BATESVILLE, Ark. – It’s official.
The Lyon College Scots women’s basketball team is the undisputed, outright American Midwest Champion for the third time in a row.
The Scots were regular-season champions in 2019-20, 2020-21, and in 2021-22. Lyon College won the AMC tournament in 2020-21 and in the 2015-15 season. The Scots’ other conference regular-season championship came in the 2015-16 season, and they were co-champions of the regular season in 2012-13.
Overall in the tenure of head coach Tracy Stewart-Lange, the Lyon College women’s basketball program has won five regular-season championships, two AMC tournament titles, and has been to the NAIA National Tournament 11 straight years. The first appearance by the Scots in the NAIA came in the 2011-12 season.
This year, the Scots earned the top seed in the AMC conference tournament by turning back the University of Health, Sciences and Pharmacy 62-46 on Saturday afternoon at Becknell Gymnasium. Lyon College finished the regular season with a 25-4 overall record and was 17-1 in conference play. And the Scots currently own a 20-game winning streak.
Jade Giron led the Scots 20 points and nine rebounds. Kristen Baham had nine points on three three-pointers, Marleigh Dodson scored eight points, and Haley Wesley scored eight including two three-pointers.
The Scots led 19-4 after the first quarter. Mari-Hannah Newsom made a three-pointer at the buzzer for Lyon College to end the period. Giron, Baham, Paige Kelley, and Dodson all scored in the first quarter. Giron and Wesley made three-pointers in the second quarter to lead the Scots to a 32-19 halftime lead.
Giron’s jumper with 3:55 to go in the third quarter, put Lyon ahead by 22 points, 46-24, then Kelley hit a shot inside to make it 48-26. Another three-pointer from Newsom put the Scots up 51-32 by the end of the third quarter.
The Scots lead reached as much as 28 points in the fourth quarter, 62-34, on a layup from Wesley.
Lyon College will host the winner of Harris-Stowe State and Stephens College on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
Scots men make AMC tournament
Batesville, Ark. – Grant Patterson scored 18 points, John Paul Morgan had 15 points and nine rebounds and Eric Koludrovic scored 14 points in a 79-68 loss to the University of Health, Sciences and Pharmacy on Saturday afternoon at Becknell Arena.
The Scots will play on Tuesday night at home in the first round of the American Midwest Conference tournament at 7 p.m. against Harris-Stowe State.
The Scots had 38 rebounds. Patterson had four and two assists, Morgan had nine and two assists, Koludrovic had eight rebounds and one steal. Jonathan Iliya scored seven points, had six rebounds and one steal. Trenton Bell scored seven points, has two assists and one steal. Gavin Brunson had four points and four rebounds and Devan Halford scored three points.
Scots track and field wins AMC Indoor Championships
ELSAH, Illinois – The Lyon College Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field teams brought home individual championships at the American Midwest Conference Indoor Track and Field meet held at Principia College on Saturday afternoon.
Reginal (RJ) Williams won the 60-meter dash preliminaries in a time of 7.13 and came back to take first place in the 60-meter dash finals, running in a time of 7.12. Beck ran sixth in the event in a time of 7.45.
In the women’s 3,000-meter race walk, Mia Winters of Lyon College was second overall in a total time of 21:26.41. In the men’s 3,000-meter race walk, Zachary Nohr was third overall in a time of 21:38.47.
Pole Vault Payne Moser of Lyon College cleared 3.85 meters to finish second overall. Moser cleared attempts at 3.25, 3.40, 3.55, 3.70 and 3.85 meters. Jackson Beck of Lyon College was third in the event, clearing 3.55 meters. Beck made 3.25, 3.40, and 3.55 clearances to take third place.
In the women’s D.M.R. event, the Lyon College team of Alexis Herman, Chloe Sharp, Haeley Pines, and Clare Wilber finished third overall in a time of 14:35.24.
Weston Klein participated in the weight-throw event with a 10.40-meter toss in the finals.
Beck was also in the Triple Jump event and had a jump of 10.72-meters in the finals. In the Shot Put, Klein threw for 10.63 meters and Patrick Mitchell tossed a 9.33-meter throw.
In the men’s D.M.R. event, the Lyon College team of Micahel Starks, Klein, Henry Mulder, and Mark Brill finished in a time of 12:56.31.
The Lyon College team of Mulder, Avery Aquino, Marlon Durand, and Zachary Smith finished fourth in the 4×800-meter relays in a time of 9:02.41.
In the women’s 5,000-meter run, Alexis Herman of Lyon College was seventh in a time of 21:33.38.
In the women’s one-mile run, Wilber finished fifth in a time of 5:56.54.
