Four Programs Share "Team of the Week" Honor For Second Week In A Row

Shreveport – Following a theme from last week, this week we again have four teams sharing Centenary Athletics' "Team of the Week" honor as gymnastics, lacrosse, softball, and STUNT are recognized with the well-deserved honor.

The week of Feb. 9-16 was a great week for the Ladies and Gents as all four programs shined.

GYMNASTICS

The Ladies posted a season-high team score of 191.750 on Sunday at home against the Texas Woman's University Pioneers in a Midwest Independent Conference dual meet. That score was preceded by a previous-high team score of 190.100 in a home win over Greenville University on Feb. 6.

Centenary finished with season bests in three of four events against TWU last weekend, posting a 47.725 on bars, 48.175 on beam, and a 48.100 on vault. The Ladies recorded a 47.750 on floor – their second-best this season. Ten Ladies either set or tied season and career highs against the Pioneers.

Junior Olivia Williams (Cape Coral, Fla.) continued her impressive season as she earned a career-high 9.75 on bars to finish third and tied her season high on floor (9.75) to place sixth.

Senior Amy Foret (Bedford, Texas) was strong once again as she tied her career high of 9.725 on vault to finish seventh and scored a season-best 9.675 on beam. Senior Claire Flores (Oklahoma City, Okla.) posted a career-high 9.70 on vault to finish eighth, sophomore Anna Ichiba (Murphy, Texas) tied her career-high on vault (9.625) to finish ninth, and freshman Riley Navarro (Boiling Springs, Pa.) made her beam lineup debut.

Sophomore Peyton Burford (West Monroe, La.) had a big afternoon as she had a career-high 9.60 on beam to finish in a tie for ninth place and posted a season-best 9.55 on vault.

Sophomore Chloe Gilbert (Pflugerville, Texas) had a season-high 9.625 on beam to finish eighth, sophomore Olivia Montgomery (Willard, Mo.) tied her season high on vault (9.50), freshman Nyah Washington (Farmington, Minn.) posted a career-high 9.525 on bars, freshman Leila Dunlavy (Twin Falls, Idaho) had a career-high 9.425 on bars, and sophomore Erin Pinder (Bridgetown Barbados) had a season-high 9.40 on bars.

Sophomore Molly English (Newnan, Ga.) is this week's recipient of the MIC Coaches' Choice Award, the conference office announced on Wednesday. English earned one of the four individual honors that the conference chooses on a weekly basis and received it for the first in her career.

LACROSSE

The Gents put on another offensive show on Sunday as they breezed past the Brevard College Tornados by a score of 28-2 in Brevard, NC.

Centenary (4-0) remained unbeaten after a perfect road weekend which began last Saturday with a 29-7 rout over the Warren Wilson College Owls in Swannanoa, NC. Centenary's 29 goals on Saturday set a program record for goals in a game.

The Gents entered the weekend as the top offense in the country and proved themselves worthy of the ranking and then some after two days in North Carolina as the Maroon and White now have a whopping 105 goals, 69 assists, and 152 points. Sophomore Noah Walsh tallied a program-record 14 assists in Sunday's win. 

Freshman FO Gavin Ferrington (Bossier City, La.), sophomore A Gamble Harvill (Bossier City, La.), and sophomore A Noah Walsh (Mount Prospect, Ill.) were all named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Division III Men's Lacrosse Team of the Week on Wednesday.

Ferrington had a 93.0 faceoff % (36 of 39), 30 ground balls, two caused turnovers, two goals, and one assist last weekend. Harvill scored 18 goals and added five assists and Walsh scored nine goals and had a staggering 20 assists, six ground balls, and two caused turnovers. Walsh had a career-high 14 assists in Sunday's win at Brevard, the third-most assists in a game in Division III history.

SOFTBALL

The Ladies are riding high after completing a three-game series sweep in Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play last Friday with an 8-4 victory over the Schreiner University Mountaineers at home.

The Ladies posted a pair of dominating run-rule victories in a doubleheader last Thursday, winning game one 12-1 in five innings and 12-4 in six innings. Centenary battered the Mountaineers for a total of 32 runs, 37 hits, 31 RBI, and 13 doubles. The Ladies drew nine walks while only striking out twice in the entire series and stole eight bases without being caught.

