William & Mary basketball player Justin Pierce will play his final season at North Carolina as a graduate transfer.
Pierce announced his decision on social media Thursday. The 6-foot-6 wing from Glen Ellyn, Ill., averaged 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds while shooting 48% from the floor and nearly 37% from 3-point range over the past two seasons.
Pierce is the second graduate transfer to pick the Tar Heels in the past week, joining Christian Keeling, a 6-4 guard who averaged 17.9 points over three seasons for Charleston Southern.
Pierce also considered Michigan and Notre Dame.
“It’s a great opportunity for me to play at such a prestigious basketball school,” he told 247Sports.com. “That was one of the coolest things for me. I get to put on that jersey next year and be a part of the North Carolina family.”
Women’s basketball:
Lydia Rivers, a standout 6-2 power forward for reigning Big South champion Radford, has decided to transfer to Virginia Tech, the Roanoke Times reported.
Rivers will graduate from Radford this month with a degree in exercise science. As a graduate transfer, she will be able to play for the Hokies in the 2019-20 season without having to sit out a year.
Her father, John Rivers, the sixth-leading rebounder in Virginia Tech men’s basketball history, roamed the Cassell Coliseum court from 1988-92. He also played football for the Hokies.
Lydia Rivers’ exit is a blow to the Highlanders, who won a school-record 26 games this year. Rivers made the All-Big South first team as a fourth-year junior this year, when she averaged 12.2 points and a league-high 10.4 rebounds.
She was named the most valuable player of the Big South tournament after helping Radford win it and advance to the NCAAs for the first time in 23 years. She had 14 points and 14 rebounds in the Big South final against Campbell, her 15th double-double of the season.
Softball:
Christopher Newport freshman Kaitlyn Hasty was selected as the Capital Athletic Conference’s Player and Rookie of the Year, becoming just the second athlete ever to gain both honors in the same season.
Hasty, a third baseman from Western Branch High, tied a school record for home runs in a season this year with 17. She is tied for the lead nationally in home runs, is third in slugging percentage (.981) and is fourth in the country in RBIs with 56.
Ten CNU players received CAC accolades, with seven selected to the first team and three to the second team. The Captains are 31-6 and ranked ninth in NCAA Division III. Keith Parr’s squad is preparing for the CAC championship series Friday and Saturday at Mary Washington and then will compete in the NCAA tournament.
Besides Hasty, the first team included Captains second baseman Grace Wild, designated player Patty Maye Ohanian, outfielder Maddie Hool, first baseman Caroline Helmer of Chesapeake and pitchers Trish Webb of Suffolk and Emily Weatherholtz.
The second team included CNU catcher Calah Savage of Suffolk, shortstop Natalie Carmichael and outfielder Caitlin Abernethy.
Men’s tennis:
William and Mary sophomore Sebastian Quiros made the All-Colonial Athletic Association singles first team, and Tribe junior Brenden Volk and sophomore Chen Ruo made the doubles second team.
Women’s tennis:
William & Mary freshman Mila Saric was named the CAA Rookie of the Year.
Tribe juniors Rosie Cheng and Natalia Perry repeated on the All-CAA singles first team, and senior Clara Tanielian and sophomore Vitoria Okuyama made the doubles first team. Saric was on the singles second team.
James Madison’s Shelley Jaudon was chosen as the Coach of the Year after leading the Dukes to their first conference championship and first NCAA tournament berth in her initial JMU season.
James Madison freshman Daria Afanasyeva made the singles first team and the doubles first team alongside Emma Petersen.
MINOR-LEAGUE BASEBALL:
International League:
Mason Williams, Ryan Mountcastle and Zach Vincej each had three hits as Norfolk opened a 10-game homestand with an 8-2 victory over Charlotte at Harbor Park.
The Tides have won three straight.
Mountcastle doubled and singled twice, scoring two runs. Rated as the top prospect in the Baltimore Orioles’ organization, the infielder is now batting .336.
With the game tied 2-2, the Tides took the lead for good in the third inning when Chance Sisco hit a solo home run. The catcher has homered in three consecutive games.
The Tides later added a run in the fourth and four in the fifth. In the fourth, Williams scored on a wild pitch, and Jack Reinheimer hit an RBI double and then scored on a single by Williams in the fifth.
Norfolk southpaw Luis Ysla (1-2) picked up the win after allowing two runs on just three hits over five innings. Fellow lefty Chris Lee went the final four innings, allowing two hits, to earn a save.
Charlotte starter Jordan Guerrero (1-3) took the loss after a rough outing in which he allowed six runs and 11 hits over 4? innings.
Despite the loss, Charlotte — the top affiliate of the Chicago White Sox — is 5-2 against Norfolk this season.
The teams meet again at 7:05 p.m. Friday.
Eastern League:
The Richmond Flying Squirrels (10-14) committed a season-high four errors as they opened a homestand with a 9-2 loss to the Altoona Curve before 6,417 at The Diamond.
The Squirrels’ Hamlet Marte blasted an RBI double to deep right-center field for a 1-0 lead in the second inning.
But Richmond starter Brandon Lawson had to leave the game in the fourth when he was struck with a line drive by Jared Oliva. Right-hander Ryan Halstead (1-2) entered and worked into a bases-loaded, one-out jam. After striking out Logan Hill, Halstead allowed a three-run double to Hunter Owen, giving Altoona (13-13) a 3-1 lead. The Curve led the rest of the way.
PRO BASKETBALL:
Former Hampton High and Old Dominion guard Jordan Baker was accepted to play for Monarch Nation in The Tournament, whose winners get to split $2 million.
In late July, the ODU-tinged entry will be returning to an event in which it lost to the eventual champion, Overseas Elite, last summer. Monarch Nation, whose team also includes Bethel High graduate Aaron Bacote, Brandan Stith, Randy Haynes, Keenan Palmore, Nik Biberaj and Trey Freeman, will play at VCU’s Siegel Center against an opponent to be named.
