the shellacking the Lady Huskies put on the Lady Blackhawks, the 13 points given up was a school record for the fewest points allowed in a game. Mallary Clay led the way with 15 points, Lizzie Hanes had 10, and Caitlin Eliiot added nine. Ashe now moves on to takes on Starmount in the semi-finals today at 4 p.m. On the boy's side, the Huskies dismantled the West Wilkes Blackhawks, in similar fashion to the ladies game, as the Ashe won 85-43. Greyson Wells once again led the way with 13 points, Bryson Payne chipped in 12, and Darren Green added 11. West Wilkes' Lucas Stinson led all scorers with 17 points in the loss. The Ashe boy's move on to play Starmount High School as well in the semi-finals today at 5:30 p.m. 

ASU track and field will be in action today, hosting the Mountaineer Open in what will be ASU's final home meet of the indoor season. Today's meet will also mark both Mountaineer squads' final tune-up before traveling to Clemson next weekend to defend their conference crown at the SoCon Indoor Championships slated for February 25-26. The Appalachian men are coming off perhaps their best effort of the 2009-10 indoor season at last weekend's Akron Invitational. ASU had eight athletes establish new season-best marks including one personal-best time. Additionally, graduate student Patrick Morgan set a new school record in the mile run and became the first Mountaineer to provisionally qualify for the NCAA championships this season. The Mountaineer women are also coming off a strong showing at last weekend's Akron Invitational that saw 15 athletes establish new season-best marks at one of the country's top indoor meets, and will look to carry that momentum into this weekend and the looming conference championships. Athletes from 16 different colleges and universities will be on hand at the Holmes Center today for the Mountaineer Open which is scheduled to kick off at 3pm.

Keeping in line with the track and field team, ASU's Patrick Morgan has been named the SoCon Track Athlete of the Week. Morgan finished second in the gold division mile at the Akron Invitational, and his personal-best time of 4:01.75 broke the 25-year-old school record and was also a NCAA provisional qualifier. Morgan currently leads the conference by nearly nine seconds and is ranked 26th nationally. After having competed at Furman as an undergraduate, he now holds the school record in the mile at both Furman and Appalachian State.

ASU rallied from an eight point halftime deficit, but were done in by a pair of Andrew Goudelock free throws with 19 seconds remaining as ASU lost a heart-breaker 73-72 on Wednesday night. Appalachian brought the ball up the court for the final possession and had the ball stripped out of bounds under the basket with just 4.5 seconds remaining. The squads each exhausted their remaining timeouts before ASU got the ball in to Josh Hunter near the baseline. The senior looked to Donald Sims for the final shot but was forced to take it himself. Hunter turned towards the endline and leaned in for a bank shot, which hit the far side of the rim as time expired. The forward finished the game with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting and six rebounds. Donald Sims scored 18 points in the contest to lead ASU and added four assists and four boards. Ike Butts and Kelln Brand each scored in double figures with 10 points a piece. Andrew Goudelock, the SoCon's second leading scorer behind Donald Sims, scored 18 points on 6-of-23 shooting on the night. The loss snaps ASU's four-game winning streak and drops the Mountaineers to 16-11 and 10-5 in the SoCon. The Apps return home on Saturday to host Tennessee Tech in the ESPNU BracketBusters event at 7 p.m at the Holmes Center.

The Watauga High School girl's and boy's basketball teams finally got a chance to play a game at home, and they made it count. Playing in the Northwestern 3A/4A Conference Tournament, the fourth-seeded Lady Pioneers got the winning started by easily moving past fifth-seed Fred T. Foard 64-51. Watauga jumped out to a 28-point lead early and then put the cruise control on to finish with the win. The Tigers tried a little bit of a rally, cutting into the large Pioneer lead, but each time they did, Watauga had an answer. The Lady Pioneers used great free throw shooting in the final stanza to ice the game and pick up their first conference tournament win in a while.  As a team, Watauga made 22-of-29 from the line to help distance themselves from the Tigers. Watauga was led by Nicole Tesh's 20 points and 14 points from Mariah Corbin, who hit 8-of-9 free throws.

On the boy's side, the Pioneers stumbled out of the gate before they got things going. The third-seeded Pioneers fell behind 28-10 early, but rallied to beat sixth seeded South Caldwell 75-64. The Pioneers showed signs of rust from not playing since last Tuesday, while South Caldwell shot well from the outside to take an 18-point lead. It didn't take long for Watauga to recover though, as they used suffocating defense and pressure to rally. Led by Brandon Calhoun's 17 points in the first half, the Pioneers scored 27 points in the second quarter and closed the gap to 39-37. Watauga eventually took a 61-57 lead in the fourth quarter when Josh Coffey was fouled, which was followed by a South Caldwell technical foul. Coffey made all four of his ensuing foul shots, and Caleb Courtney followed with a stick-back to cap the Pioneers' 6-0 run on one possession and give Watauga a 70-57 lead in route to the 75-64 win. Calhoun scored 25 points to lead all scorers,  Damian Edwards added 17 points and Josh Coffey scored 14. Both Watauga teams will now play in the semifinals. Watauga's girls play top-seeded South Caldwell tonight, while the Watauga boys play the winner of the Hibriten-Fred T. Foard game.

Donald Sims has got to be feeling the love lately. After averaging 27.5 points in two games and leading Appalachian to victories in both, Sims was named the Southern Conference Player of the Week for the second-straight time and third time this season. Semi-Automatic, as he is known to his teammates, scored 25 points to help the Mountaineers to their first season sweep of the Davidson Wildcats since the 2000-01 campaign. The junior followed Thursday's performance with 30 points on Saturday night against Georgia Southern, when he was 11-of-14 from the field, 3-of-5 from downtown, and sank all five free throws to extend his season-long streak to 28-straight from the charity stripe. Additionally, Sims became just the 17th player in program history to score 500 points in a season, as he currently has 516. He ranks 13th on the single season scoring list for Appalachian, just eight points away from 10th place. Sims leads the SoCon with 19.8 points per game and is tops in the nation in free throw percentage, at 95.5. His 3.0 three-pointers per game also lead the conference. It is the third honor for Sims this season, and fourth of his career, as only Darryl Robinson won more SoCon Player of the Week honors, picking up the award five times from 1976-78. Sims is the league's only three-time winner this season and the only player to win the award in consecutive weeks.

Well, staying on the topic of Donald Sims and the ASU men's basketball team, the Mountaineers travel to the College of Charleston tonight for a 7 p.m. match-up of SoCon division leaders. Appalachian enters the contest with a four-game winning streak and reigning SoCon Player of the Week, Donald Sims, on a tear. Sims scored 55 points in the two home games while shooting a blistering 71.4 percent to lead ASU to wins in both contests. The College of Charleston leads the all-time series 14-9, and the Cougars have won three-straight games in the series dating back to 2007-08. ASU is 3-5 in Charleston and 0-1 in the new Carolina First Arena. The last Mountaineer road win came by a 70-66 score in the 2007-08 campaign. We at MTN want to wish the Mountaineers the best of luck tonight against the College of Charleston, and hopefully ASU can come away with a five-game winning streak.

Watauga High School Athletic Director Tom Wright announced this week that the Northwestern 3A/4A Conference will cancel the rest of its regular-season games. Inclement weather has created such a backlog on the schedule that Hibriten High was the only school to complete all of its 12 regular-season, conference games. The NorthWestern 3A/4A tournament that was left in  limbo last week, will now be held tonight beginning with the higher seeds hosting first-round games. Both the WHS men's and women's teams are scheduled to play home games Tuesday night at Lentz-Eggers Gym. The WHS women are seeded fourth, and are scheduled to play Fred T. Foard in the opening round today at 4:30 pm in game one of a double-header. The WHS men (13-7) are seeded third, and scheduled to play South Caldwell in game two. The women's semi-finals will be played Wednesday and the men's semifinals will be played Thursday, and the men's and women's finals will be played Friday night. All of those games will be played at Hickory. But if WHS cannot play tonight, then the tournament won't begin until Wednesday and WHS would move their scheduled games to Hibriten High School in Lenior. If that does occur, then the men's and women's semifinals would be played on Thursday and the finals for both the men and women would be played on Friday. 