Senior C/IF Jaeden Thrasher (Forney, Texas) had a monster weekend for the Ladies as she played both catcher and designated player in the three-game series and hit a sizzling .750 (6-8) with six RBI, three runs scored, and smacked three doubles. She had a stolen base and a sacrifice fly and finished the series with a .667 OBP and slugged a whopping 1.125. Thrasher is hitting an even .500 for the season and will be a major piece to the Ladies' success after she was limited to just 13 games last season as she battled injuries.

Sophomore SS Kaitlynn Alello (Denham Springs, La.) played her normal position last weekend but also caught one game and is hitting a team-best .750 with six hits, six runs scored, four RBI, two doubles, a walk, and a team-best three HBP. She has a an .833 on-base percentage and is slugging 1.000.

Senior 3B Morgan Dawson (Natchitoches, La.) is also off to a hot start as she is hitting .571 with a .529 OBP and is slugging .786. She has a team-best eight hits and is tied for the team lead in both RBI (six) and doubles (three) and has scored three runs. She is tied for second in the conference in batting average. 

Senior 2B/SS Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.) has also been clicking early this season as she is batting .429 (.556 OBP/.500 slugging) with six hits, six RBI, for walks, four runs scored, and a double. Senior LF Laine Sullivan (Prairieville, La.) is also off to a solid start as she is hitting .417 with a .563 OBP. She has five hits, a team-best three stolen bases, three walks, and a pair of RBI. She is tied for fourth in the league in runs scored. 

Junior UT Hilary Pillaro (Centerville, La.)is hitting .333 with five runs, four hits, two RBI, two stolen bases, and a double. She will face her former team this weekend after playing two seasons at Belhaven before transferring to Centenary. Senior P/UT Abigail Hodgson (Florence, Texas) is hitting .267 with four hits, three RBI, two doubles and a run scored and junior CF Noelle Sandmann (Huntsville, Texas) is batting .263 with five hits, three runs, three RBI, a stolen base and a double 

Senior UT Emma Crow (Krotz Springs, La.) is hitting .364 with five RBI (second on team), four hits, two runs, a double, and a stolen base and Crow has also pitched twice and is 1-1 with a 3.50 ERA. Freshman P/INF Haydyn Schexnayder (Egan, La.) is 1-3 at the plate with an RBI and a BB and is 1-1 in two appearances in the circle with a 4.20 ERA.

Senior P/OF Alexis Roach (Pineville, La.) leads the team in both appearances and starts (three) and is 1-0 with a 2.40 ERA and is seventh in the conference in ERA and eighth in innings pitched (11.2). Senior P Riley Myers (Shreveport, La.) and freshman P/1B Dixie Williams (Haughton, La.) have each made one appearance in the circle and each have a 0.00 ERA as Myers has pitched two innings and Williams one.

STUNT

The Centenary STUNT team captured its second win of the season on Sunday in a nail-biter against sixth-ranked Heidelberg University, winning 8-6, on day two of the Saint Mary's Valentine Classic in South Bend, Ind.

The Ladies, who recorded their first win of the season 12-2 last Saturday against the University of Olivet in a 16-round game, are in the midst of a 10 day stretch of 12 games throughout four different states in the Midwest. 

"The game against Heidelberg was back and forth, and it ultimately came down to strategy," said Centenary head coach Kaylee King. They had theirs and we just had to out-play them. The Ladies made a lot of adjustments on the fly but really worked together to get the win." 

In the first quarter, the Ladies and The Berg were tied 1-1 after going toe to toe in routines one and two. For quarter two, Centenary took the points for pyramid one to make the score 3-1 and earned a technical point from The Berg after their double self-forfeit. Heidelberg who is strong in tumbling, went back-to-back with the Ladies for jumps and tumbling to tie for two points each in those routines. In Quarter four, strategy was required of the Ladies to make sure they didn't allow The Berg to surpass them by making them play jumps and tumbling while the Ladies forfeit. Centenary also earned a technical point at the end of the game for Heidelberg's self-forfeit to end the game 8-6. 

After Sunday's action, the team has seven Ladies hitting 100 rounds of play so far this season. They include freshman Ella Wilson (Shreveport, La.), junior Amelia Jones (Haughton, La.), senior Jo Hoffman (Ragley, La.), freshman Allison Gonzalez (Sunnyvale, Tex.), junior Kaitlynne Anderson (Carlisle, Pa.), sophomore Trihnity Campbell (Abbeville, La.), and junior Leah Dawson (Shreveport, La.).

Centenary also had three Ladies hit over 50 career points after the weekend. Those athletes were junior Ezmeriah Gonzalez (Longview, Texas), Leah Dawson, and Kaitlynne Anderson.

#GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity