ROUNDUP: After two ISU wins, Kiley Bess earns MVC Newcomer honors
Feb. 28—Success has brought the Indiana State women's basketball squad some attention.
ISU senior guard Kiley Bess was named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week on Tuesday afternoon by the conference office after helping lead the Sycamores to a pair of wins over league foes.
Bess played an instrumental role in Indiana State's 2-0 week, nearly averaging a double-double with 15 points, nine rebounds, three steals and 2.5 assists per game across two games. She opened the week with her first career double-double in a 69-66 win over Evansville, recording 12 points and 10 rebounds against the Purple Aces. Bess followed that with an 18-point, nine-rebound showing in a 74-67 win over Bradley. She dished out four assists against the Braves, and also had three steals in each of Indiana State's two wins during the week. Bess shot 43.5 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the free throw line.
Bess leads Indiana State in scoring with 11.3 points per game this season, also adding 4.0 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Indiana State's final road trip of the regular season continues at 7:30 p.m. Friday night at MVC foe Belmont.
In other college basketball:
—Barnes wins again — For the fourth time this season, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods senior Cobie Barnes has been named the River States Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week. Barnes helped lead the Pomeroys to wins in the final two regular season games of the 2023-24 season last week by averaging 25.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. He scored 28 points with nine rebounds in a tight 76-74 win over Brescia, then tallied 22 points with seven rebounds in Saturday's 87-68 victory at Oakland City.
College football
—Engineers hire new OC — Lucas Skibba has been named the new offensive coordinator for the Rose-Hulman football team.
Skibba comes to Rose-Hulman from Wilmington College where he served as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Quakers.
Rose-Hulman opens the 2024 season at DePauw on Sept. 7.
College baseball
—Rose-Hulman 6, Dubuque 5 — At Auburndale, Fla., the Engineers opened the 2024 RussMatt Invitational with a comeback victory over.
With the bases loaded and two outs, pinch hitter Josh Erpenbeck delivered a two-run double into left-center field to put Rose-Hulman on top 6-5.
Zacheus Carr would pick up his second win of the season in relief with 3 innings pitched and just one earned run allowed.
Rose improved to 2-2 for the season.
College softball
—Engineers split — At Melbourne, Fla., Rose-Hulman continued its spring trip to Florida with a doubleheader on Tuesday. The team shut out Houghton 11-0 in five innings, and lost to Eastern 6-2. The Engineers are now 2-2 for the season.
College tennis
—Rose men win two, women drop two — At Orlando, Fla., Rose-Hulman men's team opened it spring trip with a pair of 7-2 wins over Wartburg and Alma on Monday afternoon.
The Engineers dominated in doubles play with a perfect 6-0 record. Chris Lian, Ervin Perkowski, and Rhian Seneviratne all finished the day with a perfect 2-0 record in doubles.
Also Monday at Orlando, Rose's women's tennis team dropped its first two matches of their spring trip on Monday with losses to Alma and Grove City. The Engineers won in No. 1 doubles, No. 1 singles, and No. 2 singles in both of the matches for a 4-0 day for Taylor Goldman and Wynne Aldrich.
College volleyball
—Woods wins two — The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College men's volleyball team improved to 9-4 on the season with a pair of 3-set wins at Talladega College on Monday.
In the opener, the Pomeroys hit an impressive .241 as a team to pick up a 25-23, 25-20, 28-26 victory.
In the nightcap, SMWC improved the hitting percentage to .362 in a 26-24, 25-21, 25-19 victory.
Equestrian
—Woods takes regional — Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College took home High Point honors in three different shows this weekend, highlighted by bringing home the team Zone 7 Regional 1 Western Championship.
SMWC captured High Point Team honors in the first show and Reserve High Point Team honors in the second show that preceded the Western Regional. Megan Manlief earned the High Point Rider ribbon in show one, and Madison Raiser won the title in show two.
SMWC had 11 qualified rides and seven individuals will advance to Semi-Finals at Albion College on March 23-24.