Monday night's game between Avery and Mitchell was postponed due to weather and will be made up on Wednesday with the varsity girls contest beginning at 5 p.m. Due to the unusually high volume of postponements during this basketball season, the Western Highlands Conference has opted to split the conference varsity tournament into two separate four-team tournaments, one for 1A teams(Avery, Hendersonville, Mitchell, and Thomas Jefferson), and one for 2A schools(Madison, Mountain Heritage, Owen, and Polk). As for the 1A tournament, Thursday games will take place at Owen Middle School, with Friday's championship games held at Owen High School. We will keep you up to date on the status of the Avery-Mitchell game and who Avery will face in the tournament.

4:00 pm Game 1- Girls #1 Mitchell/Avery* vs. #4 Thomas Jefferson
5:30 pm Game 2- Boys #1 Hendersonville vs. #4 Thomas Jefferson
7:00 pm Game 3- Girls #2 Mitchell/Avery* vs. #3 Hendersonville
8:30 pm Game 4- Boys #2 Avery vs. #3 Mitchell
*-If Avery defeats Mitchell in Wednesday's regular season finale, a coin toss will take place to determine top tournament seed.

Ashe County will be starting its conference tournament a little later than expected. After mother nature has already wreaked havoc on numerous regular season games, the impending snow storm has now moved all of the tournament games back a day, as Ashe will play West Wilkes on Wednesday instead of tonight. The games will start at the same times still as the girl's tip-off at 6pm and the boys at 7:30pm. The rest of the tournament games will be played Thursday and Friday, weather permitting. We will keep you updated on the latest schedule changes as they come to us.

The Lady Mountaineers quickly put the controversial loss to Chattanooga on Saturday in the back of their minds as they held Samford to just 18 second half points and grabbed an exciting 66-55 win over the number two team in the SoCon Monday evening in Alabama. After heading into the break tied at 37 apiece, the Black and Gold began the second period on a strong note, outscoring the Bulldogs 7-2 in the opening minutes. The two teams continued to battle, as the contest was knotted once more at 48 apiece, but that would be the last time, as an Anna Freeman layup and a Sam Ramirez three-pointer gave the Apps a five-point cushion. Anna Freeman continued to rack up the points as she drilled her fourth and final three-pointer of the night, and then hit a free throw to make it a seven-point Appalachian lead with a little less than three minutes remaining. The Apps then used solid free throw shooting down the stretch to put away the Bulldogs as nine made free throws proved to be the difference-maker and iced the game for Appalachian. Anna Freeman had herself a night as she scored a career-best 21 points to go along with eight rebounds, two blocks and one steal to lead the Mountaineers. Sam Ramirez also contributed offensively as she poured in 19, and Chakeitha Weldon recorded her first double-double scoring 10 points and a pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds. With the victory, the Mountaineers improve to 15-10 on the season and 11-5 in the SoCon. The win also marks Appalachian's first over Samford in their four games against each other. The Mountaineers return to the High Country after the road trip for a three-game home-stand, as they first welcome UNC Greensboro to the Holmes Center on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The contest marks ASU's annual "Pink Zone" game, as the Black and Gold will raise money for the WBCA/Kay Yow Cancer fund.

App football fans may want to keep a special eye on Frisco, Texas, as the NCAA will be deciding in the coming weeks to figure out where the home of the FCS National Championship game will be played. After much speculation and deliberating, two finalists remain to host the event: Chattanooga, Tennessee, the home of the event the past 13 years, or Frisco, Texas. Frisco is doing all that they can to move the event from Chattanooga to Texas as they have even joined forces with a national pizza franchise with representatives of the Southland Conference in an attempt to woo NCAA officials into bringing the title game to the Lone Star State from 2010 to 2012. The Southland bid committee has a planned February 25 meeting with the NCAA to present their proposal, and the NCAA has stated that a decision will be made no later than the first week of March. As ASU fans know very well, Chattanooga, or "Kidd Brewer West" as it has been referred to at times, has been a very homely atmosphere for the Mountaineer football team during their three straight national championships from 2005-2007. As a side note, this year's title game will mark the first time that the FCS Championship game will be played in January. 

Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown said this week that part-owner Michael Jordan is doing everything he can to become the majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. Bob Johnson is eager to sell the unprofitable club, and NBA commissioner David Stern said he expects a deal to be completed within two months. While Stern has said Jordan owning the team "would be a good thing," he may have competition. Former Houston Rockets executive George Postolos has made inquiries, and it's possible if Postolos gets control, Jordan would no longer have a role with the team. Postolos, who once worked as an assistant to Stern in the NBA offices, has been in talks with Johnson for months. Bob Johnson, the founder of Black Entertainment Television and the first black majority owner of a major professional sports team, wasn't talking Monday. In fact, he has declined interview requests for months. What's clear is that Johnson is looking to unload the Bobcats. After paying $300 million for the expansion franchise that began play in 2004-05, Johnson has lost tens of millions of dollars each season as the Bobcats have struggled to draw fans and find sponsorships. But after five losing seasons, the Bobcats sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference before tonight's game against New Jersey and look poised for their first ever postseason appearance. 

The Avery Vikings season finale against Mitchell at Viking Gym on Friday was postponed due to snow. The varsity games will be made up today. Meanwhile, dates and times have been released for the upcoming Western Highlands Conference Basketball Tournaments. The seeding won't be finalized for the tournament until regular season play concludes tonight,weather permitting, and the league has already had to bump everything back a day due to making up the completion of regular season games today.

WHC TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (All games at Owen HS)

BOYS
Wednesday's games
No. 1 vs. No. 8, 4 p.m.
No. 2 vs. No. 7, 5:30 p.m.
No. 3 vs. No. 6, 7 p.m.
No. 4 vs. No. 5, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday's games
No. 1-No. 8 winner vs. No. 4-No. 5 winner, 7 p.m.
No. 2-No. 7 winner vs. No. 3-No. 6 winner, 8:30 p.m.
Friday's game
Championship, 8:30 p.m.

GIRLS
Tuesday's games
No. 1 vs. No. 8, 4 p.m.
No. 2 vs. No. 7, 5:30 p.m.
No. 3 vs. No. 6, 7 p.m.
No. 4 vs. No. 5, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday's games
No. 1-No. 8 winner vs. No. 4-No. 5 winner, 4 p.m.
No. 2-No. 7 winner vs. No. 3-No. 6 winner, 5:30 p.m.
Friday's game
Championship, 7 p.m.

In Ashe County, the Lady Huskies finished their regular season the way they started it, by winning. The girl's team beat North Wilkes 66-29 to become the first team in any sport in Ashe County High School history to go undefeated in conference games as they finished the regular season 20-1 overall and 16-0 in conference. Mallary Clay led all scorers with 18 points, Caitlin Elliott added 10 points, seven boards, and seven steals, and Lizzie Hanes finished with nine points for the Lady Huskies. In the boy's game, the Huskies suffered a heartbreaking loss as they fell to North Wilkes 72-62 and finished in a tie with the Vikings for the conference championship, but the Huskies will be the number one seed in the conference tournament that starts this week. Greyson Wells led all scorers with 18 points, Bryson Payne contributed 13, and Cory Roten chipped in 10 for the Huskies in the loss. Ashe finishes the regular season 15-6 overall and 13-3 in conference. Both Ashe teams face West Wilkes in the first round Tuesday night with the girls starting at 6 p.m., and the boys following that at 7:30. 

The ASU men's track and field team proved to be up to the challenge at the Akron Invitational over the weekend as the men's team established eight season-best marks, one personal-best performance, and saw their first NCAA qualifying performance of the season. Among the top performers were, Dennis Moore who took home a first place finish in the 200m dash with a season-best time of 22.14 and a third place finish in the 60m dash with a season-best mark of 6.93. Landon Powell finished just behind Moore in both events, claiming second place in the 200 with a season-best 22.21 and third in the 60m with a 6.96 effort. In the 800m, Nick O'Keefe was the top Mountaineer performer with a 1:55.17, time which also set a new team mark for the 2009-10 season. Nick Houser was just behind his teammate with a season-best time of 1:55.79. AJ Dohanic also established a new season-best mark in the 400m dash with a 51.46 performance. Patrick Morgan turned in the top individual performance for the Mountaineers this weekend, setting a new school record in the mile. Morgan joined the ASU program this season as a graduate student, and turned in a time of 4:01.75 to easily best Todd Goewey's 1984 mark of 4:05.94. In the process, Morgan became the first Mountaineer to qualify for the NCAA Championships, eclipsing the provisional qualifying time of 4:05.30. Darius Purcell earned a second place finish with a jump of 6-10.25, and Malcolm Styers earned another first place finish in the shot put, posting a season-best toss of 52-10.75.