Pines was seventh in the 600-meter run in a time of 1:58.01 and Sharp was ninth in a time of 2:09.54. In the men’s 600-meter run, Smith was second overall for Lyon College in a time of 1:30.02. Aquino was 12th with a 1:35.04 and Mulder was 13th in a time of 1:38.85.
Nohr was sixth in the men’s 800-meter run in a time of 2:51.74. In the men’s 1,000-meter run, Starks was 11th in a time of 3:05.42.
Raven Wright competed in the women’s 200-meter dash for Lyon College with a time of 33.32 in the finals after a qualifying time of 33.07.
The Lyon College team of Smith, Mulder, Aquino, and Durand were fifth overall in the men’s 4×400-meter relay in a time of 3:49.81.
As team results go, the Lyon College women finished seventh with 22 points and the Lyon College men’s team was fifth overall with 69 points. There were eight teams participating.
Scots split four games at Joplin Tournament
JOPLIN, Mo. – The Lyon College Scots baseball team went 2-2 over the weekend at Redden Stadium in Joplin, Missouri.
The Scots (7-5) defeated William Penn, Tenn. 9-0 and Evangel University 8-2 on Saturday and lost a double-header to Central Methodist University 11-5 and 7-2 on Sunday.
In the win over William Penn, the Scots scored nine runs on 14 hits and had no errors. Senior Troy Strack was 2-for-2 with two runs scored, senior Alan West was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a run-batted-in, senior Joe Weatherford was 0-2 with a run scored, and senior Aaron Hurd was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs. Junior Zane Wallace was 1-for-1 with a run scored and senior Tristan Buschow was 1-for 2 with an RBI.
With the Scots up 7-0 in the third inning, subs Jayden Cull came in and was 1-for-1 with an RBI, Jesse McGonigal was 1-for-2 with a run scored, while Chris Lara, Austin Shipman, and Derek Underwood all had hits for Lyon College in the win.
On the mound, Clayton Burke was the winning pitcher for Lyon College, going five innings and giving up only two hits in shutout baseball. Cameron Gordon came in for the save, going two innings and allowing only two hits, as well.
Against Evangel, the Scots fell behind 1-0 after one inning, but in the bottom of the second, Logan Doody reached first on a throwing error, scoring Wallace to tie the game 1-1. In the third inning, the Scots scored four times. Alex White hit a sacrifice fly to score Alan West, then Wallace flew out to right field for a sacrifice fly that scored Hurd. Doody singled to right field and advanced to second on a throwing error that scored Hakeem Yatim and Weatherford for a 5-1 lead.
Lyon College added another run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Weatherford hit a sacrifice fly to score West to make it 6-1. Evangel scored a run in the top of the fifth inning, but the Scots came back to tack on another run when Hurd grounded out to third, scoring Strack. And in the bottom of the sixth inning, Wallace singled to right field to score Burrup.
Burrup had a double, West tripled and there were three sacrifice flies to score runs for the Scots.
Ayden Heitmann was the winning pitcher for Lyon College. He went five innings, gave up four hits and two unearned runs to go with five strikeouts of the 19 batters he faced. Jordan Olivera came in to pitch one inning and gave up only one hit, and Zach Blake pitched the sixth inning and struck out two batters.
In Sunday’s first game of a double-header with Central Methodist played in Fayette, Mo., the Scots started out with a 4-0 lead. Weatherford singled to center in the top of the first inning to score West who advanced on a throwing error.
Haydn Finley singled to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning to score Weatherford and Hurd, then Doody singled to center to score Wallace for a 4-0 lead. But Central Methodist scored four times in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game 4-4.
Hurd doubled to left field to bring in West in the top of the fifth inning as the Scots retook the lead 5-4. Central Methodist scored three more runs in the bottom of the fifth and added four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Andrew Pitts suffered the loss for Lyon after relieving Lex Meinderts in the fifth inning.
The Scots dropped the second game 7-2 after falling behind 6-0 to Central Methodist. Lyon College got its first run when Chris Lara singled to center field in the bottom of the sixth to score Weatherford. Evan Hylek singled to bring in Finley to make it a 6-2 game, but Central Methodist tacked on another run in the top of the seventh to go up 7-2.
The Scots had eight hits in the game. Weatherford was 2-for-3 with a run scored, White was 1-for-3, Wallace was 1-for-4, Hylek was 2-for-2, including a double, with an RBI, Lara was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Finley scored a run.
Alan West suffered the loss for the Scots going 4.2 innings and garnering six strikeouts. Dylan Baskins and Aidan Pantoya came in to pitch the final 2.1 innings for Lyon College.
The Scots will be at home this weekend for a three-game series against Loyola University of New Orleans beginning on Saturday with a double-header at 3 p.m. and a single game Sunday.
By Martin Couch, Lyon College Athletics
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