Sunday Sports Brunch: Carla Anderton steps down at Briarcrest

Any coach will tell you. The time and commitment it takes to run a high school program is massive. And when your program is as successful as Briarcrest volleyball has been, the commitment is that much greater.

Carla Anderton has put in her time. And now it's time to move on.

Anderton, who led the Saints to a Division II-AA state championship in 2016, announced last week that she is stepping down as coach of the area's top program. Assistant Carrie Yerty — who spent 12 seasons at the University of Memphis before resigning in 2008 — will take over.

The Saints finished 34-8 this past season, losing to Chattanooga Baylor in four sets in the state championship match.

Anderton said she met with her team on Dec. 30 to inform them of her choice.

"It wasn't like it was an easy decision," she said. "When you have a program at the level that it is for the last nine, 10 years...to be the top program it's year round. It takes a lot of time and effort. For the last seven years, from August until Thanksgiving, I haven't had a weekend off.

"I used to be an avid golfer and now it's time to get my clubs out again. I've already gotten my tennis racket out...it's just time."

Anderton's not leaving the sport entirely. She said she plans to stay active at the club level and plans to continue training and working with players in the area. The move will also allow her more time to travel to college matches; her daughter Callie plays at Murray State while her niece Taylor plays at Samford.

Yerty, who had surgery related to colon cancer toward the end of the season but was able to rejoin the team for the state tournament, will inherit another powerful squad. Leading the returnees next year will be Alyiah Wells and Carsyn Starr, both of whom are finalists for the Commercial Appeal's player of the year award as juniors.

"People say 'How can you walk away from having an entire team returning that has a chance to win it all?' " Anderton said. "I got a couple of calls from crying girls...(but) I'm a do-it-all-the-way kind of person.

"Now I'll be able to choose what I can do."

Former Spartan gets the win, and the girl

The holidays were certainly special for Leron Black.

Black, who starred at White Station and was named Class AAA Mr. Basketball and Gatorade Tennessee Player of the year as a senior in 2014, scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Illinois to a 70-64 victory over arch-rival Missouri on Dec. 23. After that was over, he went over and popped the question to his girlfriend, Sheila Segura.

She accepted.

"I didn't want to tell Coach (Brad Underwood) before because he was going to think it was going to be on my mind and he was definitely going to call me soft," Black jokingly told the Champaign (Ill.) Times-Gazette.

"Both my family and her family came to the game. That's the only time we really had them all together so I thought it would be a great time."

Heading into Saturday's game against Michigan, the 6-7 redshirt junior was leading the Illini with 14.7 points per game. He's also averaging 5.7 boards and shooting a team-high 82 percent from the foul line for a 10-6 team.

Thornberry picks up another top honor

Ole Miss golfer Braden Thornberry has added to his lengthy list of 2017 accomplishments by being named player of the year by AmateurGolf.com.

The former DeSoto Central standout won the Jones Cup and Ryman Hospitality Invitational tournaments before recording top-fives in both the SEC and NCAA South Regional tournaments. Thornberry then wrapped up his sophomore season by winning the NCAA championship, shooting 11-under 277 at the tournament in Sugar Grove, Ill.

Outside of college competition, he won the Sunnehana Amateur and was part of the United States team that captured the Walker Cup. He finished tied for fourth at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, just two strokes behind champion Daniel Berger.

“This game has been so special to me,” Thornberry said in a statement. “My game has gone to a new level, and I have learned so much ... I'm looking forward to seeing what 2018 has in store."

Hamilton grad is top freshman in the OVC

Tesia Thompson — who was the second-leading scorer in Memphis as a senior at Hamilton last year — has already proven she can fill it up in college too, earning freshman of the week honors in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Now at Southeast Missouri, the 5-10 guard came off the bench to score 10 points in 17 minutes in a loss to Belmont on Dec. 28 before scoring a career-high 23 to go along with nine rebounds in a 71-66 victory over Tennessee State two days later.

In that one, Thompson scored 14 in the final period and gave the Redhawks a lead on a lay-up with under a minute to go before sealing it from the free-throw line. For the season, she's averaging 10.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.

Thompson was an ESPN top 100 recruit as a prep senior and averaged 26.9 points per game for the Wildcats.

Tigers continue to excel in classroom

For the fourth straight semester, University of Memphis athletes have set a new standard in classroom performance.

The nearly 400 athletes posted a 3.24 grade point average this fall, surpassing the old record of 3.19 set in the spring of 2017. It's the ninth straight semester and 12th out of the last 14 that Tigers athletes have combined for a 3.0 or above.

"We are proud of our student-athletes and their commitment to excel academically despite incredible time-management challenges," Dr. Bob Baker, the school's Director of the University's Center for Athletic Academic Services, said in a statement. "Tiger Nation has much to be proud of with how our student-athletes perform both in the classroom and their arenas of competition."

Memphis baseball (3.34), football (2.86), men's basketball (2.90), women's basketball (3.18), men's soccer (3.60) and men's tennis (3.64) all set records. In total, 272 Tigers had 3.0 averages or higher while 39 had perfect 4.0 averages.

Sunday Sports Brunch is a weekly look at movers, shakers and newsmakers on the Memphis sports scene, from youth level to the pros. If you have an item of interest, please contact John Varlas at john.varlas@commercialappeal.com.