On the other side, the women's team proved they were up to the challenge as well,  as they established 15 new season-best marks at the Akron Invitational. Ashley McKiver was one of the top Mountaineer performers this weekend, setting a new season-best mark in the 200m dash with a time of 25.36 to claim second place in the "blue" division. Asia Dunlap led a trio of Mountaineers to season-best times in the 400m dash Saturday, as Dunlap posted a time of 58.26 to claim a third place finish in the blue division. Bianca Harvey was the top Mountaineer performer in the field Saturday, taking home first place finishes in the blue division long jump (18-4.50) and triple jump (38-2.25). Harvey was joined in the top-four of the long jump by Kiara Crutchfield (17-8.25, 3rd) and senior Danielle Thorpe (17-7.50, 4th). Thorpe also added a second place finish in the gold triple jump (40-2). Rebecca Hazeltine claimed a third place finish in the gold high jump with a mark 0f 5-6, while senior Julie Ward earned a second place tie in the pole vault with a 11-1.75 mark. Appalachian State track and field will have one more tune-up before the SoCon Championships, as they return to Boone for the final home indoor meet of the season next Thursday at the Holmes Center.

The ASU wrestling team won the final four matches to pull out a 21-15 win over VMI Sunday afternoon in Varsity Gym. The Keydets took a 15-9 lead when Matthew Brock scored a last second pin over Chip Powell at 157 pounds. Kyle Blevins got ASU back within three with 4-2 decision over Conor Black though, and Carter Downs and Austin Trotman won the final two matches to clinch the win for the Mountaineers. Downs built up a 9-2 lead and hung on for a 9-6 victory, while Trotman was dominant in earning a major decision over Vinnie Gallo. With the win, Trotman earned his 20th win of the season and is on a 12-match winning streak, and it is the second time in his career that he has reached the 20-win plateau. Savva Kostis joined Trotman in the 20-win club, as he won his match to earn his first collegiate 20-win season. With the win ASU improves to 9-10 overall and 3-2 in the SoCon. The Mountaineers will finish the regular-season by hosting Liberty on Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. 

The Lady Apps took a double-digit lead over SoCon leader Chattanooga, but the Mocs battled back and eeked out a controversial 59-56 win over the Mountaineers on Saturday afternoon. A Chakeitha Weldon layup gave the Black and Gold a 50-40 advantage with just under 12 minutes to play in the contest, but a 13-0 Chattanooga streak proved to be the difference-maker in the final minutes of the game. Led by Tenisha Townsend's four points during the Lady Mocs' run, Chattanooga grabbed its first lead of the game since the 18:03 mark in the first half, going up 53-51 with 6:11 remaining. Chatt's Jenaya Wade-Fray capped off Chattanooga's run with a layup, putting ASU on a little over nine minute field goal drought. ASU responded though, scoring six unanswered points to go back on top, 56-53 with 1:18 left on the clock.

Chattanooga pulled back within one on a layup though, and on ASU's next possession, Ashlen Dewart was fouled, but missed both free throws. However, Chakeitha Weldon grabbed the rebound off of Dewart's second missed free throw and it was then knocked loose. A jump ball was whistled by the officials, with the possession in Appalachian's favor, but due to what was ruled as an inadvertent whistle at the 6:47 mark, unbeknownst to either team or the official table, the referees over turned the table and gave the ball to the Lady Mocs. A foul was then called on Catherine Williams and the Mocs hit both free throws to put Chattanooga up for good at 57-56 with mere seconds left. Coming up empty on its next offensive opportunity, ASU had to stop the clock by fouling Kayla Christopher. Christopher, drained two free throws with five seconds left in the game, earning UTC the 59-56 lead, and on their next possession the Mountaineers turned the ball over to fall 59-56. Sam Ramirez ended as the game's leading scorer, pouring in 19 points to go along with four assists to lead App. ASU lost for the 26th-straight time to Chattanooga and the loss snaps the Apps' seven-game winning streak. ASU also dropped its first conference road game of the season, falling to 14-10 overall and 10-5 in league action. Appalachian now looks to rebound, as they head to Birmingham, Ala. in search of its first-ever win over top-tier SoCon rival Samford at 8 p.m.

On the men's side, the Mountaineers shot a season-high 67 percent from the field en route to a dominating 111-83 win over Georgia Southern on Saturday night at the Holmes Center. Both teams started the game on fire, as the Mountaineers shot 78 percent while the Eagles connected on 59 percent of field goals and 7-of-10 three-pointers before the intermission. The Eagles opened a early 30-20 lead midway through the half, before Appalachian scored 19 of the game's next 23 points to take the lead for good. ASU scored a season-best 57 first-half points but only held a three-point lead as Georgia Southern scored 13 points off of 10 Mountaineer turnovers in the first half. Colby Wohlleb made the Apps pay from downtown in the opening 20 minutes with 19 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including four threes, while Donald Sims led the Mountaineers with 15 points before the break. The Mountaineers continued to stretch the lead in the second half by scoring the first five points of the half. Appalachian then broke open the game with 11-straight points with seven minutes remaining to build a 25-point lead and cruise to the win. Donald Sims led all scorers with 30 points, Kellen Brand added 17, and Ike Butts chipped in 12 for the Apps. The win locked up one of the top-two seeds in the North division and the accompanying first-round bye in next month's Southern Conference Tournament in Charlotte. The Mountaineers will take to the road next to face the College of Charleston on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Watauga High School will be finishing out their season this weekend like most area high schools. The Pioneers are scheduled to play at home against St. Stephens tonight as part of Senior Night at Watauga, and will follow that game with a make-up game with Fred T. Foard Saturday at 3 p.m to finish out their regular season schedule.

Avery High School is asking for the help of all fans and students to PAINT IT BLACK or RED in "The Octagon" (a.k.a. Viking Gym) during Avery's regular season home finale tonight vs. Mitchell by wearing black or red t-shirts! It's Senior Night for the Vikings as they will battle the Mitchell Mountaineers for the final regular season game of the year as their makeup game against West Wilkes has been bumped and will not be made up. Young Adults Helping Haiti & UIC, in conjunction with the Avery SGA will be raising money once again at the game after they raised $320 to assist the country of Haiti with earthquake relief at Avery's recent home contest against Polk. The West Wilkes contest will not be made up.  

Ashe County will hit the hardwood on Saturday for their regular season finale as they battle the North Wilkes Vikings with BIG implications on the line. The winner of the boys game wins the Mountain Valley 2A conference, as Ashe has already clinched a share, but can win it outright with a win, while North Wilkes can become Co-Champion if they beat the Huskies.

ASU track and field will be in action this weekend in Akron, Ohio, participating in the annual Akron Invitational. This year's Akron Invitational promises to deliver top-notch action, as the Zips have brought in an impressive group of athletes, including former Olympians and world champions, in addition to 24 colleges and universities. With another competitive field on tap for this weekend, the Mountaineers will use the opportunity to prepare for the SoCon Indoor Championships slated for February 25-26 in Clemson, S.C. Both the men's and women's teams trail Western Carolina in the SoCon's mid-season power rankings released this week. The men find themselves trailing the Catamounts by 16 points, while the women are currently 17 points behind WCU with just two meets remaining before the SoCon Championships. The Akron Invitational is slated to begin at 5:00 p.m. Friday, and will conclude Saturday night. Some big colleges participating in the event include: Akron, Auburn, Dayton, Duquesne, Marshall, Ohio State, Penn State, Pitt, VMI, West Viriginia, Winthrop, and Youngstown State.

ASU wrestler Austin Trotman was the latest Mountaineer to be named named a SoCon player of the week, as he joins Sam Ramirez and Donald Sims after he was named Southern Conference Wrestler of the Week for all matches from February 3-9. It is the second time this season and the third time in Trotman's career he has received the honor. The Winston-Salem native went 3-0 on the week and was 2-0 in SoCon action. He defeated Chattanooga's Jason McCroskey 9-4 in his first match Saturday and beat Northern Iowa's Scott Hazen 11-4 in his second match of the day. On Tuesday night, he pinned Davidson's Ike Crews in the first period to record his third pin of the year. Since moving to 184 pounds, Trotman has gone 11-1 and has recorded three pins, and for the season, he is 19-4, with the three pins and six major decisions. Trotman and the Mountaineers' finish their SoCon slate on Sunday, Feb. 14 when they host VMI at 2 p.m.

