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The Rams took down Fayetteville State in the finals.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Winston-Salem State women’s flag football team won the first-ever Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) championship Saturday, defeating Fayetteville State in the finals 9-6.

The Rams entered the postseason tournament as the No. 2 seed and took down Johnson C. Smith in the semifinals to advance to Saturday’s championship game. WSSU took an early 2-0 lead on a safety and extended the advantage to 9-0 with a pick-six on the ensuing Fayetteville State drive. 

Fayetteville State scored with less than a minute remaining and had a chance to tie by attempting a three-point conversion after their touchdown. Winston-Salem State held strong, however, denying the attempt and clinching the victory.

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Women’s Basketball: Macalester Loses Heartbreaker to Carleton

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ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College women’s basketball team played a hard-fought MIAC game against Carleton College, with the Knights edging the Scots, 49-47 Wednesday night in the Leonard Center. Macalester is now 1-8 overall and 0-3 in conference play, while Carleton improves to 4-4, 1-2 MIAC.

Macalester opened with an 11-4 run that saw senior forward Ellie Corbett (Austin, Texas/James Bowie) score four points and junior guard Acacia Edmond (Houston, Texas/Shadow Creek) drain a three-pointer. Carleton responded with eight straight points to take a 12-11 edge before sophomore guard Emma Karlin (Rockville, Md./Richard Montgomery) restored the lead for the Scots with a basket with less than a minute left in the quarter. After a Knights’ free throw tied the score, junior guard Mary Daley (Cumberland, R.I./Bishop Feehan) scored at the end of the quarter for a 15-13 Macalester lead.

Carleton scored first in the second quarter to tie the score, but two Daley free throws and an 18-foot jumper by senior forward Brooke Boroughs (Monroe, Wash./Monroe) put the Scots on top, 19-15. After the Knights tied the score at 19-19, sophomore forward Cady Davis (Minneapolis, Minn./Roosevelt) made two free throws for a 21-19 Macalester lead heading into the halftime break. The Scots compensated for poor shooting from the field by making all six of their free throws compared to 1-of-4 for Carleton in the first half.

Both offenses came alive in the third quarter. Taylor Dente opened the period with a three to give the Knights the lead, but an 8-0 run sparked by four points from junior guard Sydnee Smith (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) put Macalester back on top, 29-22. After a Knights’ free throw, first year guard Megan Matthews (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) and Dente exchanged threes to make the score 32-26. Carleton outscored the Scots, 7-2 over the remainder of the quarter to reduce the lead to one, 34-33 heading into the fourth.

Davis opened the final period with a basket, but the Knights tallied the next four points to take a 37-36 edge with 6:05 to play. Sophomore forward Samantha Smith (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) broke the scoring drought for Macalester with a three for a 39-37 advantage. Davis, who grabbed an offensive rebound before Samantha Smith’s three, made a basket of her own to make the score 41-37. Liesl McCallum answered for Carleton at the four-minute mark to cut the lead to 41-39. A minute later, two Knights’ free throws tied the score again, 41-41, then another free throw and a basket by McCallum put Carleton up, 44-41.

With under two minutes to play, first year guard Faith Accardo (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Oaks Christian) heated up, draining two three-pointers around a basket by Addy Huss for a 47-46 advantage. A foul was called on Macalester with 8.1 seconds remaining, and McCallum made both free throws to give the lead back to Carleton, 48-47. With 4.7 seconds left, it appeared that Samantha Smith made a three-pointer from the corner, but the official ruled that she stepped out of bounds before the shot. Huss made 1-of-2 from the line after being fouled, but a desperation three at the buzzer was off the mark.

Davis led Macalester with eight points to go with seven rebounds, as all 10 players who played scored for the Scots. Matthews had seven points and five rebounds, while Daley finished with six points, eight rebounds and three assists. Corbett registered four blocks to go with four points and four rebounds. Huss, who entered the game with a MIAC-best scoring average of 22.4 points per game, and McCollum each scored 17 points.

