This weekend's schedule

Regent will be participating in "The Oaks Shootout" this weekend. The games will begin at 5:00 (JV) and 6:30 (BV) on Friday, and there is also a game on Saturday at 12:30 (varsity boys only). The calendar above will be updated tomorrow.

The following is an email sent from Marvin to the parents regarding this weekend:

"The games on both February 5th and 8th both start at 5:00. Friday is JV and BV only and Monday is JV, GV, and BV. There is a BV only game at 12:30 on Dec 6 at New Destiny with a team from North Carolina. The Saturday game was added late in the season and I didn't put it on the mass email blast. Sorry for any confusion.

Even though Friday 5th is considered a home game it is part of a mini tournament as well and the $5.00 admission is not going to our program, which is good, because we wouldn't be able to recover all of our costs anyway. Now that I have totally confused everybody, including myself, it is time for me to sit down and think of something other than basketball.

Over and out,

Marvin"

Travel Schedule

In effort to serve the families during our road trips this season, we will be providing transportation for several of the games. Marvin Couch released the travel information below. We will meet at and depart from Metro Life for all these games.

December 9, 2008 JV, GV, BV
Potter's House Academy
1150 Lane Ave. South
Jacksonville, Fl 32205
Leave Metro Life @1:30 for first game @4:30
Leave Potter's House @ 8:30 arrive back @ 11:30

December 11, 2008 JV,BV
Bradenton Prep
7900 40th Ave. West
Bradenton, Fl 34209
Leave Metro Life @2:30 for first game @6:00
Leave Bradenton Prep @ 8:30 arrive back @ 11:30

February 6, 2009 JV, GV, BV
Florida Christian Institute
940 Tarpon Street
Ft. Meyers, Fl 33916
Leave Metro Life @ 12:30 for first game @ 4:30
Leave FCI @ 8:30 arrive back @ 12:30

February 12, 2009 JV, BV
South Florida Prep
Carter Park
1350 E. Sunset Blvd
Ft Lauderdale, Fl 33304
Leave Metro Life @ 12:30 for first game @ 4:30
Leave South Fl Prep @ 7:00 arrive back @ 11:30

February 17, 2009 JV, GV, BV
Shekinah Christian Prep
10551 Beach Blvd.
Jacksonville, Fl 32246
Leave Metro Life @ 1:30 for first game @ 4:30
Leave Shekinah @ 8:30 arrive back @ 11:30

Regent falters against Forest Lake

Both boys basketball teams suffered their first loss of the season and the girls were unable to overcome an 18-4 third quarter deficit as the Forest Lake Panthers took all three games in last night's action.

Strong individual scoring performances by Regent athletes were over matched by the Panther's pressure and speed. Sarah Fitzgerald scored 16 and Cherish Bellamy had 10 points for the girls, but were outpaced by Janessa Sorells and Vikki Torres-Reyes (23 and 18 points). Brighton Bellamy's 11 points and three 3-pointers led the Wolverine JV team, who had no match for Jonathan Xavier (22 points). Michael Slack turned in another solid offensive night with 20 points on 4 three pointers. Matt Slack also had 14 points and a nifty old fashioned three point play before he fouled out with under 6 minutes remaining in the game.

With two of our teams suffering their season's first loss, Regent now looks to open its SIAA conference schedule next week. The boys teams will play a total of 12 conference games, including their next five in a row. The girls will play 8 conference games this season (South Florida Prep and Bradenton Prep do not have girls teams). All three teams will use the Thanksgiving break to attempt to prepare and gain momentum for a difficult early season stretch leading to the Christmas break.

Other notes:

SIAA president Tony Atkins was in attendance for the Boys Varsity game. In his first visit to Metro Arena, he seemed to be impressed with what he saw. "I really like what you guys are doing over there," he said. "The gym, the scores on the screens, the guy doing the announcing, I think it's just great."

The Wolverine's open their conference schedule at West Oaks on Tuesday, December 2nd.