Just a couple days after the ASU women's soccer team announced their 2010 class, the ASU men's soccer team has brought in six student-athletes for the 2010 season, head coach Shaun Pendleton announced. Goalkeeper Matthew Boyd, midfielder/forward Ty Daniel, defender Harrison Delbridge, defender Robert Kelley, defender Evan Kent and defender Walker White will all join the Mountaineers in the fall.

Matthew Boyd was a three-time academic all-conference performer at Sanderson. Boyd played for the North Carolina Olympic Development Program team for three years and helped his team to a regional championship. He played for the CASL Elite team and helped lead them to four state championships. Ty Daniel was a two-year letter-winner in soccer and also earned a letter in football. Daniel was a two-time all-northeast performer, and played for the Cobb Futbol club under coach Steve Gummer. He helped lead the team to championships at the Dallas Cup, Raleigh Shootout, and the Super Y League. Harrison Delbridge was a two-time all-conference performer, and he earned all-state honors as a senior. He helped lead his team to back-to-back regular-season and tournament championships, and scored 18 goals as a senior in route to team MVP honors. Robert Kelley helped his club team, Houston Dynamo Academy, to two Disney Showcase tournament championships and the Dallas Cup championship. Evan Kent earned all-conference and all-region accolades. He helped his team to the 2008 state championship. He also played for the Charlotte Soccer Academy and was a three-year member of the North Carolina ODP team. And finally, Walker White was a three-time first-team all-district honoree, and was named team MVP three times. White played for the Texas Futbol club and helped lead the team to championships at the Disney Showcase and the College Cup. He was part of a defense that did not allow a goal in four games at the Disney Showcase.

The Southern Conference's baseball coaches have tabbed ASU first baseman David Towarnicky and second baseman Wes Hobson as preseason all-conference honorees, the league office announced this week. Towarnicky hit .328 with 12 doubles, four home runs and 35 RBI as a junior last year and earned all-SoCon Tournament recognition after hitting .625 with three RBI in three postseason games. He also sports one of the nation's top gloves at first base, making just three errors in 486 chances in the field last season, good for a team-best .994 fielding percentage. Towarnicky sports a perfect 4.0 GPA as a double-major in finance and banking and risk insurance management with an international business minor, and he was named a third-team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American in 2009. Hobson was one of the nation's top second basemen as a junior in 2009. He started all 54 games for the Mountaineers and ranked second on the club behind only all-American Isaac Harrow in batting average (.380), hits (89), triples (4), runs batted in (60), total bases (147), slugging percentage (.628) and on-base percentage (.452). He tied Harrow for the team lead with 23 doubles and was also one of college baseball's top defensive infielders, making just three errors in 270 chances at second base, good for a sterling .989 fielding percentage. Earlier this year, both Collegiate Baseball newspaper and Ping!Baseball tabbed the senior as a preseason all-American. In addition to the preseason all-conference teams, the SoCon also released the coaches' and media preseason polls this week as Appalachian was picked to finish sixth in both polls, while the Elon Phoenix were picked to win the SoCon. ASU opens the 2010 campaign on Friday, Feb. 19 when it plays Presbyterian at the Marriott Classic, hosted by USC Upstate in Spartanburg, S.C. 

A pair of Donald Sims three-pointers with 11 minutes to play broke open a tight game and propelled ASU to a 66-56 win over visiting Davidson on Thursday night. Sims scored 19 of his game-high 25 points after the intermission as the Mountaineers out-shot the Wildcats 47.9 percent to 32.8. ASU benefited from Davidson's early shooting woes to gain an early six-point advantage, but the 'Cats then found their footing and responded with eight-straight points to end the half with a 30-28 advantage. Coming out of the break, the teams traded baskets for the first eight minutes and kept the score within three points before the Apps took advantage of four-straight Davidson misses to build a 47-40 lead. Andre Williamson sank a jumper and Sims sank three-pointers on consecutive possessions to give ASU its largest cushion of the evening to that point. Davidson cut the deficit to three points just a minute later, but three-point plays from Sims and Josh Hunter along with five late points from Marcus Wright secured the lead. The Wildcats never pulled any closer than five points down the stretch. The Wildcats launched 32 shots from downtown in the contest, sinking just nine, while the Apps shot 6-of-9 from deep. The difference in the game however, might have been the rebounding advantage, as the Apps out-rebounded Davidson 41-28 on the glass. Sims was joined in double figures by Kellen Brand and Wright, who each scored 10. The game marked the first time since the 2000-01 season that ASU swept the regular season series. It was also the second time this season the Apps have broken up a four-game Davidson winning streak. Appalachian hosts Georgia Southern on Saturday at 3 p.m., as the Mountaineers look to push the current winning streak to a season-best four games in a row. 

The ASU volleyball team has added one more to the fold for the upcoming season to an already impressive 2010 class. Head coach Matt Ginipro announced this week that Lindsey Sauls, the sister of ASU setter Kasey Sauls will join the Mountaineers next season. Sauls is a 5-10 outside hitter from Prarie Village, Kansas where she was a three-year letter winner in volleyball at Shawnee Mission East High School. During her sophomore season she was an all-Sunflower League honorable mention, while picking up all-Sun first team honors, Johnson Country honorable mention honors, and named to the all-Sunflower league first team her junior year. She concluded her high school career with a stellar senior year, as she was tabbed the Max Preps/AVCA High School Player of the Week in September of 2009, named all-Sun first team, and all-Sunflower League first team. She also earned all-State second team honors and was the 2009 Kansas Senior all-Star Player. During her senior season she averaged five kills per contest, while totaling 357 kills on the season and averaging 2.4 digs per match. Sauls plans on majoring in special education and will join sister Kasey, who is a two-year starter for the Black and Gold.

The Mountaineer men's basketball team returns home for five of its final seven games, beginning tonight at 7pm against Davidson. Davidson College is the third repeat opponent of the season for the Mountaineers, who are looking for their third series sweep in as many games. The Mountaineers (14-10, 8-4 SoCon) enter the contest in first place in the SoCon North at 8-4 following a pair of road wins over the weekend. Donald Sims averaged 22.5 points in the two games and was named Southern Conference Player of the Week for the second time this season, and Josh Hunter recorded his third double-double of the season in Monday's win at UNC Greensboro with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Davidson brings a four-game winning streak to the Holmes Center after the Wildcats swept Georgia Southern and defeated both SoCon teams from Charleston at home to improve to third place in the South division at 7-4. Appalachian snapped a four-game losing streak in the series last month, with a 78-68 win at Belk Arena, in which Donal Sims absolutely went off. Sims set a Belk Arena record with 44 points in the game to lead the Mountaineers. The Mountaineers will look to have a similar performance tonight against the Wildcats as they go for their 15th win of the year. If you get a chance, go to the Holmes Center tonight at 7pm to support your Mountaineers. 

College basketball's most exciting rivalry took the court last night, as UNC and Duke battled for the 228th time. Jon Scheyer scored 24 points and Duke pulled away in the final minutes to beat North Carolina 64-54 on Wednesday night, snapping a three-game losing streak in the series. Kyle Singler added 19 points for the Blue Devils who shot poorly all night, but boasting a bigger and tougher front line than in years past, Duke dominated the boards and got plenty of extra looks to make up for all those misses. Duke hit nine 3-pointers, but shot 32 percent overall and went 13 for 51 (25 percent) from inside the arc. The Blue Devils helped themselves, however, by finishing with a 51-42 rebounding advantage and converting 23 offensive rebounds into 21 second-chance points. Neither team led by more than six points for the first 30 minutes and with eight minutes remaining the score was tied, but after that Duke made their run, cashing in on extra opportunities to pull away. The Blue Devils had lost six of seven meetings during a stretch that seemed to signal a shift in power between the programs back to the light blue in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels shot a season-low 35 percent and finished with its lowest point total in seven years under Roy Williams. It was the lowest-scoring game in the series since Duke's 60-48 win in the 2002 ACC tournament and was the Tar Heels fourth straight loss and seventh loss in the last eight games.

With time running out and the Charlotte Bobcats trailing by a point, Nazr Mohammed couldn't corral Boris Diaw 's missed shot. But Minnesota Timberwolves forward Corey Brewer saved the ball, which landed right in the hands of Mohammed, who promptly slammed it home for the game-winning dunk giving the Bobcats a 93-92 victory Wednesday night. Stephen Jackson scored a game-high 33 points, but only two in the fourth quarter.

