Note: The following was written by Todd Vinyard, who will be blogging throughout the 2015-16 basketball and wrestling seasons as teams prepare to head to Asheville, N.C., in March.
A new year has begun, and the journey to Asheville in March starts to heat up with conference action ahead of the Southern Conference Women's Basketball Tournament (March 3-7) and Arby’s Wrestling Championship (March 5). Teams are looking to do like Appalachian State wrestling coach JohnMark Bentley said recently "… continue improving towards March!" Here's an update on how those efforts are going with information from league and school media relations offices and news sources.
What We've Learned
Southern Scuffle showcases top talent again: The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga's Southern Scuffle has been regularly bringing in some of the biggest names in college wrestling and did so once again this year.
Top-ranked Penn State beat out No. 2 Oklahoma State (158) in the team race. Lehigh was third with 104.5 points, followed by Cornell (98.5) and North Carolina (97.5)
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported a final day crowd of 3,172 to mark the third consecutive year the Scuffle has drawn more than 3,000 fans on the final day of competition.
"Fantastic event," said UTC head coach Heath Eslinger. "I think it's the best event we've put on here in Chattanooga. I just think the more the machine goes and the more oil we put on it, things just run smoothly. Good attendance and great wrestling, which makes for a great atmosphere. From the smallest detail to the major things, it was a phenomenal event."
Appalachian State led SoCon teams with a 13th place finish; Campbell was 14th, Chattanooga came in 20th, Gardner-Webb took 22nd and The Citadel was 26th.
Mountaineer Denzel Dejournette came away with a runner-up in the heavyweight division. On his way to the heavyweight final Dejournette was able to take a 2-0 decision from Jared Johnson of Chattanooga.
It was a good tournament for the Campbell Camels. Nathan Kraisser finished fourth (133 pounds) at the Southern Scuffle going 6-2 on the weekend. Paul Duggan finished eighth at 165 pounds (4-3) as the Camels finished the tournament 14th overall with 38.5 team points. The 14th place finish is the highest in school history at the event.
Gardner-Webb redshirt sophomore Chris Vassar finished eighth at 149 pounds Saturday, to lead the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Samford women playing some tough D: Through 14 games the Samford women lead the conference in scoring defense. The Bulldogs are at 50.2 points per game. Mercer is next at 54.9 in scoring defense.
Coming Up
Temperatures should be getting colder, and conference play should be heating up. This Thursday features the start of SoCon women's play with some interesting matchups.
The UNCG's women's team will have had a week off when Mercer comes to Greensboro Thursday to open SoCon play for both schools. The Spartans picked up a 47-point win over North Carolina Central (103-56) before the break. SoCon leading scorer Lucy Mason leads UNCG into this matchup with Mercer. The Bears from Mercer certainly have a 3-point threat in Linnea Rosendal. The freshman had seven 3-pointers in a 66-58 win over College of Charleston.
Two freshmen that are already making an impact are part of the ETSU at Furman matchup. Furman's Cierra Cater and Johnson City, Tenn. product Tianna Tarter. ETSU ran off five straight wins with Tarter in the starting lineup, and she was named Southern Conference women's basketball player of the week for games played Dec. 15-21. Cater leads the SoCon with five ten rebound games.
Defending league-champion Chattanooga starts off at Wofford. The host Terriers have won five in a row at home to tie the longest home winning streak in Wofford's NCAA Division I era.
Fresh off becoming the seventh player in Samford history to reach 1,000 career points Taylor Reece leads the way for the Bulldogs in a Cullowhee clash with Western Carolina.
On the wrestling side, a conference match to watch is when Appalachian State and Campbell get together Wednesday coming off good showings in the Southern Scuffle. Match time is 5 p.m. in Buies Creek, N.C.
Names To Know –
VMI wrestling assistant coach Ty Prazma offered these thoughts about the sport in a recent SoCon digital network interview, "The entire group is bigger than their selves. It is an individual sport, but one guy can change the impact of the match." The Keydets group had a 23-18 win over Sacred Heart recently.
WCU's Ace Easter has scored in double figures in four straight contests for the Cats.
Konner Pritchard of Davidson earned two wins as the Wildcats team lost to American and George Mason recently.
Junior Wofford forward Kentra Washington has been a consistent women's basketball performer this year. She leads the team in minutes played and points per game with 12.3.
SIUE freshman wrestler John Muldoon recently recorded a victory in the Ken Kraft Midlands Championship. Muldoon knows about winning. He posted more than 120 career victories at Pearl River High School in New York.
What To Watch For
Can Chattanooga Women’s Basketball continue its Southern Conference winning ways? In the last three years, the Mocs have won 48 consecutive games against SoCon competition and has the longest active win streak in the nation with 57 in a row. The record is 124 set by Texas Southwest from 1981-1990.
That is a quick look at women's basketball and wrestling as we head closer to the Southern Conference Tournament in Asheville. Be sure and check out The Dean's List from Dean Keener on SoCon men's basketball and keep up with conference play beginning at http://www.soconsports.com.
See you next time as the journey to Asheville continues.