Macalester returns to action in 2026 with a home MIAC game against Saint Mary’s University on Saturday, Jan. 3. The game starts at 1:00 p.m. in the Leonard Center.

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Game Thread: Huskers v. Badgers

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Two year ago Nebraska basketball lost just one game in Pinnacle Bank Arena and was a perfect 10-0 in league play. 

The latter is the tallest of tasks and a rather amazing accomplishment from a Nebraska squad that even beat No. 1 Purdue. One of those wins was also a dramatic second-half comeback over the same Wisconsin program the Huskers will see tonight.

Husker Connor Essegian, rehabbing from injury, was on that Wisconsin team two years ago and recalled with fondness the PBA atmosphere when he committed to Nebraska.

“PBA’s atmosphere in general is just elite to me,” he said. “I felt like it was the loudest gym I played in this past year. The fans were on us the entire game. I’ve only played in a sold-out PBA so the atmosphere I’ve seen there is amazing. I want to be able to make every game like that and keep the trend of the program going.”

The winning dominance at PBA disappeared last year as Nebraska finished just 10-6 at home.

One of the major focuses this squad is to return that dynamic homecourt advantage this year. Sunday was a good start in reinforcing what is wanted with a 71-50 win over Creighton. Now comes what Fred Hoiberg said is the toughest test of the year for his 9-0 squad against Wisconsin at 8 p.m. 

“We did not do a good enough job on our homecourt last year in league. We actually won more road games a year ago than we did the previous year but we didn’t do a good enough job protecting homecourt,” Hoiberg said. “With the energy we have in our building we should expect to win every time that we’re on that floor … So we need to establish that. We need to get our crowd into it early. We need to sustain it. This is the best team we’ve played, there’s no doubt about it. 

“And we’re going to have to be on point for 40 minutes.”

About the Badgers: Wisconsin (7-2) returned two starters and six letterwinners from a team that won 27 games and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. UW is averaging 87.9 ppg on 45 percent shooting while averaging 11.3 3-pointers per game. Wisconsin is coming off a dominating 20-point win over Marquette and handled Northwestern with ease before that in the Badgers’ Big Ten opener.

The Badgers are out-rebounding teams by more than five per game and committing just 10.3 turnovers per game. Wisconsin features one of the top scoring duos in the Big Ten in John Blackwell (21.0 ppg) and San Diego State transfer Nick Boyd (20.2 ppg).

How to watch/listen: The game tips at 8 p.m. and is televised on BTN.

It is available on the Huskers Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Jeff Smith on the call, including KLIN (1400 AM) in Lincoln, KCRO (660AM) and KIBM (1490 AM) in Omaha and KRVN (880 AM) in Lexington. The pregame show begins an hour before

The line: Nebraska is favored by 1 1/2.

What a win would mean: The No. 23-ranked Huskers will look to match their best start in school history, as NU opened the 1977-78 season with 10 straight wins. In addition, counting last year’s four wins to end the year at the College Basketball Crown, NU can also tie the school mark for the longest win streak in school history with a win on Wednesday. The mark is held by the 1990-91 Huskers who won a school-record 14 games on their way to a school-record 26-win season. 



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Stockton community gathers with nonprofits to grieve tragedy, support each other

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Community members gathered in Stockton Wednesday evening to support one another, loving their neighbor. 

It was called Heal Stockton, where Stockton residents and nonprofits met to grieve, heal, and process the tragedy that struck families in the city they love.

“All these people are concerned and came out on their own dime, their own time,” Armster Hampton, Community Partnership for Families Youth case manager, said. “And they love Stockton like I love Stockton. And I feel good about that.”

A common theme throughout the night was hugs, healing, and having safe spaces to talk through the trauma. 

“Heal Stockton is important because what we’re trying to do is bring a level of peace and solace and hope to the community,” Fortier-Brigham said. “And also discuss different ways to work through trauma and stress, especially in times like this, what we’ve just experienced in our city. People need to know that there’s hope.”

It was hosted by Victory in Praise Church at their community development center. Lillana Fortier-Brigham is a middle school teacher and the church’s drama director.

“As long as humankind has been on this earth, there have always been horrible things that have happened,” Fortier-Brigham said. “We have treated each other horribly and I believe that it takes a relationship with, the most powerful, all-powerful God for anybody to really be able to reconcile with such, it seems like it’s too much for one person to handle, so, you need a church family to kind of surround you and events like this help us to see that there is help out there. There’s help for you.”

There were members of the medical community, suicide prevention, counseling groups, therapy dogs, Stockton’s Office of Violence Prevention, and a Stockton youth sports program, Turlock Sports Park.

“I’m feeling devastated but just leaning on God in this time,” David McCants, Turlock Sports Park site supervisor, said. “Just trying to make a positive impact to the youth and just continue to shine my light and bring positive energy to the community each and every day.”

Cleveland Remembers volunteers were giving away gun locks and helping community members craft ‘soul boxes’, origami boxes made in memory of people killed by gun violence, including the three precious children killed in their city.

“I feel terrible,” Sharon Jarvis, Cleveland School Remembers volunteer, said. “I made one of the soul boxes myself today, for one of the little 8-year-olds who was killed and when I looked at her name and the paper. Her sister was describing her, it just, well, I’m getting emotional now, I mean, I didn’t even know this child but it’s just horrendous that this still is happening in our society and it’s still happening in California, even though we have some of the best gun violence prevention laws in the nation. We need our national laws to outlaw some of these things and Congress is doing nothing about it.”

Jarvis said Cleveland School Remembers is pushing for a local law that would not allow police to buy guns from dealers who have a bad record of selling to people who shouldn’t have guns.

Hampton, who works with 16 to 24-year-old men, helping them get important documents like their California ID card, birth certificate, and social security card, said he is saddened and disheartened. He is the father of six children and grandfather to 11 grandchildren.

“As a community, I’d like to think this is our George Floyd moment where we like put our foot down,” Hampton said. “We’ve had enough. And I’d like to see some changes come from the tragedy. My heart goes out to the family of the kids and I just pray it never happens again.”

With the information that it could take months for law enforcement to solve the shooting case, Stockton residents believe people know what happened and are encouraging their neighbors to say something.

“My thoughts on that are that people are not coming forward with information that some of them have,” Jarvis said. “And I think that they are terrified that they will become a victim of gun violence if they speak up and give information to the sheriff. It’s a very difficult position that law enforcement is in, trying to solve this and I hope with having the FBI involved and the Stockton Police Department helping the county sheriff that they’ll be able to resolve this but it’s obviously not going to happen quickly.”

Hampton is also urging his community to be more vigilant and speak up.

“We shouldn’t be scared to come out of our houses and have birthday parties for our children,” Hampton said. “A few people shouldn’t spoil that for us. I believe, as a community, we have to be more vigilant. If you know something, say something. Don’t be afraid.”

Fortier-Brigham said she believes that people know who was involved in the community. She is also calling on the local Stockton leaders to stop arguing and make changes for the young people in the community.

“What I think is true is that the courage that it takes for the people who know to step forward and to say what happened is what is needed. You can be a part of that justice,” Fortier-Brigham said. “If you know what happened and you know where this came from and you know how it occurred, step forward. And speak the truth. And free yourself from holding that secret. And that way, all of those families’ lives can be impacted for the better because they want to know what happened to their babies. They want to know what happened to the young people that just came for a birthday party.”

The church also provides a prayer room, where people from the community can come and process their emotions of what took place in their city, to find healing and peace amidst the pain.

If you have any information regarding the mass shooting that occurred in the 1900 block of Lucille Avenue in the city of Stockton on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office is asking you to please share it with them.

  • Send an anonymous tip by texting the word “SJSOTIP” then your message to 847411, or
  • Submit a tip online by visiting our TIP411 page by clicking here, or
  • Call us at (209) 468-5087, or
  • Call Stockton Crime Stoppers at (209) 946-0600.



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Kalin Badgley Excels in Baseball While Defying Gender Norms – The562.org

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Photo via Jared Blais/MLB Photos.

For as long as she can remember, Kalin Badgley has always been fascinated by baseball.

Her recollection stretches all the way back to being a six-year-old girl playing co-ed tee-ball—one of just a few girls in her very first organized league. An old, low-res picture captures it best: Athletics shirt on, trophy in hand, and chocolate frosting edged around a wide grin.

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Badgley during her first season of tee-ball with the A’s.

“We had just won,” she recalls. “There’s a big smile on my face, and it was just the fact that I was able to put on a jersey with the same big name as the MLB team on TV. That was pretty cool. That was when I knew that baseball was my sport.”

A decade later, the 17-year-old was recently on the field at Game 2 of the MLB World Series in Toronto, where she was recognized as one of the MLB Youth Academy Players of the Year. Badgley is now gearing up to become the first girl to ever play varsity baseball at Wilson, but perhaps her biggest accomplishment was daring to challenge the boundaries of what most still consider a boys’ sport.

Her father, Jamie, would know about that challenge best. While signing his daughter up for various baseball leagues, he was often met with dismay from fellow parents at the idea of her playing alongside their little boys. Whether out of negative intent or just curiosity, the same question always arose: Why doesn’t she just play softball?

“She gets asked that question frequently in various forms, but I think the real answer is that Kalin is simply just a baseball player,” Jamie said. “She never had a desire to play softball. Her passion was always playing baseball.”

Luckily, Badgley says she was embraced by all of her youth baseball leagues. Originally from Berkeley, her family moved back to her dad’s hometown of Long Beach in 2016, where she started playing in Long Beach Little League as a third grader. After four years there, she went on to make a Heartwell PONY team, where she played from 2021–22, developing primarily as a southpaw pitcher and first baseman.

“It was great that I ended up here in such a great baseball community,” she said. “[Youth baseball] wasn’t as big in the Bay Area, but coming down here in Long Beach I definitely felt welcomed with open arms.”

As for her father, Jamie was often met with the occasional strange look from a parent, but aside from that, he was pleasantly surprised by the reactions.

“I’ve heard bad stories from people, but I’m happy to say that it wasn’t that,” he said. “They were all very open to having girls play in the leagues. The coaches were very open and the players embraced her.”

But soon enough, reality started to settle in for Badgley. The physical disparities between her and the boys around her became more apparent, and as their height and strength grew, so did the stigma around her continuing to play baseball. Growing alongside all of that, though, was the chip on her shoulder to work even harder.

“If I’m not going to be as tall as a guy, then I’m going to work harder than him,” she said. “I’m going to do a little bit extra—maybe that’s even just cleaning up the field after practice. If he doesn’t do that, then I’ll do it. Maybe I can get a little bump ahead of him even though I might not have the inches over him.”

When it was time to try out for freshman baseball at Wilson, Badgley was nervous about how her new coaches might react. For Wilson head coach Andy Hall, there isn’t much he hasn’t seen in 25 years of coaching at the school—he’s coached first-round MLB Draft picks as well as CIF-SS and national championship teams. But a girl making his team was certainly a first.

“When she came to camp before her ninth grade year, I was very impressed by her skill,” Hall remembers. “Baseball is a sport where you either have the skill or you don’t. If you do, it’s about having the work ethic behind it to develop the skills, and she certainly has a tremendous work ethic.”

Badgley’s nerves were quickly calmed, and she easily grew comfortable during her freshman year at Wilson.

“Luckily, I was alongside every guy that I had played with growing up in Little League,” she said. “They all knew me and everyone was super supportive, so that definitely helped. And fortunately, the coaches at Wilson were super open to having me on the team.”

