Trojan Fan

Ashtyn Baker, coming off back to back state championships at DII-A Northpoint Christian, enjoys a regular season Big South championship and freshman of the year honor in 17-18. Hoping to add an NCAA berth with a win in the Big South tournament final today. From the Big South web site: Baker is the second-straight Liberty player to be voted Big South Freshman of the Year and the sixth overall. She leads all Big South freshmen in scoring (7.7), assists (3.1) and steals (1.4), and ranks fifth overall in assists, fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio, and eighth in steals. Baker was a five-time Big South Freshman of the Week honoree in 2017-18, and is Liberty’s leader in assists (94) and steals (41). She averaged 12.8 points during Liberty’s five-game winning streak to conclude the regular-season, and scored 12 of her season-high 20 points during in the fourth quarter of Liberty’s come-from-behind win over Denver on Dec. 19, which included back-to-back three-pointers that put Liberty ahead of good. Baker made 70.0 percent of her field goals in five games this season, including a perfect 7-of-7 against Winthrop on Feb. 20. She received seven first-place votes and 36 total points, ahead of Winthrop’s Anika Riley (one first-place vote and 26 points).

I think the point was non-Memphis area West TN. There are certainly some other Memphis-area D1 commits and signees. Just sayin.

Correct. The church they're attached to outgrew their Memphis location and built on a lot more land just across the state line. SBEC (former name) was a long time Memphis private. There is a private league in Mississippi and SBEC played in it for several years out of a sense of obligation. The biggest problem was the closest private of its size was roughly 45 miles away and there were schools in Jackson (3+ hour drive away) in their district. Jr High teams making 6-7 hour round trips mid-week. Awful situation. Truth be told SBEC is a Memphis school in a community that's a Memphis suburb that mostly identifies itself as part of Memphis and is the fastest growing county in Mississippi mostly due to its proximity to Memphis. They've been playing Memphis schools as long as they've existed. Their rivalries are all in Memphis though it was painful to see Bishop Byrne just up the road in Whitehaven close. Fantastic rivalry over the years. Speaking as a north Mississippi native and Memphis resident I have a perspective that shows me Northpoint simply fits in the TSSAA far more than the Mississippi league. On a related note, Tipton Rosemark and Fayette Academy both used to play in the Mississippi league. Not the only TN schools to do it at various times, either. It happens as has been noted. Not nearly without precedent. In fact Mississippi has both Arkansas and Louisiana schools in the league now. I don't know if any Tennessee schools are currently. All that being said, I'm just giving explanation as to why Northpoint wanted to be in the TSSAA and likely will always want to be. I get why somebody would question it. It seems odd and probably always will. It wouldn't shock me if somebody eventually tries to push them out if they win enough games. These days, with realignment, it won't be footballl that upsets anybody into challenging the policy.

Bishop Byrne closed a couple of years ago. Enrollment kept shrinking. Im really not sure how Memphis Catholic has stayed open with Byrne closing but they did. Catholic has struggled to field football teams the last few years and haven't several years. Most of the high school Byrne kids that wanted to stay private went to Catholic or Northpoint but I think those pipelines have played out as well so not really sure where the affordable private school demographic in Whitehaven is going now. It was a sad day. Great long term rivalry between Northpoint (SBEC) and Bishop Byrne. Even sadder because of the good work done at that school. Great mission. I hate it's gone.

Veteran area coach Johnny Miller took the job. DC @ CBHS last year. Rossville Christian coach and AD before that. Other Memphis area stints both public and private before that. Definitely not a stranger to the greater Memphis coaching scene.

SBEC actually left the TSSAA for a brief time and played in the MPSA (now the MAIS) and it just didn't work. I think they felt the pressure to play in Mississippi without really wanting to. This was around the time Burney Veazey was In school (old UTenn backup QB). With Magnolia Heights in Senatonia and Clarksdale Lee being the closest district opponents it got ridiculous traveling to Greenwood, Greenville, and Jackson for games. Especially jr high mid week. Coming back to the TSSAA and the Memphis and west TN opponents was such a blessing. They'll still play some Mississppi public and private schools in MS in various sports but the TSSAA is unequivocally home.

Scott Samsel from Olive Branch, MS? He is good. He recruited really well at a public school which is more or less what got him fired. He might be okay at SBA if they'll commit to football.

Agreed. It was that conglomeration of churches that came up with that way back when. I can only assume they couldn't agree on something "normal". I'm not head over heels about the new name but SBEC needed to go. Definitely an improvement. Fortunately I'm past having kids that age. No new gear to buy.

http://www.sbectrojans.com/?q=node/4620 Go Trojans.

As head coach?...so are they keeping Ken Netherland in some capacity?

Bishop Byrne did play on their home field. It did the job. Catholic has a field but they haven't fielded a team in a few years. They did play 3 games a couple of years ago as, I guess, an independent. No idea if they plan on playing football or not or if they'll get the leftover BB students. Definitely sad to see it go. It was a nice private alternative for kids in Whitehaven. Obviously a catholic school still a good financial, private option for non-catholics, too. Really disappointed to see SBEC lose that old rival especialy from the early DII days w/ 3 classes in football. The school and athletic programs will be missed. Hope that Catholic will thrive and pick up some of those kids. They've done some nice things especially with getting their HS kids into co-op type programs w/ Memphis area businesses parts of the week. Good businesses with exposure to professional jobs.

Good info. Thanks. Interesting that it's 6 and 4 team divisions. Why not 5 and 5? Comments from November re: west districts. Still don't know if Lausanne plays a varsity schedule in 2013 or not. http://www.coacht.com/boards/index.php/topic/227936-d2-a-new-districts/

West looks pretty straightforward to me: West 1-ECS, Bishop Byrne, FACS, SBEC, Harding, and add Lausanne in. These are the westernmost schools. West 2- USJ, Fayette, Rossville Christian, St. George's, Tipton-Rosemark Sorry to see JCS leave. West 2 likely drops to 5 with West 1 going the other way with Lausanne having full-fledged football. I hvae no idea in East/Middle because I never quite understood the divisions in the first place. Welcome back to King's Academy going full-fledged DII, BGA dropping into A, and Friendship Christian making the change to DII.

In West 1, ECS looks like the division winner receiving a 1st round bye. They've already taken out Harding, the other legit contender, and neither SBEC or Bishop Byrne look likely to beat them. Harding has beaten both SBEC and FACS convincingly and is a lock for the #2 slot and a 1st round playoff host spot. The last game of the year b/w SBEC and FACS will be for a travelling #3 playoff seed. Both have dropped off somewhat from last year but SBEC looks a bit better. Definitely a drop b/w 2 and 3 this year when last year it was pretty tight within the top 3 group. In West 2, the best two teams in the West in St. George's and USJ (both have beaten ECS in tight games) are on a collision course October 12th for the #1 seed, division championship and a 1st round bye. The loser hosts at home as a #2. As in West 1, the dropoff to the #3 slot is a pretty big win. Look for the last game of the year b/w a resurgent Fayette Academy and Jackson Christian to be for the #3 travelling slot. The West seems to be generally in line. ECS, SGIS, and USJ all seem to be pretty good. Harding is behind them...not far behind but still behind that group. No clue on the East. Except for Webb who looks excellent. I see that FRA gave SGIS a good game early in the year and beat Donelson Christian but they lost to a Davidson team that was handled at home by a somewhat down SBEC squad. Hard to figure without first hand accounts.

No radio for SBEC but the games are live-streamed. The Commercial Appeal has stories here and there. http://www.sbectrojansports.com/ Just click on the link in the upper left hand corner