Wolves stun Saints in road battle

Carrollton, GA - In the final non-conference battle of the 2012 season, the UWG baseball team hit the road for an in-state contest with North Georgia. The Wolves used an early four-run outburst and held off a late rally from the Saints to pull out a 7-5 victory over the Saints.

The Wolves were able to take advantage of runners on base in this one, something that has plagued the team throughout the season. Just last night against Carson-Newman, UWG's hitters found the grass 12 times, but produced only one run. Tonight in northern Georgia, the Wolves scored seven runs on 13 hits.

The scoring started early for West Georgia, as senior Stuart Drew led off the game with a walk. Junior right fielder Brett Wright moved Drew to second with a sacrifice bunt, then back-to-back singles from Andy Marinelli and Evan Hester brought Drew home with the game's first run.

Freshman starter Marquis Vialet allowed a hit in the bottom half of the first, but kept the Saints of the board and let his offense do the work.

Tanner Drennen led off the bottom of the second with a double, followed by Adam Whitlock, who blasted his fourth home run of the season off the scoreboard in right-center to give the Wolves a 3-0 lead. The hit parade continued through the inning, asGarrett May and Wright each picked up a single, with Wright's single bringing home May after an error from North Georgia left fielder Terrell Jones.

That was the end of the scoring for the inning, but the Wolves held a 4-0 lead, but it wouldn't stay, as Vialet gave up a pair of doubles and a single, giving the Saints two runs in the bottom of the second, with all but one of the hits coming with two outs. Head coach Skip Fite gave the ball to Alex Wilson, who induced a flyout to NGSU cleanup hitter Matthew Black with the bases loaded to end the threat.

Wilson was just shy of perfect in his outing, throwing 4.1 hitless innings, allowing no runs while striking out two and walking three and earning the win.

The UWG offense added a single run in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings to seal the victory, but freshman Alex Allen came on in the bottom of the ninth, striking out North Georgia shortstop Dustin Carpenter looking to close out the game and the victory. The save was Allen's second of the season.

Whitlock led the UWG offense on the afternoon, going 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Evan Hester had a solid outing as well, going 2-for-4 with three RBI. May was the third UWG player with an RBI on the night, going 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.

The Wolves will close out the regular season this weekend in Cleveland, MS, taking on the Delta State Statesmen in Gulf South Conference action.

Yancey earns All-GSC honors

Carrollton, GA - For the second straight season, UWG third baseman Nicole Yancey has garnered All-Gulf South Conference honors, as announced this week by GSC officials in the annual coaches vote.

The sophomore from Carrollton had yet another stellar season at the plate under first year head coach Mandy Harris, as Yancey batted .368 on the season with 12 home runs and 40 RBI. That year earned her Second Team All-GSC honors in this year's vote. She was a First Team honoree in 2011 and was also named GSC Freshman of the Year. 

With her second career postseason award for the Wolves; Yancey has become one of the most feared hitters in all of Division II in her first two seasons. She shattered the school single-season record for walks as a freshman last year with 40 free passes, then laid waste to her own record this season with 47 walks.

Her season ranks well in the single season record book, as her .368 batting average is good for fourth on that list, three points behind her freshman year total. Her 12 home runs were also good for fourth on the season list and also moves her to fourth in the career record book with 26.

Yancey had an on-base percentage of .521 in 2012, second on the single-season list to her .527 percentage last season. She also had a slugging percentage of .743, second to her freshman year percentage of .783.

The Wolves will hit the road Thursday afternoon, headed to Southaven, Miss., for the 2012 Gulf South Conference Touranment. at the Southaven Greenbrook Complex. The Wolves, seeded eighth in this year's tourney, will take on top-seeded Valdosta State on Friday at 11 a.m.

Softball set for GSC tourney, top-ranked Blazers

Southaven, MS - The 2012 Gulf South Conference softball tournament is here, as the West Georgia Wolves, under the direction of head coach Mandy Harris, enter this year's tourney as the eighth seed. The Wolves will play in the first round on Friday at the Greenbrook Softball Complex against top-ranked Valdosta State.

This will mark the fifth meeting between the two teams this season, with the Blazers taking all four previous contests. Valdosta State enters the tournament with a record of 43-3 overall, going 26-1 in Gulf South Conference play. West Georgia is 14-38 with a 6-22 record in the GSC.

