JOPLIN, Mo. — The Arkansas-Monticello softball team split their four games over the weekend in the Teri Mathis-Zenner Memorial Tournament, hosted by Missouri Southern State University.
The Blossoms’ (10-8) two wins came over Pittsburg State University, 2-0 on Saturday and 5-2 on Sunday. UAM scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning in the first game with the Gorillas off a two-run homerun from Sara Matthews.
The two losses came at the hands of Northwest Missouri and Fort Hayes State. Northwest scored three runs in the top of the sixth to get the 3-1 win on Saturday, followed by Fort Hayes’ four runs in the top of the first on Sunday to win 4-0.
The Blossoms will have their home-opener this weekend as they host the East Central Tigers in the teams’ Great American Conference debut. The first of the four-game series with the Tigers gets underway at 1 p.m. on Saturday at Blossoms Field.
Bozeman relieved as SAU men’s basketball coach
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
MAGNOLIA — Southern Arkansas men’s basketball coach Eric Bozeman has been relieved of his head coaching duties at the university.
Bozeman just completed his seventh season with the Muleriders, with his team suffering a 54-53 loss to No. 21 and top-seed Arkansas Tech this past Thursday in the first round of the Great American Conference tournament. SAU went 13-16 this year and 6-10 in the inaugural season of the GAC, tying at seventh in the league standings and garnering the eighth seed in the post-season tourney.
The team’s 13 wins this year were a season-best during Bozeman’s tenure, and it was the first post-season tournament appearance for a Southern Arkansas team in 10 years.
Crosby back on ice in Pittsburgh
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain, participated in his first full practice since concussionlike symptoms resurfaced in December, and there is growing optimism that he will be back before the playoffs begin next month.
The ever-cautious Crosby insists there still is no timetable on when he will be cleared to play in a game, but he looked crisp while spending more than an hour on the Consol Energy Center ice.
Sullinger heads list for Wooden Award
LOS ANGELES — Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger and freshmen Austin Rivers of Duke and teammates Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Anthony Davis of Kentucky are among the 15 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award given to the nation’s top men’s college basketball player.
The finalists were announced Tuesday. The winner will be announced on ESPN at the Final Four in New Orleans and the award will be presented April 6 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Guard Rivers and forwards Kidd-Gilchrist and Davis are the only freshmen on the list. They are joined by guard Damian Lillard of Weber State and guard Scott Machado of Iona.
Other finalists are: guard Isaiah Canaan of Murray State; forward Jae Crowder of Marquette; guard Marcus Denmon of Missouri; forward Draymond Green of Michigan State; forward Kevin Jones of West Virginia; forward Kris Joseph of Syracuse; forward Doug McDermott of Creighton; forward Thomas Robinson of Kansas; and forward Tyler Zeller of North Carolina.