Sidelines – Fall 2014
Basketball
Two Named to Preseason All-Sun Belt Team
Georgia Southern senior Anna Claire Knight and junior Briana Jones have been named second-team Preseason All-Sun Belt by College Sports Madness.
Knight was a 2014 All-Southern Conference selection and earned second-team all-tournament honors. The guard ranked third in the league in scoring with 15.9 points per game to go along with 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists. She became just the third Eagle to score 400 points in a season since 1998-99 and the sixth player
in school history to top the 1,000-point mark. Knight tallied the first triple-double in program history with 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists at Samford on Jan. 6, 2014.
Jones averaged 7.7 points and 6.8 rebounds a game and was one of five Eagles to play in all 31 contests. The forward/center posted five double-doubles and scored in double figures in 12 contests, and her 26 blocked shots were the most for an Eagle since 2008-09.
Golf
Well Tested, Well Traveled
Georgia Southern’s Scott Wolfes was named the Sun Belt Conference Golfer of the Month for October.
Wolfes won his second consecutive golfer of the month award after tying for first place (-6) at the Wendy’s Kiawah Classic. He shot a course record 63 (-9) in the final round, which helped the Eagles finish 10-under for the day and take second place in the 20-team event. The score also tied the school record, held by four others: Spence Fulford, Travis Mobley, Richie Bryant and Fred Benton.
It was Wolfes’ fourth individual collegiate win and 12th top-five finish. The senior has finished in the top-20 in 27 of his 39 collegiate starts, and six of his 12 rounds this season have been 70 or under. The Eagles wrapped up their fall schedule with three top-5 team finishes and a match-play win in Scotland.
(Visit GSEagles.com for more on Sam Towler’s Blog on the men’s trip to Scotland.)
Soccer
Reaching Lofty Goals
Three Georgia Southern Eagles were named to the All-Sun Belt Teams during the Women’s Soccer Conference Championship Banquet. Nora El-Shami and Katie Merson were selected as First-Team members, while Melinda Lukas was chosen as a Second-Team member. The Eagles leading goal scorer with seven on the year, El-Shami also leads the team in assists (6) and is ranked seventh in the Sun Belt Conference in points with 20. “Over the course of her career, Nora has proven that she is one of the most talented players to ever come through our program,” said Head Coach Brian Dunleavy.
Teammate Merson joins El-Shami on the First Team, as decided by the league’s coaches and sports information directors. The fifth-year senior set the career shutout record this season, tallying 18 total as an Eagle. All told, she collected 91 saves in her senior campaign, while playing every minute of every match.
Lukas, in just her sophomore season, has been tabbed to the Second-Team All-Sun Belt. The second leading scorer on the team overall, Lukas leads the team in game-winning goals with four. The Eagles finished the 2014 season with an overall record of 11-6-2 (5-3-1), after falling to the No. 1 seed University of South Alabama in the semi-finals of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. It is their best regular season mark since 2002.
Rifle
Small Bore Debut
The Georgia Southern women’s rifle team competed in the small bore discipline for the first time in program history and shot a 4186 at SEARC #2. The Eagles finished in sixth place ahead of The Citadel women’s team. The team shot a score of 2211 in air rifle and 1975 in small bore. In small bore, Kathryn Youngblood led the team with a score of 512, while Tori Lewis finished second with a score of 497. Emmy Johnson and Ale Shortridge also shot 494 and 472, respectively.
Track and Field
New Assistants Named
Franz Holmes has joined the Georgia Southern Track and Field and Cross Country program after spending five years as an assistant at Tennessee State and this past year at Middle Tennessee State (MTSU). Holmes, a former sprinter at Tennessee State, will coach the Eagles in distance events. “Coach Holmes brings considerable knowledge to our distance program as a USA Track and Field Level II certified endurance coach,” said Head Coach Carter. “Franz understands the approach it takes to build a team atmosphere.”
Brittany Cox, an NCAA All-American in the Shot Put and Sun Belt Conference champion in both the Shot Put and Weight Throw, will coach the Georgia Southern throwers. She became MTSU’s first female thrower to earn All-American accolades and still owns two indoor and two outdoor MTSU records. “Coach Cox will infuse energy and enthusiasm into our throws program,” said Carter. “With her experience as an NCAA All-American, she has firsthand knowledge of what it takes to compete at the highest levels of our sport.” Cox joins Georgia Southern after serving the last three years as a recreational leader at Napier Community Center and Hadley Regional Center, both in Nashville, Tennessee.