In the games in Carrollton, VSU outscored the Wolves 24-7 en route to a doubleheader sweep. In Valdosta, the Blazers stayed just as hot in the first game, winning 13-0. But in the nightcap, West Georgia pushed the VSU to the hilt, but the Blazers came out of top with a 2-1 victory.

Yancey Earns High Marks
West Georgia sophomore third baseman Nicole Yancey was the lone UWG player selected to the 2012 All-Gulf South Conference team, announced by conference officials earlier this week. Yancey had a fantastic year, leading the Wolves with a .368 batting average and setting the school single season record for walks for the second straight season with 47. She now has 87 total career walks, leaving her 18 shy of the career record.

Sullivan looks to finish on a high note
UWG senior infielder Kaley Sullivan has been on fire of late and raised her batting average to .325 last weekend for the season. She now has a .323 batting average for her career, one of the top averages in school history and she passed a milestone on senior weekend, collecting the 200th hit of her career.

Breakout season at the plate
Sophomore outfielder Imani Cabell had a breakout season this year and comes into the 2012 GSC tournament with a .310 batting average on the season. She is second on the team in home runs with five, is tied for second in doubles with 10 and has one triple on the year.

The Wolves will play at 11 a.m. against Valdosta State and the game will feature live stats. All teams will play two games on the opening day, and West Georgia will either play West Alabama or Delta State in the 1:30 time slot. All times listed onwww.uwgsports.com are EST.

GSC Tournament Preview

Carrollton, GA - The UWG tennis team is set to play their first round GSC tournament game on Saturday, April 21 at 8:30 a.m. The match will be played at Lagoon Park/Olean Black Underwood Tennis Center in Montgomery, AL.

The Wolves enter the tournament as the seventh seed and have drawn second seeded Valdosta State in the first round of play. UWG squared off with the Blazers on April 6 on a road trip to Pensacola, Fla. for a four-match road trip. Although the Blazers won the match 5-0 the Wolves learned what it will take to win in the GSC moving forward. 

If the Wolves win, they will play the same day at 2:30 against the winner of the match between North Alabama and Alabama-Huntsville.

Wolves Set for GSC Tournament

Carrollton, GA - The University of West Georgia Men’s Golf team is set to participate in one of the most important tournaments of the year; the Gulf South Conference Championship tournament on April 23 and 24. This event will take place at Timberline Golf Club in Calera, AL and is registered at a par 71-6,745 yards.

The Wolves will be going up against some of their toughest conference rivals including number third-ranked West Florida, 43rd-ranked Valdosta State, Christian Brothers, Delta State, and North Alabama.  

The final travel team for this weekend will include Corbin Edwards, who has been improving every tournament to make his way to the top of the squad after only one semester with the team. Edwards comes into the GSC tourney with a stroke average of 73.67, which leads the team. In his last outing, he had a fifth place finish at the Argonaut Invitational, which included a 70 and 71 in two of his three rounds.

The next player making the trip to Calera is senior Bryn Powers. Powers has made a statement in his final year at West Georgia by playing in every tournament of the season. He currently is second on the team in scoring average at 73.86, which was helped by a second place finish at the Magnolia Invitational. Powers also fired a 72 in round two in the Argonaut Invite.

For senior Zach Lassetter, this will only be his second tournament of the spring, coming off of a wrist injury. His return at the Argonaut Invite was up and down as he shot a 74, 76 and 78, which brought his season scoring average to 74.92, which is third best on the team.

Freshman Kevin Clarke will be the fourth man in the lineup for this tournament. The Virginia native has played in all but one tournament on the season. He also had an up and down performance at the Argonaut Invite, posting a 71 and 73. But, a second-round 83 pushed him back to a 32nd-place finish. The 71 posted in the first round was one of his top performances of the year.

Junior Dan Merriman will take the final spot for the Wolves travel team. Merriman has played in five tournaments on the year, including posting a pair of 74’s in the Argonaut Invite. His personal best of the year has been a 73 and a 12th place finish. His scoring average now sits at a 77.15. All five of these players currently are the top five in scoring average on the UWG squad.

The Wolves are scheduled to begin play at Timberline Golf Club on April 23 for rounds one and two, followed by round three on April 24.