After falling behind by 21 in the second quarter, Minnesota trimmed the lead to 10 points after three before going on a furious fourth-quarter rally. The Timberwolves outscored Charlotte 22-13 in the final frame and took a three-point lead on Al Jefferson 's jump-hook with less than a minute to play. Diaw cut the deficit to a point with a layup 7 seconds later, leading to Mohammed's decisive dunk. Wayne Ellington 's 30-footer bounced harmlessly off the rim at the buzzer, as the Bobcats escaped with their second straight victory. Mohammed capped off a monstrous and heroic night with 21 points and tied a career-high with 20 rebounds for his first career 20-20 game, and for his third double-double in his last seven contests. Diaw added 15 points and D.J. Augustin scored 12 in his first start of the season in place of an injured Raymond Felton. Jefferson scored 19 points for Minnesota, while Ryan Gomes chipped in 15 points. Ramon Sessions and Ellington also finished in double figures with 13 points apiece. Charlotte, meanwhile, won for the fourth time in its last six road games and sits in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, while the win give coach Larry Brown the 1,300th of Brown's NBA/ABA coaching career. he joins Lenny Wilkes and Don Nelson as the only head coaches to reach that mark. The Bobcats will now take a break for the All-Star festivities and return to action February 16th against the 4-48 New Jersey Nets. 

The Braves appear to be the new front runners now in the Johnny Damon sweepstakes. Atlanta is said to be moving aggressively to try to sign the free agent outfielder and are believed to be willing to make an offer comparable to the $6 million deal the Yankees floated to Damon, or perhaps even more than that, according to someone familiar with that team's situation. The Braves have made an offer for a one-year deal, but the exact amount of that initial bid isn't know. One other person familiar with the Braves' situation said he believed they have as much as $7 million remaining in their budget after a mostly quiet winter. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and MLB.com reported Wednesday the Braves are in the bidding. It is believed the Braves' first offer includes some deferred money. Braves icon Chipper Jones has tried to help recruit Damon, who scored 100 runs for the 10th time last season in addition to hitting .282 with a career-high 24 home runs and 82 RBIs. The Tigers are viewed as another possible destination for Damon, while the Rays, Reds, A's and Jays also reportedly have shown some level of interest in the ex-Yankee and Red Sox star whose free agency period has taken on soap operatic qualities. 

The Watauga Pioneers are finally starting to get some games in, as they traveled to Hickory on Tuesday to battle the Red Tornadoes. Unfortunately, for Watauga, even with the cold weather, Hickory was able to stay red hot as they continued to roll through conference play by downing both Watauga clubs. In the first game the Pioneer women got trounced  82-43, and in the men's game the host school again was victorious 74-58. Watauga plays next, weather permitting against Fred T. Foard in Boone on Thursday. 

Avery County's season finale against Mitchell that was scheduled for Tuesday night was postponed due to inclement weather. Due to the postponement of the Avery/Mitchell contests, Friday evening's contest with West Wilkes has been bumped to make room for the Conference finale with the Mountaineers.  Meaning, the West Wilkes contest will not be made up. Avery High School is asking for the help of all fans and students to PAINT IT BLACK or RED in "The Octagon" (a.k.a. Viking Gym) during Avery's regular season home finale on Friday, February 12th vs. Mitchell by wearing black or red t-shirts for Senior Night! Young Adults Helping Haiti & UIC, in conjunction with the Avery SGA raised $320 to assist the country of Haiti with earthquake relief at Avery's recent home contest against Polk. The groups plan on holding a second fund raising effort for Haiti during Avery's Senior Night contest in Big Red Country against Mitchell on Friday, February 12th.

The Ashe Huskies wrestling team suffered a heartbreaking loss on Tuesday night to West Lincoln 42-39 in the first round of the NCHSAA team duals at Newton-Conover high school. Ashe had a close contest against the Rebels as Jeffrey Martin pinned Josh Hall in the 119 pound weight class, Dakota Elliott won a 3-0 decision against David Sailors in the 125 pound weight class, and William Gentry pinned Juan Chacon in the 135 pound weight class for the Huskies. The Huskies also won by forfeit as Aaron Scott won in the 145lb weight class, Fred Blanks won in the 189 weight class, Josh Wineberg won in the 215, and Zach Hudler won in the 285 weight class. Congratulations to the Huskies wrestling team on a great year!

ASU women's soccer coach Sarah Strickland signed six student-athletes to National Letters of Intent to complete her first recruiting class at ASU Strickland announced this week. Defender Kara Buono (Valrico, Fla./Bloomingdale), goalkeeper Jordan Hatton (Tampa, Fla./Tampa Preparatory), defender Kimberly Kesler (Moore, S.C./Dorman), midfielder/defender Sonia Sanchez (Houston, Texas/Houston Christian), midfielder Sam Neill (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) and defender Amy Werdine (Tampa, Fla./H.B. Plant) will all join the Mountaineers' in the fall.

Kara Buono (5-2, Defender, Valrico, Fla./Bloomingdale)
A four-year starter at Bloomingdale, Buono earned all-county honors as a sophomore and she was a state qualifier for track and field in the 800m her sophomore year.  She played for the club Real Salt Lake Florida Elite coached by Jim Cote and helped the team to a state championship in under 16 and national runner-up in under 18.  Buono plans to major in business with a minor in public relations.

Jordan Hatton (5-9, Goalkeeper, Tampa, Fla./Tampa Preparatory)
Two-time all-county performer, helped her team to a state championship her junior year and to the state semifinals her senior year.  Played club for Real Salt Lake Florida Elite, helping them to the state championship in 2008. 

Kimberly Kesler (5-6, Defender, Moore, S.C./Dorman)
Was a two-time all-region and all-area performer and earned all-state honors as a junior.  A four-year letterwinner, Kesler was named Dorman's MVP as a junior.  Played for the club Carolina FC and helped them to a second place finish in states in 2008.

Sonia Sanchez (5-2, Midfielder/Defender, Houston, Texas/Houston Christian)
A four-year letterwinner in soccer, cross country and track and field, Sanchez was also a four-time first-team all-district performer and was twice named all-state.  Named team MVP in 2009 and honored as best defensive player as a sophomore and junior.  Played for the club Albion Hurricanes FC.  The team was ranked No. 44 in the country and had a .650 winning percentage.

Sam Neill (5-4, Midfielder, New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central)
Helped her team to a regional championship as a junior.  Earned all-region, section and area honors as a junior and was named team MVP.  Scored eight goals and had six assists as a senior.  Played for the club Windy City Pride and helped the club to a 2009 Midwest region championship.

Amy Werdine (5-9, Defender, Tampa, Fla./H.B. Plant)
Earned letters in soccer and diving at H.B. Plant.  One of three ASU signees to play for Real Salt Lake Florida Elite, joining Kara Buono and Jordan Hatton.

The wrestling Mountaineers won the final seven matches to defeat Davidson 42-8 in Southern Conference action Tuesday night in Varsity Gym. Tony Gravely gave the Apps a quick 3-0 lead when he earned an exciting 12-8 decision over Matt Zarth at 125. Alex Radsky gave the Wildcats a 4-3 lead when he beat Weston Haney 14-3 and Vitaly Radsky added another 17-7 major decision when he beat Chris Collura at 141 pounds. The Mountaineers pulled away though, winning the final seven matches with only one of those matches going the entire seven matches.  Savva Kostis started the run with a first period pin over Ben Thompson.  Chip Powell added six more points with a forfeit victory at 157. Kyle Blevins earned a hard fought 10-6 decision over Tyler Mullen at 165.  With the win, Blevins won his 20th match of the year for the Mountaineers. Carter Downs earned ASU's second forfeit victory before Austin Trotman pinned Ike Crews at 184 pounds. Dylan Temple continued with another quick pin, downing Mark Jeevratnam in just 1:34. Ken Altarac finished the match in a resounding fashion, powering down Davidson's Charlie Wolff and staying on top to earn his second pin of the year.With the win, ASU moves to 8-10 overall and 2-2 in the SoCon. The Mountaineers host VMI on Sunday in their final SoCon match of the season at 2 p.m.

ASU women's basketball's Sam Ramirez was tabbed as the SoCon Player of the Week the league office announced this week. This is the first time Ramirez has earned the honor during her career with the Black and Gold and second time this season a Mountaineer was tabbed with the distinction. The junior guard helped keep the Apps' winning streak alive, as she averaged 17.5 points in two games and shot 55 percent from behind the arc. Ramirez also dished out a total of eight assists to go along with four steals and four rebounds. Looking to keep their winning streak alive, Ramirez and the Mountaineers hit the road for two challenging conference tests. Appalachian's first stop is Chattanooga, Tenn., where the Apps will battle league-leader Chattanooga on Saturday in Chattanooga's McKenzie Arena at 5 p.m. 

The awards continue to pour in for ASU basketball players this week. Donald Sims led ASU men's basketball to a pair of road wins and into first place in the Southern Conference North division over the weekend and for his efforts he was named SoCon Player of the Week for the second time this season. Sims averaged 22.5 points per game and shot 50 percent from the field in Mountaineer wins at Western Carolina and UNC Greensboro. He sank 6-of-12 three point attempts and made all 15 shots from the free throw line for the week. The award is the second of the season for Sims, and the third of his career. He becomes just the fourth player in program history to win the weekly award three or more times. Darryl Robinson won it five times from 1976-79, while Billy Ross (1993-94) and D.J. Thompson (2006-07) were each honored by the league three times. Sims leads the nation in free throw shooting at 95.1 percent and ranks second in the SoCon with 19.2 points per game. The Mountaineers return home to host Davidson on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. before welcoming Georgia Southern to the Holmes Center on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.

The Watauga Pioneers girl's and boy's got a much needed game in on Monday night as they squared off against Alexander Central in Taylorsville. The Lady Pioneers got the winning started as they beat the Cougars 62-45. On the boy's end, they continued the winning, despite the lack of games the last few weeks, as they squeezed past Alexander Central 66-62. On a side note, Watauga's home basketball contest against Fred T. Foard that was originally scheduled for February 2nd then rescheduled for February 4th and then postponed, has finally been rescheduled. The Pioneers will tip off against the Tigers on Thursday evening, weather permitting. The Pioneers next game however, will be tonight at Hickory and it will be varsity only.

Wow! There's not much else you can say after the Avery Lady Vikings opened up a can on the visiting Hendersonville Bearcats. Avery took at the big stick for this one as they bulldozed the Bearcats 78-26. Avery led 50-12 at the half and even had a quarter in which the outscored the Bearcats 23-0. That's right, 23-0. After three quarters, Avery led 71-17 in route to the 78-26 win. Lauren Avery finished with 17 points, Elyse Perry contributed 13 and Sara Wiseman added a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds as the Lady Vikings moved to an incredible 20-2 on the season in impressive fashion. On the boy's side, Avery suffered a tough loss to the Hendersonville Bearcats 85-78 on Monday. The Vikings had a 20-12 lead after the first quarter, and led 33-30 at the half, but a big third quarter by the Bearcats was the deciding factor in the loss for Avery. Dustin Clarke had another monstrous game with a triple-double, finishing with 22 points, 17 rebounds and 10 assists. Whiteside from the Bearcats finished with 24 points and 8 assists to lead all scorers as the Bearcats overcame a solid Avery effort to beat the Vikings 85-78. Avery hosts Mitchell tonight for the final regular season game, before the conference tournament starts next week. That Avery-Mitchell matchup will be broadcast on Wednesday at 7:30pm right here on MTN 18.

In Ashe County, the Lady Vikes continue their dominate streak as they ran by Alleghany 50-27 on Monday night in Sparta. The Lady Huskies improve to 19-1 on the season now and 15-0 in conference. Mallary Clay led all scorers with 17 points, three assists, and five steals for the Huskies in the easy win. The Ashe boy's also picked up a win as they beat Alleghany 45-34 Monday evening. Greyson Wells led the Huskies with 19 points and Bryson Payne added 11. Alleghany's Julian McNeil led all scorers with 20 in the loss. Ashe now improves to 15-5 overall and 13-2 in conference. Meanwhile, the Huskies wrestling team will also compete in the first round of the team duals in state playoff action as they face West Lincoln tonight.

ASU softball's Katie Boyd was named the Southern Conference preseason Player of the Year, the conference office announced this week. Boyd is coming off of a monster 2009 season, leading the conference in eight offensive categories and breaking the SoCon records for slugging percentage (.879), on base percentage (.590) and walks with 64. Her 64 walks were second in the nation, and she was third in on base percentage, sixth in slugging and tied for 10th with 17 home runs. To go along with being named Player of the Year, Boyd was named first-team utility player. Junior Sarah Rappe earned second-team honors as an outfielder. Rappe hit .286 last season and had a team-best 55 hits. She led the SoCon with 29 stolen bases and finished 30th in the country. Just a year removed from playing in the infield, Rappe made just one error while starting all 55 games in center field. The Mountaineers were picked to finish fourth in the Southern Conference, while Chattanooga was picked to win their fourth-straight regular-season championship. ASU begins the 2010 campaign at the Memphis Blues City Classic on Feb. 19 against Indiana State.

The Lady Mountaineers drilled 11 free throws down the stretch to pull out a 73-59 win over Western Carolina at the Holmes Center on Monday night. After taking a four-point advantage into halftime, the Apps used a 15-4 run to open the second-half to take a 54-39 lead with under 13 minutes to play. Sam Ramirez and Ashlen Dewart combined for 11 points over the five-minute span. Western Carolina tried to rally a comeback, scoring seven unanswered, led by a Jessica Jackson three-pointer, as Western Carolina was able to pull back within seven points. However, clutch free shooting in the final three minutes kept ASU on top and earned Appalachian the 14-point victory. Ashlen Dewart went 8-12 from the field, pouring in 25 points, while grabbing six rebounds and Sam Ramirez tied a career-high with 23 points, along with dishing out five assists and recording three steals. Chakeitha Weldon also ended the contest in double-figures, scoring 13 points along with totaling four assists. ASU completed the season-sweep of the Lady Catamounts for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign and grab its third win in the month of February. Putting their seven-game winning streak and spotless SoCon road record on the line, the Mountaineers now head to Chattanooga, Tenn. to take on league-leader Chattanooga, Saturday February 13. The contest against the Lady Mocs is set to begin at 5 p.m., in UTC's McKenzie Arena.

Kellen Brand scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half to boost the Appalachian men's basketball past UNC Greensboro, 75-69 Monday at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Spartans held a narrow two-point lead with seven minutes to play before Brand sparked a 7-0 run to give the Mountaineers the lead for good. UNCG pulled back within 65-62 with 4:19 on the clock before Isaac Butts tipped in a miss to help the Apps back to a five-point cushion with two minutes to play. Ben Stywall responded with a pair of free throws to cut the Spartan's deficit back to three points before sending the Mountaineers to the free throw line on each of the next three possessions. Donald Sims sank all four of his attempts in the final two minutes and Butts added another one to seal the win, as UNCG never got closer than five points down the stretch. Sims finished the game with 16 points and drained all six free throw attempts to improve to an astounding 95.1 percent from the line on the season (116-122). Butts finished the game with eight points and seven boards, while Josh Hunter added 10 and hauled in a team-high 11 boards to tally his third double-double of the season. The contest saw 13 lead changes and 12 ties, until the Mountaineers finally pulled away. Elsewhere in the Southern Conference on Monday, Western Carolina fell at Elon to drop to 8-5 in league play, moving the Mountaineers into first place in the North Division. Appalachian returns home next on Thursday to host Davidson at 7 p.m.

Ashe County was one of the few schools to be able to get basketball games in over the weekend as they hosted West Wilkes on Friday. The 18-1 Lady Huskies got things started the way they always do, by winning, 60-22 over the Lady Blackhawks. Lizzie Hanes led all scorers with 13 points and five steals for the Huskies, while Courtney Bowers had 11, and MacKenzie Johnson and Mallary Clay each finished with eight. With the win, the Lady Huskies clinched the Mountain Valley Conference regular season championship. Meanwhile, the Ashe boy's took care of business as well, beating West Wilkes 33-28. Greyson Wells led all scorers with 14 points for the Huskies while Cory Roten added nine and Bryson Payne finished with five. The Huskies are scheduled to play at Alleghany tonight, and they have one home game left against North Wilkes that is pending. There is, however, a chance the game doesn't get rescheduled at all due to the conference tournament being this weekend and the fact that there's another big snow storm expected to come in Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Lady Mountaineers used a series of late runs to pull away from the Elon Phoenix and cruise to a 73-54 on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gym. After battling the entire first half, trying to stave off a chippy Elon squad, ASU found itself down for the final time at 33-31, as Urysla Cotten nailed a jumper to give the Phoenix the narrow advantage. However, the Mountaineers' had an answer as they went on a 9-2 run and grabbed a 40-33 lead with 15:13 remaining. From then on it was all Appalachian, as the Apps ended the game on a 16-2 run in the waning minutes of play to capture the win. Five Mountaineers ended the game in double-figure scoring, with Courtney Freeman recording her first career double-double, notching 13 boards and scoring 11 points, Kelsey Sharkey had yet another stellar outing, earning her first career double-double, scoring 12 points and hauling in 13 rebounds. Chakeitha Weldon was impressive as well, tallying 16 points and finishing as the game's leading scorer. With the win, ASU completes the season sweep of the Phoenix and earns its sixth-straight victory, while remaining spotless on the road against Southern Conference opponents. The Apps also improve to 13-9 on the season and 9-4 in conference action. Appalachian now returns home for the first time since January 23, welcoming Western Carolina to the Holmes Center tonight at 7 p.m. 

On the men's side, the Mountaineers used a late run to take the lead for good, as ASU snapped Western Carolina's 15-game home winning streak on Saturday with an 89-77 win. The game saw 10 lead changes but looked to get out of hand early on, as the Catamounts opened an 11-point advantage. Appalachian then went on a 16-point run to take a 33-28 lead shortly before halftime. The Mountaineers held a two-point advantage at halftime, but Western Carolina sprinted out to a 45-40 lead early in the second half. The teams traded baskets until the eight-minute mark, when the Apps made their move. Kellen Brand and Marcus Wright rattled off six points in a span of 45 seconds before Tyler Webb knocked down a three-pointer and Sims punctuated the 11-point run with a layup. The basket gave the Mountaineers a 69-63 advantage with six minutes to play. Western pulled within two points with four minutes remaining, but Appalachian converted its final 11 free throw attempts and three of its final four field goal attempts to seal the win. Donald Sims led all scorers with 29 points, Butts finished the game with 14 points and nine rebounds, and Josh Hunter and Marcus Wright each added 10. The Mountaineers earned the season sweep against the Catamounts for the fifth time in six seasons and improve to 13-10 and 7-4 in the conference. Appalachian returns to the court tonight to close out a four-game SoCon swing at UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m. 

The Super Bowl was finally played after two weeks of predictions and news on which team had the advantage and so on, and I have to say it lived up to much of the hype, as the New Orleans Saints won their first ever Super Bowl beating the Indianapolis Colts 31-17. It was also the first ever Super Bowl appearance for the Saints in their entire 43 year history. Drew Brees tied Tom Brady's record for most completions in a Super Bowl with 32 as he led the Saints back from a 10-0 first quarter deficit to the 31-17 win. Brees finished 32-39 for 288 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions as he outperformed regular season MVP Peyton Manning. Manning finished 31-45 for 333 yards and one touchdown, but he threw a costly fourth quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown that ultimately sealed the win for the Saints. It was a defensive battle early, as the Colts jumped out to the quick 10-0 lead, but after that the Saints used effective blitzing to keep pressure on Manning as Drew Brees helped New Orleans outscore Indianapolis 31-7 the rest of the way including the decisive fourth quarter. The Saints scored two touchdowns in the fourth and after an official review had a two point play overturned in the Saints favor, they outscored the Colts 15-0 in the quarter. It looked like we might be headed for the first ever overtime game in Super Bowl history with the Saints up just 24-17 and the Colts in Saints territory, but Tracy Porter intercepted a pass meant for Reggie Wayne and took it 74 yards to the house to seal the first ever Super Bowl win for the Saints. Drew Brees was named Super Bowl MVP for his efforts as the Saints are now the football champions of the world. Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on their first ever Super Bowl win. 

The Watauga Pioneers have had a tough time playing their basketball games lately. Their game scheduled for Tuesday against Fred T. Foard was postponed until Thursday, and then postponed Thursday night once again. Now, tonight's game in Taylorsville between the Pioneers and the Cougars is in jeopardy of being cancelled as well. Watauga may have to play four games next week to make up the remainder of the schedule. Any makeup games will not be decided until Monday though. The Pioneers next scheduled game is Tuesday in Hickory against the Hickory Red Tornadoes. We will keep you up to date with any changes in the basketball schedule. The wrestling Pioneers will take on Fred T. Foard in a make-up match down in Taylorsville that will start around 4 pm, and the Northwestern 3A/4A wrestling championships will be held in Taylorsville at Alexander Central High on Saturday.

Avery County was one of just a few local high schools in action last night as they battled Mountain Heritage. In the girl's game, Avery jumped out to a 43-22 halftime lead in route to a 63-36 win for the Lady Vikes. The Avery ladies now move to a stout 19-2 overall and 11-1 in conference. In the boy's game, Avery lost a tough one 71-65 to the Cougars. Avery was down by just four at the half, 32-28, but couldn't quite comeback in the close loss. Dustin Clarke had another big night but the Cougars were able to hold on for the 71-65 win. The Western Highlands Conference wrestling tournament was postponed Thursday night due to the impending weather. No word on when that could be made up. Also, as a side note, Monday night's Avery basketball contests against Hendersonville will be "Vikings vs. Cancer" Night at Viking Gym. Donations will be accepted during the evening to assist former Lady Viking basketball player Haley Calloway who is undergoing cancer treatments at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. If Monday's game is postponed, the event will be held on the night Avery is rescheduled to play Hendersonville.

Speaking of the Western-App game,down in Cullowhee, it has been moved from a 7pm tip-off to 3pm on Saturday because of the impending winter weather. Saturday's game was originally slated for a 7 pm start. However, Thursday night's wintry weather and the threat of more ice, snow and freezing temperatures on Friday and Saturday evenings prompted the change. The Mountaineers pulled away for an 87-74 win against the Catamounts on January 23 in Boone and look for the fifth season sweep in six seasons. Donald Sims scored a game-high 28 points in the win as the Apps have won 11 of the last 12 meetings with Western. Buzz Peterson will be looking to stay perfect against the Catamounts too as he is a spotless 11-0 against Western.

As the Super Bowl and all the grandiosity of the NFL's most storied day nears with the Saints and Colts about to square off on Sunday, the future of the National Football League couldn't look more bleak. NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith said that it looks like the NFL is headed for a lockout. He painted a not so pretty picture for the NFL regarding prospects of labor strife in the league, which could be looking at a 2010 season with no salary cap and, if the collective bargaining agreement expires as scheduled in March 2011, a lockout that year. Smith said the NFL would receive $5 billion from its network television deals even if no games are played in 2011. He regarded that as proof owners are preparing for a lockout and challenged them to open their books to show who was losing money and how much. Smith said the latest NFL offer to the players would reduce their share to 41 percent of applied revenues from about 59 percent. He emphasized that the teams take $1 billion off the top of the estimated $8 billion the league generates, which in all likelihood would mean a steep pay cut for many players. 

The Avery Vikings girl's and boy's teams both traveled to Black Mountain to face off against Owen High School on Wednesday night. On the girl's end, the Lady Vikings jumped out to a 35-21 halftime lead on the Lady Warhorses in route to a big win as they knocked off Owen 69-60. The Lady Vikes now improve to 18-2 overall and 10-1 in conference. On the boy's end, Avery trailed 39-30 at the half but rallied to win a thriller 67-63. Dustin Clarke scored 22 of Avery's first 23 points in route to a huge night. Clarke finished with 36 points, 12 rebounds, eight steals, and five assists to lead the Vikings to the win. Avery's next scheduled basketball game at Mountain Heritage for Friday was moved up a day to Thursday evening due to potential inclement weather. Also, the Western Highlands Conference Wrestling Tournament scheduled for Friday at Owen High School was also  moved ahead a day to Thursday.

Ashe County took to the hardwood Wednesday night and both the girl's and boy's teams came away happy. The Lady Huskies beat the Elkin Elks 39-20 in a low scoring affair. MacKinsey Johnson led the Huskies with 12, Mallary Clay added seven, and Courtney Bowers contributed six for the Huskies. The Lady Huskies now move to a spectacular 17-1 and an unblemished 13-0 in conference. On the boy's side, the Huskies eeked out a 56-51 win over the Elks. Greyson Wells had a monster game with 30 points to lead all scorers, Bryson Payne added seven, and Cory Roten finished with six. The Ashe County boy's now move to 13-5 overall, and 11-2 in conference play. Ashe stayed busy as they traveled to Millers Creek Thursday night to battle the West Wilkes Blackhawks.

