National Highlight Reel: Hamby scores 56 in double-overtime loss

West Morgan (Trinity, Ala.) basketball star Hayden Hamby scored a career-high 56 points during a 78-74 double-overtime loss to Class 3A No. 2-ranked Danville (Ala.).

The loss, which came in the Area 15 portion of the state tournament, ended the Rebels' season at 20-9.

The 5-foot-7 junior tied her school's record and recorded what is believed to be a season high — for girls or boys — in the state. Trevor Lacey scored 54 for Huntsville Butler earlier this year.

"We kept the ball in her hands pretty much all night," coach Keith Harris told MaxPreps. "The pace and intensity of the game were just unreal."



Hamby scored her team's last 24 points in the first half and its final 18 starting with 3:03 left in the fourth quarter. She forced the second overtime with a late 3-point basket. The only other player to score for the Rebels was Hannah Harris with 18 points.

Division I colleges are beginning to take a good look at Hamby, who has a perfect 4.0 GPA.

* After posting a national-record 122-118 double-overtime victory against West Marshall (State Center, Iowa) one week earlier, Gladbrook-Reinbeck (Reinbeck, Iowa) defeated the same team in a much different state tournament matchup, 57-53.

* Cannon County (Woodbury, Tenn.) star Emily Sissom has established a Tennessee state record for career 3-point baskets (363).

* Senior Lindsey Hall tied the school record with 48 points as Wheatland-Chili (Scottsville, N.Y.) defeated Lyndonville (N.Y.), 62-41. She shot 19-for-30 from the field, had 12 steals and 11 rebounds.

* Jenn Anderson, a 6-2 sophomore, scored 42 points as Westfield (Ind.) defeated Fishers (Ind.), 61-54.



* Senior Erica Schultz broke a 31-year-old school record when she grabbed 27 rebounds as Strongsville (Ohio) defeated Elyria (Ohio), 59-45.

* Steelton-Highspire (Steelton, Pa.) routed Milton-Hershey (Hershey, Pa.), 82-38, behind a career-high 42 points by sophomore guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas. She also collected nine rebounds, seven assists and seven steals.

* Concordia Lutheran (Fort Wayne, Ind.) coach David Miller picked up his 300th career victory, 54-31, over New Haven (Ind.).

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}BOYS BASKETBALL: CAREY WOODS SCORES 52
Carey Woods broke a 33-year-old school record by two points when he poured in 52 points to spark Bemidji (Minn.) to a 93-65 rout of Grand Forks Central (N.D.).

* Senior guard Ryan Boatright scored 41 points as East Aurora (Ill.) defeated West Aurora (Ill.), 74-66, in the 214th meeting of the arch rivals.

* St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) lost to Orange Lutheran (Calif.), 86-72, despite 40 points by Cezar Guerrero.



* Coaching milestone victories: Eddie Martin of Greater Atlanta Christian (Norcross, Ga.) and Ken Shaw of Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.) both won No. 600, while Tony Wise of Frankfort (Ky.) notched No. 200.

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}HOCKEY: TWO USA TEAMS WIN GOLD
The U.S. National Under-18 team defeated Finland, 7-4, to win the Five Nations Tournament in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic. Reid Boucher (Grand Ledge, Mich.) scored three goals to lead the champs and Blake Pietila (Brighton, Mich.) added a pair. The Americans also defeated Sweden (6-2), Russia (10-4) and the Czech Republic (3-1) to finish 4-0 in the tournament.

* The U.S. National Under-17 team edged Slovakia, 2-1, to win the Vlad Dzurilla Tournament in Pestany, Slovakia. Goalie Jared Rutledge (Chicago, Ill.) stopped 24 shots. The Americans also defeated Switzerland and Germany by identical 5-1 scores to finish with a 3-0 record.

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}FOOTBALL: BLOUNT HIRES FORMER PRO
Blount (Eight Mile, Ala.) has hired former NFL lineman Chris Samuels as its offensive coordinator. He will be working under Kevin Sigler, a long-time high school and college teammate.

* Columbia (Lake City, Fla.) coach Craig Howard has been chosen from a field of over 100 candidates to be the new head coach at Southern Oregon University. He has had previous college coaching experience and as head coach at Nease (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) he developed eventual Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow.

* Carlos Enrico has retired as head coach at Central Catholic (San Antonio) after winning 159 games in 24 years. He was the longest-tenured head football coach in the San Antonio area and will retain his duties as athletic director.



SWIMMING: FRANKLIN SETS NATIONAL RECORD
Sensational sophomore Missy Franklin of Regis Jesuit (Aurora, Colo.) won the 100-yard backstroke in 52.3 seconds during the Class 5A state meet in Fort Collins, Colo. It surpassed the 13-year-old national record for independent schools, which was 52.86 by olympian Natalie Coughlin. The overall national record is 51.53.

* At Indiana's state meet, Carmel (Ind.) extended its national record by winning its 25th consecutive title with ease and its 200-yard medley relay team set a national public school record with a clocking of 1 minute, 41.42 seconds.

* During Tennessee's state meet, the Baylor (Chattanooga, Tenn.) won the 200-yard freestyle relay in 1 minute, 32.63 seconds to set an overall national record.

POTPOURRI
* Belmont Hill (Belmont, Mass.) boys hockey coach Ken Martin posted his milestone 700th career victory, 7-1, over Phillips Academy (Andover, Mass.) His total is No. 2 in history, trailing only the 852 victories achieved by Bill Belisle of Mt. St. Charles Academy (Woonsocket, R.I.).

* Justine Siegal will achieve a historic first when she pitches batting practice for the Cleveland Indians on Feb. 21 and the Oakland Athletics on Feb. 23. She continues to champion girls playing high school baseball as founder and executive director of Baseball For All.