UWG Places four on Winter All-Academic Team

Carrollton, GA – Success on the court and in the classroom is a goal of UWG Athletics. Monday, a quartet of West Georgia student-athletes was honored for exhibiting such excellence.
           
Four University of West Georgia basketball performers were honored as members of the 2011-12 GSC Winter All-Academic Team. Women’s basketball standoutsKrystal Delph and Breonna Mosley received the honor, while Gavin Field andMarcus Cowan were chosen from the UWG men’s team.
           
The GSC All-Academic Team is chosen in joint vote of the Faculty Athletic Representatives and Sports Information Directors from throughout the conference. To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must have maintained a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.2, and must have been a significant contributor to his-or-her team’s success during the season. Also, community service and extra curricular activities are also considered as part of voting process.
           
Delph was one-of-three unanimous selections for the All-Academic Team. A senior from Winter Haven, Fla., she is a Sport Management major with a 3.72 GPA. On the court, she averaged 8.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
           
Mosley, a sophomore from Hampton, had numbers very similar to Delph: 8.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. She is majoring in Biology and has a 3.34 GPA.
           
On the men’s side, Field is two-time All-Academic selection after making the squad a year ago. As a senior, he helped lead UWG to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005 with an average of 13.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.

A Sport Management major from South Lake, Australia, Field ended his career as a holder of four school records and ranks in the all-time top ten in a variety of categories in the UWG record book.
           
Cowan rounds out West Georgia’s All-Academic contingent. A junior from Lithonia, Cowan averaged 2.2 points and 1.6 rebounds per game in reserve roll last season. He is majoring in Biology, and carries a 3.62 GPA.
           
Beyond the All-Academic distinction, UWG’s four student-athletes are also members of the GSC Academic Honor Roll. Joining them with that distinction are four additional UWG performers. Men’s basketball players Brett Seljak, Andy Olejackand Jordan Nelson qualified for the honor, while Angela Davis from the Wolves’ women’s team earned the distinction.
           
So far this academic year, six UWG student-athletes have been named Academic All-GSC. Football standout Randy Sides and cross country stalwart Robert Fenesterer claimed the honor in the fall. Also, UWG can boast of 52 academic honor roll honor roll members through the fall and winter sports seasons.

Wolves set for 2012 GSC tourney

Carrollton, GA - It is now the time where the rubber meets the road, in basketball terms. With a new format for the Gulf South Conference tournament this year, the regular season was a preparation rather than a qualification, and now is the time for a team to show greatness or fall short, as the 2012 GSC men's basketball tournament gets underway in Niceville, Fla. on Friday afternoon.

The UWG men's basketball team will look to continue there dominance on the court as they finished the season with dominating performances by beating Valdosta State and West Alabama by an average of 28 points. West Georgia took down Valdosta State 85-52 two weeks ago and West Alabama was this past weekend's victim as the Wolves handed them a 75-52 beating. Both games were played in Carrollton.

As the opening festivities were held Thursday night, two UWG players earned postseason honors, as voted on by the coaches in the Gulf South Conference.

Senior Da'ron Sims was named Second Team All-GSC in the annual poll after leading the Gulf South Conference in scoring with 18.2 points per game. The California native was also fifth in the conference in rebounding, averaging seven boards per contest. His All-GSC award is his second at West Georgia, as last season, he earned First Team honors.

For the first time in the tenure of head coach Michael Cooney, the Wolves have garnered a GSC Freshman of the Year, with this year's recipient being guard Thomas Higginbotham. The Snellville native averaged 4.7 points and 3.0 assists per game on the season, playing largely a "sixth-man" role for the Wolves.

Wolves tames the Tigers in the season series
West Georgia opens up tournament play against the Tigers of West Alabama. The Wolves manhandled the Tigers in the two season matchups, beating them by an average of 20.5 points per game. They won 65-47 in Livingston and just this past Saturday beat them in Carrollton 75-52.

Part of the reason for that domination has been the job that the UWG defense did in both games against UWA sharpshooters Alquan Mendenhall and Jared Woolfork, who averaged 23.8 points per game with 112 made three-pointers this season between the two. In the first meeting in Livingston, the pair combined for 2-for-7 shooting from three-point range and just 14 points. Last Saturday, they combined for 26 points, but were only 2-for-11 from beyond the arc.

