Lion Pause
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Athletic Highlights: February 12-February 19, 2018
Women's Basketball: After falling to Anderson by a score of 72-42 on Wednesday night, the Mars Hill women's basketball team snapped its 23-game losing streak with an 80-79 victory over Queens. The win marked their first since November 11 and was their first South Atlantic Conference win of the year. Mariah Johnson and Cierra Hampton each had 20 points in the winning effort. The Lions host Newberry at 6 p.m.
Men's Basketball: Mars Hill went 1-2 last week, defeating Southern Wesleyan, 72-52 on Monday. They dropped the next two contests against Anderson, 75-69, and No. 2 ranked Queens, 93-73. Luke Van-Rijn and Justen Hartfield led the Lions to victory, recording 16 and 15 points, respectively. Bennett Wilson paced the Lions' offense with 21 points versus Anderson, followed by Hartfield and Vernon Jackson's 13 apiece. Austin Gilyard recorded a team-high 18 points in the contest against Queens. Mars Hill hosts Newberry at 8 p.m.
Baseball: The Lions went 0-3 this past week, losing to Limestone by a score of 4-1 and dropping both games against King on Sunday afternoon, 1-0 and 11-4. Travis Owens collected four of the Lions' six hits against the Saints in Tuesday's loss. Despite an impressive outing by Zac Brown, who struck out five batters in six innings pitched, the Lions were no-hit in the 1-0 loss to the Tornado. In game two, the Lions' gave up 11 runs on 13 hits. Daniel Vitello hit a two-run homerun in the loss.
Softball: The Lions swept Milligan on Sunday afternoon by scores of 5-4 and 12-2, respectively. Christiana Marasa drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh and picked up the win, pitching seven innings and striking out seven batters. The Mars Hill offense came alive in the second game with Kayleigh Jonas leading the charge. She recorded five RBIs, including a three-run homerun. Ragan Broome's three-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth ended the second game and helped the Lions secure both victories.
Men's Tennis: The Mars Hill men's tennis team rolled through Lees-McRae, 7-2, Thursday afternoon. The Lions won all three doubles contests and had singles victories from Rodrigo Ramos, Fernando Neto, Kyrel Trim and Pedro Pinassi.
Women's Tennis: The Lions fell short in their match against Lees-McRae, losing 5-4 on Wednesday afternoon. The team of Jasha Geerdink and Evan Lake picked up the only Lions' win in doubles action. They also picked up singles victories, along with Dani Potts.
Men's Swimming: Mars Hill placed sixth out of 11 teams at the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships. Over the four days, Mars Hill's Erwin Ortiz made the national cut in the 500 yard freestyle with a time of 4:25.08. Angel Regalado also swam a national qualifying time in the 1650 yard freestyle with a mark of 16:02.26. Andy Disco set a school record on day three in the 400 yard IM.
Women's Swimming: On day two of the Bluegrass Mountain Conference Championships, the Lions team of Haley Horton, Kathryn Boland, Rachel Nichols and Abby Hart set a school record in the 400 yard medley relay with a time of 4:01.12. On day three, Horton set two more records in the 100 yard butterfly and 100 yard backstroke preliminaries with times of 58.41 and 59.44, respectively. The Lions placed seventh after the four days.
Men's Lacrosse: The Lions lost to Lynn on the road, 14-7, Saturday afternoon. Alex Lipsky scored four goals and added two assists. All four goals came with a man advantage. Ryan Kearney made 12 saves in the losing effort. The Lions host Colorado Mesa on Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Ammons Family Athletic Center and Meares Stadium.