SPORTS BRIEFS: Lee County softball players anmed to all-region team

Lee County softball players named all-region

Six members of the Lee County softball team were named to the Region 1-AAAAAA softball team on Wednesday, while Lee coach Dwayne Suggs was named coach of the year.

Pitchers Danielle Davis and Chelsea Morrow were named to the first team along with first baseman Sydney McLain, outfielder Caitlyn Lawton, second baseman Addison Renfroe and shortstop Ally Clegg.

Meanwhile, Kiersten Back and Bri Duren were named to the second team.

Tift County’s Adrianna Durden was named region pitcher of the year, while Lowndes’ Haley Fowler was named the region’s player of the year.

Albany State volleyball defeats Paine

Justice Howard recorded a career-high 15 kills to the lead the Albany State Lady Rams to a 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, and 25-21) victory over Paine College in an SIAC East Division matchup. With the win, ASU improves to 14-11 overall and 12-4 in the SIAC. Paine falls to 12-14, 6-9.

Kristen Randolph also reached double figures in kills with 10, while Brittianni Phillips added another nine. Setter Tiffany Roesler had 43 assists, and Kaliah Carter led the team defensively with 11 digs.

Albany State returns to action on Nov. 3 when it travels to Atlanta to face the Clark-Atlanta Lady Panthers in another SIAC East Division showdown. The Lady Rams won the initial matchup 3-0 on Oct. 13. Game time is set for 6 p.m.

Pistons rout Hawks in season opener

The Atlanta Hawks had no answer for center Andre Drummond inside or guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope outside as the Detroit Pistons got their season off to a winning start.

Drummond had 18 points and 19 rebounds, while Caldwell-Pope hit four 3-pointers en route to scoring 21 points as the Pistons defeated the Hawks 106-94 late Tuesday night in the opener for both teams.

The Pistons used defense and a 59-40 rebounding edge to win despite shooting only 38.5 percent.

“We fought hard, defended well, made enough shots to get the win and rebounded the (heck) out of the ball,” Detroit coach Stan Van Gundy said. “Our guys were really dialed in.”

The Pistons got off to a 5-23 start last season as they missed the playoffs for a sixth straight year, while the Hawks set a franchise record with 60 regular-season victories and made the Eastern Conference finals.

Van Gundy, also in charge of personnel, retooled his team during the offseason, though, and the results were definitely positive at least for one game.

Forward Marcus Morris scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and forward Ersan Ilyasova added 16 points. Both were making their Pistons debuts.