The location of the December 5th game versus South Florida Prep has been changed. We will now play in the gym of the New Destiny church. The JV boys will start at 5:00 and the Varsity Boys game will be played at 6:30.

West Oaks start time delayed

The start time of today's 11:15 Girls Varsity game versus West Oaks has been delayed. The estimated game time is now 12:30. For those interested, live scoring updates will be available on our scoreboard.

Live Scoring Updates

In an effort to serve the families and friends who will not be able to make it to every game, TRA has been developing a system which will enable us to display live up-to-the-minute scoring updates of our games.

We look forward to introducing this sytem more fully at one of our home games and will be testing this system during the girls tournament this weekend. Check back Friday afternoon for a link to the scoreboard test page to participate.

Potter's House tournament schedule released

The schedule for the Varsity Girls tournament this weekend has been released. The First Coast Classic Shootout at Potter's House in Jacksonville begins Friday afternoon. Teams will play one game on Friday and two on Saturday.

Regent will play I.M.G. Academy at 7:30 on Friday night. On Saturday Wolverines will play West Oaks at 12:15 and Petersen Academy at 5:30.

Regent sweeps Heritage Prep

In the new season's second game, Regent won all three contests versus Heritage Prep. The Varsity Boys improved to 2-0 with a 48-33 win, behind Michael Slack's 14 points. Cherish Bellamy (17 points, 14 rebounds) and Sara Jo Owsley (17 points, 8 steals) led the Lady Wolverines (1-1) to the first win of their season and coach Lindsay Jones' career, winning 43-28. The JV Boys (2-0) continued their winning ways in the evening's closest game, 46-39. Brighton Bellamy had 21 points and 3 three-pointers.

NOTES: The boys teams have the rest of the week off. The girls will travel to Jacksonville for the 2008 First Coast Classic Shootout at Potter's House. Next week all three teams return home to play Forest Lake for the first time in the program's history.

Season opens against Eastland

The Wolverine season got off to a fast start last night, as Regent played host to the Eastland Hurricanes, winning the JV and Varsity Boys contests. Regent got off to a fast start last night, taking 2 of 3 contests. The Eastland girls, playing in the second of three games, represented Eastland's sole win of the night.

The Varsity Boys contest took all 32 minutes to decide. After falling behind 46-42 with 56 seconds remaining in the game, the Wolverine press created a flurry of turnovers to help eliminate the deficit. John Couch earned a trip to the charity stripe and sank both free throws to narrow the margin to 46-44. On the ensuing possession, Couch also stole the ball and earned an additional trip to the foul line, where he made one of two, for a 46-45 score. On the next possession, Abbott Jones and John Couch pressured the Eastland guards into a second straight turnover, leading to a Michael Slack layup with 11 seconds left and a 47-46 lead, igniting a raucous crowd gathered to watch the Wolverine's home opener.

Eastland wasted no time after Slack's layup. Without calling a timeout, the Hurricane's hurried the ball down court and had a chance to take the lead back. Alex Luna, however, missed a layup and fouled Kyle Brown on the rebound with 2.3 seconds left, all but sealing the game. It wasn't over until Eastland's inbounds pass was deflected up in the air with 1 second remaining, allowing time to expire and give the Wolverines Varsity Boys an opening night win.

Earlier in the night, the Regent Varsity Girls had been unable to keep Eastland's returning center Caitlyn Kyle (15 points) under control, losing their first game under new coach Lindsay Jones, 37-19. The Junior Varsity Boys won the first game of the night. In a game of contrasting styles, the Wolverine's hectic style caused enough Hurricane turnovers to overpower the more controlled attack of Eastland, 36-29.

Next week the Wolverines will be visiting cross-town rivals Heritage Prep for the second game against a former conference foe to open this new year. All three teams will play Heritage Prep on Tuesday, starting with JV at 4:30.

Other notes: Michael Slack led all scorers with 18 points. Peter Aurelian led the JV Boys in scoring with 14. Caitlyn Kyle led Varsity Girls scoring (15), with Cherish Bellamy leading the Wolverines with 9 points.