Thursday's Central Georgia Daily News 'n Notes: Scoreboard; more staff changes for Mercer FB; it's Jake Fromm's team; Justin Fields' mistake; and UGA, Tech, United, more
Thursday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media. Updates will be noted, so check back.
Basketball and wrestling coaches: send game/match/tourney info to centralgasports@gmail.com with stats, details, info.
SCOREBOARD
High school coaches should send box scores and/or game information to centralgasports@gmail.com within 30 minutes of completion for expanded coverage. The more info provided, the more info to give people.
THURSDAY
High School
Basketball
Girls
Woodland 37, Jones County 36
Boys
Woodland 65, Jones County 58
College
Basketball
Shannon Titus’s layup with four seconds left helped the Bears stay undefeated in league play.
W-Martin Methodist 76, Middle Ga. State 60
M-Middle Ga. State 71, Martin Methodist 65
W-North Carolina 91, Georgia Tech 90
Mercer got within a point several times in the second half, but couldn’t get the rim to cooperate and lost to the perfect-in-conference Terriers.
Pro
Hockey
Around/About Central Georgia
Who’s team is it in Athens? Fromm’s, that’s whose
Mercer adds new defensive coordinator/linebackers coach
Mike Adams replaced Mike Kolakowski, who had that position since 2013, Mercer’s first season back, before being released recently.
Kolakowski was also outside linebackers coach, but Adams will take over the inside linebacker spot, vacated by the departure of Grant Cain.
Adams is the fourth new assistant coach since the season ended, with the cornerbacks spot – vacated by Darius Safford, now at Kennesaw State – and inside specialist – formerly held by Cain - still open. The Bears also have a new offensive coordinator/QB coach and defensive line coach.
Nothing was released about the departures, with coaches leaving for James Madison, Chattanooga, and Kennesaw State.
This week's signings
A few weeks after committing, Houston County's Austin Sloan signed Thursday to play basketball at Georgia College. ...
Northside's Stephanie Ruffin signed to play softball at East Georgia State. ...
Veterans' Cole Hooks signed to play baseball at King University, a Division II program in Tennessee.
Honor Roll
Megan Lane, Stella Preston, and Micayla Rood are Mercer's reps on the preseason all-conference team in the SoCon.
The Bears were picked second behind defending champ UNCG, six points back and five ahead of Chattanooga.
All three players made the first team, Preston at pitcher, Lane at catcher, and Rood in the outfield.
Lane and Rood made the first team after last season, and Preston the second team.
Rood was the freshman of the year in 2018 after batting .346 with 37 hits and an OBP of .369. Preston started 11 games and won 12 with a 2.80 ERA. Lane hit .312 with 48 hits, 33 RBI and 18 extra-base hits, plus nine homers. ...
FVSU's Ashley Simmons-Blair and Shakerra Geter were voted to the SIAC preseason second team in softball.
The Wildcats went 16-17 last year and open the season on Feb. 9 against Grambling and Claflin.
Simmons-Blair of Aiken, S.C., is one of the three outfielders, while Geter is the catcher.
Defending champion Albany State, Kentucky State and Tuskegee topped the preseason teams with four players each on two teams.
Simmons-Blair boosted her average by 110 points last season to .284. She led the Wildcats by stealing 11 bases on 11 tries, and tied for the team lead with 24 runs.
Geter returns to anchor the Wildcats battery where she fielded .973 with six errors in 221 chances. She batted .304, her second .300 season with the Wildcats. Geter was second on the team with 10 doubles and 17 walks, plus 18 RBI and a .435 slugging percentage. ...
Sarah Middleton of GMC is the GCAA pitcher of the week. Middleton was 2-0 with 14 innings, two earned runs, nine strikeouts and two walks, with a 1.00 ERA.
Mercer guard Shannon Titus is the Southern Conference women’s hoops player of the week for Jan. 22-28.
She helped Mercer to a 2-0 week - with wins over Chattanooga and ETSU - by averaging a double-double with 20.5 points and 10.5 rebounds.
Against Chattanooga, the sophomore had a game-high 24 points on 9-of-17 shooting, and tied a career high with nine rebounds. She was perfect on six free throws in 34 minutes.
Two days later, the Johns Creek, Georgia, native was again the game's top scorer, and got the double-double with 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, adding three assists, three steals and three blocks.
Around/About Georgia
Belichick undaunted by consulting college coaches, like Smart
Dilfer: Fields erred in going to Georgia
Tech has spent some bucks on this coaching transition