Wolves GSC Tournament History
The West Georgia Wolves are two-time GSC tournament champions with four championship game appearances. Winning once in 1987 and again in 2002. In 1987, the Wolves went into the tournament as the #1 overall seed and beat Delta State in the championship game. The most recent tournament championship was in 2002, where they went into the tournament as the #3 seed and beat Valdosta State in the Championship game.

This year, Cooney's Wolves will play to move beyond the quarterfinal round of the conference tournament for the first time in the Cooney era. Last season, West Georgia fell to Harding 74-63. Two years ago, the Wolves fell to Arkansas Tech 79-60. This year is also the second-straight season where the Wolves have gone to the tourney as the third seed.

The meeting between West Georgia and West Alabama, one of the longest-running rivalries in the Gulf South Conference, is the first between the two teams at the GSC tournament since the 1993-94 campaign and just the second overall. In that first meeting, the Tigers won 70-67 before falling to North Alabama in overtime in the championship game.

The Wolves look to pounce on and tame the competition at the 2012 GSC Tournament. UWG will open up tournament play against the West Alabama Tigers on Friday March 2^nd at 3:45pm EST at The Arena in Niceville, Florida.

Wolves QB earns weekly GSC honor

11/14/2011 10:02:00 AM

Carrollton, GA - For his performance in leading the UWG football program to one of the biggest wins in its history, West Georgia quarterback Emmanuel Taylor was named the Gulf South Conference Offensive Player of the Week by GSC officials Monday.

As the fourth quarter began, the Wolves found themselves in a 35-24 hole. But, as the junior signal-caller has showed multiple times this season, the word quit did not exist with 15 minutes left on the clock and facing the top-ranked team in the nation in Delta State.

Taylor was nothing short of brilliant in the final quarter, as he showed on the first play of the period with a 16-yard run. That was the first of five runs on the West Georgia drive for 51 yards. His final run was a 1-yard plunge that pulled the Wolves to within five at 35-30. He capped the drive with a completed pass to Bobby Burum to complete the two-point conversion and making the score 35-32 with 9:06 remaining in the game.

Later in the fourth quarter, he engineered the game-winning drive and helped put senior running back James Kennebrew in position to score the game's final touchdown with 1:32 left on the clock. It was the third time this season that Taylor had led a game-winning drive in the final two minutes of the game. He set up the game-winning field goal against Saint Augustine's in the final minute and engineered a brilliant drive to end the game against Valdosta State.

The Blakely native led the way on the ground with 25 rushes for 97 yards and two touchdowns. He also was 16-of-32 for 258 yards through the air with two touchdowns. In addition, his performance paved the way for West Georgia's first ever victory over a No. 1 team.

Two Wolves earn GSC Weekly Honors

10/31/2011 10:00:00 AM

Carrollton, GA - A program win deserves program awards and the West Georgia Wolves produced two weekly award winners from Saturday's win over 17th-ranked Valdosta State. Linebacker Will Jones and placekicker/punter Davis Brackett earned
the Defensive and Special Teams player of the week awards for the week ending October 30th, released Monday by the Gulf South Conference.

Jones earns UWG’s first defensive accolade of the season after spearheading the Wolves’ defense in a 23-20 road upset over No. 17 Valdosta State. The senior racked up a team-high tying nine total tackles behind five solo stops. The Leesburg, GA native also recorded one sack for a 12-yard loss that pushed VSU out of field goal range in the second quarter. The award for Jones is the first of his career at UWG.

Brackett collects his second award in three weeks by leading West Georgia’s special teams unit against Valdosta State. The junior accounted for four total points, going 1-for-2 on field goals and 1-for-2 on point-after kicks. He booted a 31-yard field goal with no time left in the first half, extending UWG’s lead to 16-7. The Marietta, GA native did not stop there, booming three punts for 121 yards and a 40.3 average. All three of Brackett’s punts were downed inside the 20-yard line headlined by two that were placed at the VSU one-yard line.

The Wolves will take on their second-straight ranked road opponent this Saturday, facing off with the current No. 5 team in the nation, North Alabama. The Lions will likely move down in the national rankings after last Saturday's loss to West Alabama. The game was originally scheduled for 8 p.m., but has been moved to 5 p.m.