In February of 2023, during Badgley’s freshman year, she decided to try out for the Elite Development Invitational, a prestigious camp held by MLB Develops that invites 64 of the top girls’ baseball players across the nation. Badgley ended up making the camp that year, but more importantly, she developed a relationship with the staff at the MLB Youth Academy in Compton.

That’s where she’s continued to train throughout high school, and it’s where she discovered a place filled with girls who shared her passion for baseball. It’s also where doors began to open for her, including being named one of the MLB Youth Academy Players of the Year and receiving a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be honored on the field at Game 2 of the World Series in Toronto.

“It’s amazing that I got introduced to the real world of women’s baseball at a small little camp in Compton, and two years later I ended up being honored at the World Series,” she said. “It was really just amazing to see how much representation I finally got, but more importantly all women in baseball.”

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Photo by Matt Paige. Badgley throws a pitch from the mound during one of her junior varsity games at Wilson last year.

Badgley is now preparing for her first season on the varsity team at Wilson this spring after spending a couple of years on frosh/soph and junior varsity. She joins a Bruin squad fresh off its first Moore League title since 2017, with a larger roster than in recent years. Still, Badgley’s mindset remains the same.

“She knows her strengths and weaknesses as a player and she’s worked hard to develop those so she can be valuable to our team,” Hall said. “She realizes that her role might be limited, and I’ve even told her a few times that the softball team would love her. She tells me that it’s just not where her heart is. She loves baseball.”

As women’s sports continue to grow rapidly across the country, new opportunities are emerging for women every year. Trailblazers like Mo’ne Davis, who made history at the 2014 Little League World Series, helped spark a national conversation about girls in baseball and opened the door for developments like the new Women’s Professional Baseball League launching in 2026.

With those opportunities have come new role models for young girls. Take one of Badgley’s favorite female baseball players, Kelsie Whitmore, who was recently drafted first overall by San Francisco in the new pro league. Badgley recalls a recent Instagram post from Whitmore showing little girls wearing her jersey for Halloween—something almost unimaginable just a year ago.

“I found that so inspiring,” Badgley said. “I think that’s such a big thing with all the opportunities for women to showcase their talent in baseball. Now there’s little girls and even little boys that can wear a woman’s baseball jersey instead of just the big A’s jersey that I was wearing as a kid.”

Badgley is keeping an open mind about playing professionally someday, whether that means making the USA Women’s National Team or the new league launching next year. But whether baseball remains in her future or not, it’s safe to say that Badgley has done her part for those who come after her.

“There’s women who have been there since the beginning of women’s baseball and the rise of women’s sports in general. There’s women who have been playing and fighting for women’s baseball for 20 years now, and it’s just amazing that I’m able to be a part of it now. This is so much bigger than me.”





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Capitals Street Hockey League Coming to Germantown

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The game of hockey continues to grow and draw interest among kids and the Washington Capitals are doing their best to carry that momentum by introducing the Capitals Street Hockey League (CSHL) as part of the professional team’s Street Caps platform. There will be leagues for players across three age divisions held at Germantown’s Ridge Road Recreational Park and it will run from March through May 2026.

Interested players may register as a team or individual. Each team will have at least six players and no more than 10.

This new co-ed league is open to the public and allows kids ages 5-12 the chance to put their skills to the test in a fun, low-stress environment. No prior hockey experience or gear is required to participate.

According to USA Hockey, there’s been significant growth in participation in the Washington, D.C., area since Caps superstar Alex Ovechkin was drafted back in 2004. The total number of USA Hockey-registered players (youth and adult) in the Washington D.C., area climbed more than 186 percent from the 2005-06 season through 2024-25, and 70% across the region as a whole during the same time frame.

The Caps Youth Hockey programming is focused on providing pathways for kids to participate in street hockey. To learn more about Caps Youth Hockey Development street hockey programs, visit CapsYouthHockey.com/StreetCaps.



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Alaska Youth Education in Shooting Sports gun show this weekend | Local News

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