Dawn Staley named finalist for Coach of the Year Award
Dawn Staley, the head coach for women’s basketball, is one of four finalists for the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year award, WLTX reported.
Staley recently led the team to the SEC Tournament Title for the first time in the program’s history. The Gamecocks are one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
This is the second year in a row that Staley has been nominated. The award is given by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. The other finalists are UConn’s Geno Auriemma, Princeton’s Courtney Banghart and Florida State’s Sue Semrau. The winner will be officially announced during the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa.
— Lauren Shirley, News Editor
USC Linebacker out after liver injury
USC linebacker Larenz Bryant will miss the rest of spring practice after sustaining a liver injury midway through the team’s first practice on Tuesday afternoon, WLTX reported.
Bryant was removed from the practice facility and transported to the hospital, where he has since been under observation.
Bryant played 12 games last season and was expected to make a larger contribution to the team’s next-season plans due to transfers and graduations in USC’s linebacker corps. The team’s officials call the injury low-grade and he is expected to make a full recovery.
— Lauren Shirley, News Editor
Sumter man robs same convenience store 4 times
Isharaah Rhikim Burgess has robbed the same convenience store four times over the past year, The State reported. Police have identified Burgess as the man who robbed Frederick’s Citgo on South Grignard Drive on four occasions.
Burgess has been charged with four armed robberies at that same store between July 14, 2014 and Feb. 22, 2015. In each instance, a masked gunman threatened the clerk and then demanded money from the store. Burgess was being held at the Sumter-Lee Denton Center as of Wednesday afternoon.
— Lauren Shirley, News Editor