ASU Football had a big day on Wednesday as 15 student-athletes including 12 high-school seniors and three junior-college transfers signed National Letters of Intent to join ASU's football program in 2010. Quarterback Elijah Adamiak (GA), tight end Drew Bailey (Spartanburg), offensive lineman Ian Barnard (Ga), quarterback Kalik Barnes (Atlanta), offensive lineman Dylan Bostick (Fla), defensive lineman William Corbin (Dunn, N.C.), tight end Antonio Danzy (Georgia Military College), offensive lineman Graham Fisher (Waynesville, N.C.), offensive lineman Kalan Jones (Ga.), offensive lineman Kendall Lamm (Charlotte), defensive back Tevin McDermott (Tenn), linebacker A.J. McDonald (Ga), tight end Trevor Sawyer (Asheville, N.C), defensive lineman Derrick Shuemake (Georgia Military College) and defensive lineman Dan Wylie (Georgia Military College) will all join Appalachian's football program for the 2010 season. The 15 signees -- which includes seven players with star ratings from Rivals.com -- brings Appalachian's crop of newcomers for 2010 to 16, including defensive lineman Chris Aiken (Blinn College), who signed an NLI and enrolled at ASU last month. The group includes five offensive linemen, four defensive linemen, and three tight ends. 

Taking a look at the NBA, Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 14 rebounds, and Lamar Odom scored 19 points while making several big plays down the stretch, and the Los Angeles' Lakers beat the Charlotte Bobcats 99-97 on Wednesday night. Kobe Bryant was held to just five points after he re-aggrevated his already-sore left foot late in the first half. Stephen Jackson scored 30 points for the Bobcats, who played without injured All-Star Gerald Wallace who strained his left hamstring in the loss to Portland. Nazr Mohammed added 23 points and 17 rebounds, but the Bobcats couldn't quite pull ahead even with Bryant's woes.Neither team took a lead larger than seven points in the first three quarters, and Charlotte quickly erased an eight-point Lakers lead in the fourth. Mohammed's fall-away jumper with 1:38 to play trimmed Los Angeles' lead to 93-92, but Gasol responded with a quick hook shot before blocking Jackson's driving layup. After Odom tipped home Artest's layup, Bryant missed a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left to give the Bobcats a final chance to tie. But Jordan Farmar forced a turnover on Jackson's pass on a muddled in-bounds play, and made a fast-break dunk on a pass from Gasol with 4.5 seconds left. Flip Murray made a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left to trim the final margin.

Even though it seemed like an ordinary regular season game, it was much more special for Phil Jackson. With the win, Phil Jackson became the Lakers all-time winning-est coach. Jackson, also the winning-est coach in Chicago Bulls history, passed Pat Riley with his 534th win with the Lakers. Jackson won 545 games and six titles in nine seasons with Michael Jordan and Co. before winning four more rings in his first nine seasons with the Lakers, while rising to fifth on the NBA's career coaching victories list when he passed Charlotte's own Larry Brown earlier this season. Jackson is also the winning-est playoff coach in NBA history, and the only coach to win more than 70 percent of his regular-season games. Even though it came at the hands of the Charlotte Bobcats, congratulations to Phil Jackson on such a great accomplishment. Jackson's feat is the second big Laker milestone that was achieved this week as Kobe Bryant passed Jerry West as the Lakers all-time leading scorer in their loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday.

The Avery Viking girl's and boy's basketball teams both traveled to Marshall, NC on Tuesday night to battle the Madison Patriots. The Lady Vikes got the action started as they jumped out to a big lead early. The Avery girl's went up 45-18 at the half on the way to cruising to a 71-48 win. Mercedes Bentley scored 18 to lead the Vikings, including 16 in the second quarter to help Avery jump all over Madison. On the boy's end, Avery survived a nail biter 62-58 over Madison. The game was close the whole way as both teams were knotted at 32 at halftime before Avery was able to pull away just enough in the second half for the win. Dustin Clarke once again led the Vikings with 25 points, 11 boards, five assists, and three steals. Avery will travel to Black Mountain tonight to face the Owen Warhorses. 

Ashe County's scheduled game against Elkin on Tuesday night was postponed until tonight. The Huskies will travel to Elkin to take on the Elks this evening and then travel to Millers Creek on Thursday to face off against the West Wilkes Blackhawks. Friday's home game against the North Wilkes Vikings is still as scheduled, but with the recent string of changes in the schedule it may be moved to a later date to accommodate for the weather and schedule changes and so the Huskies aren't left to play three games in three nights. 

It's been no secret that Charlotte Bobcats owner Bob Johnson has been trying to sell his franchise, and multiple league sources say that he should get his wish by March. Former Houston Rockets president/CEO George Postolos made an attempt over the summer to buy the team, but it failed, and he has now made a new offer that Bobcats president Michael Jordan has until the end of February to match. Jordan negotiated a right of first refusal after Johnson made it clear he intended to sell the team, but it was not immediately known whether the group of investors Jordan has assembled has the wherewithal or inclination to match Postolos' offer. One source close to the situation said that Postolos does not plan to retain Jordan or his staff if he is successful with his bid. Jordan has served as a part-owner and head of basketball operations with the Bobcats since June 15, 2006, and despite receiving regular criticism for his low public profile in Charlotte and around the team, Jordan is enjoying his best period as an NBA executive after a slow start with the Bobcats and an earlier disappointing stint with the Washington Wizards. Jordan's hiring of Larry Brown as coach before last season and the November gamble to trade for the enigmatic Stephen Jackson have sparked Charlotte to a 24-23 record so far this season. That's good for sixth place in the Eastern Conference, putting the Bobcats on course to reach the playoffs for the first time in the club's six-season existence. The Bobcats and the NFL's Houston Texans are the only two franchises in North America's four major team sports that have yet to reach the playoffs in their respective sports.

Speaking of the Bobcats, they will travel to the Staples Center tonight to take on the LA Lakers who are back home for the first time in two weeks. The Lakers have the best home record in the NBA, but the Bobcats have beaten LA three times in a row at the Staples Center. The Lakers last win in LA against the Bobcats came on Dec. 4, 2005 in a 99-98 game. The Lakers are looking to win their eighth straight at home while Charlotte is looking to win its 4th game on their six-game Western Conference road swing. The Western Conference-leading Lakers return home following a 5-3, 12-day trip that ended with Monday's 95-93 loss to Memphis. Los Angeles had its four-game winning streak snapped, but Kobe Bryant matched a season-high with 44 points, moving past Jerry West (25,192) as the Lakers' all-time leading scorer. Kobe is averaging 34.1 points in nine career games versus the Bobcats (24-23), but the Lakers are 3-6 in those contests with losses in six of the last seven meetings and each of the last three. Bryant had 38 points in Charlotte's last visit to Staples Center on Jan. 27 of last season, but he fouled out in the first overtime and the Bobcats won 117-110 in double-overtime.Stephen Jackson is averaging 23.6 points during the western swing and if he scores in double figures Wednesday, he will match Gerald Wallace's franchise record of 39 straight games with 10 or more points. Meanwhile, Phil Jackson needs one victory to move past Pat Riley as the Lakers' all-time winningest coach with 534.

In the midst of all the Super Bowl hub bub, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay has confirmed that once the season ends, he plans to make Peyton Manning the richest player in NFL history. Manning's current deal has three years left on it, but the final two years have been technically voided, which means Peyton's contract will expire after the 2010 season. Manning, 33, signed a contract extension for $99.2 million in 2004, and the deal included a record $34.5 million singing bonus, all of it paid up front. The final two seasons of that contract were voided because Manning met predetermined playing-time incentives, making 2010 the final year of the deal. Peyton's agent Tom Condon negotiated Peyton's brother Eli Manning's six-year, $97.5 million contract extension that made the New York Giants' star one of the league's highest-paid performers. Depending on the methods of valuation, the highest-paid player in the league with a multiyear contract and based on average compensation per season is Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer, at $16.17 million per year. It's believed that Manning could receive an extension pushing $20 million per year, and with a signing bonus of about $50 million.