Welcome to the weekly sports roundup in the greater Charlotte area presented by The Sports Chief. Every Sunday, let The Chief be the one to catch you up on all the latest sports happenings in and around the Charlotte, NC area. We take a look at professional sports, as well as semi-professional, college, and high school. If you like what we’re doing, make sure you give us a follow on Twitter at @thesportschief where you’ll be notified of all our latest postings, and visit our website at www.thesportschief.com.

Professional

Carolina Panthers

Here’s a quick look at the free agents signed by the Panthers so far during free agency:

Haason Reddick (linebacker) for 1 year, $8 million

Cameron Erving (offensive tackle) for 2 years, $10 million

Pat Elflein (guard) for 3 years, $13.5 million

Denzel Perryman (linebacker) for 2 years, undisclosed

Morgan Fox (defensive end) for 2 years, $8.5 million

Dan Arnold (tight end) for 2 years, $6 million

Rashaan Melvin (cornerback) for 1 year, undisclosed

Darius Clark (running back) for 1 year, undisclosed

David Moore (wide receiver) for 2 years, undisclosed

Charlotte Hornets

After winning four straight, the Hornets have dropped three in a row in what has been a very busy week. A win Monday night against the Sacramento Kings gave the Hornets a nice little win streak, but heading out West since hasn’t been so kind to the team. It started on Wednesday night with a 25-point loss to the Nuggets in the Mile-High city. Rozier led the team that night with 21, but Charlotte just couldn’t muster enough offense to hang with the West’s 5th placed team.

Then, as you can imagine, a two-game visit to the Staples Center in LA wasn’t easy. The Lakers and the Clippers are currently 3rd and 4th, respectively, in the Western Conference and made sure the Hornets knew it. Thursday’s game against the Lakers resulted in a 116-105 loss, while Saturday’s game against the Clippers ended in a 125-98 blowout. Lamelo Ball led the team in scoring on Thursday with 26, while Miles Bridges did the same on Saturday with 21. While consecutive losses are frustrating, the team is still an exciting one with a lot of potential, and fans need to remember to be patient.

The Hornets will make a quick visit to Texas next, with a game against San Antonio on Monday and Houston on Wednesday before coming back home to Charlotte. With a 20-21 record, the Hornets are currently tied with the Celtics for 7th place in the East.

College Basketball

Appalachian State Mountaineers

The Mountaineers surprised a lot of people when they got hot at the right time and won four straight games to win the Sun Belt Conference Tournament and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. They were selected for a play-in game against Norfolk State, with the winner getting a chance to take down #1 Gonzaga. After coming out of the gate slow on Thursday night against Norfolk State, the Mountaineers stormed back in the 2nd half to take the lead in the very low-scoring game. But it wasn’t meant to be and the Spartans advanced with a narrow 54-53 win.

It was a tale of two halves and if the 1st half wasn’t so bad for App State, they would have had a great opportunity to win the game. After the first half, the score was 36-20 with the Mountaineers 0-18 from behind the 3-point line. They didn’t exactly catch fire in the second half, but did hit six threes and outscored the Spartans 33-18. It was the defensive effort that almost won App the game. It was a game either team could have easily won, with a single shot from either side falling/not falling, but the Spartans took the win and the chance to upset Gonzaga (which they did not in that game yesterday). All in all, App State fans have to be thrilled with the way this team fought all year and got the program back into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in years.

College Baseball

This week’s final scores:

Charlotte 49ers (10-8)

Tuesday: Charlotte 1, Wake Forest 4

Saturday (Gm 1): Rhode Island 1, Charlotte 2

Saturday (Gm 2): Rhode Island 6, Charlotte 3

Sunday: Rhode Island 3, Charlotte 6

Davidson Wildcats (9-8)

Wednesday: Davidson 9, South Carolina 4

Friday: Spring Hill College 2, Davidson 7

Saturday: Spring Hill College 1, Davidson 5

Sunday: Spring Hill College 5, Davidson 8

Appalachian State Mountaineers (10-8)

Tuesday: NC A&T 5, App State 14

Friday: Arkansas State 4, App State 5

Saturday: Arkansas State 3, App State 8

Sunday: Arkansas State 2, App State 12

High School

Football

Here are the final scores in our area from Week 4:

North Mecklenburg Vikings 7

Hough Huskies 50

West Charlotte Lions 0

Vance Cougars 54

Lake Norman Wildcats 33

Mooresville Blue Devils 6

Providence Panthers 35

Central Cabarrus Vikings 6

Myers Park Mustangs 14

Hickory Ridge Ragin’ Bulls 7

Independence Patriots 0

Butler Bulldogs 42

Garinger Wildcats 0

Porter Ridge Pirates 47

Rocky River Ravens 40

East Mecklenburg Eagles 3

South Mecklenburg Sabres 42

Harding Rams 0

Ardrey Kell Knights 27

Olympic Trojans 28

North Lincoln Knights 21

Maiden Blue Devils 40

Weddington Warriors 56

Parkwood Wolf Pack 7

Cuthbertson Cavaliers 13

Marvin Ridge Mavericks 19

Monroe Redhawks 34

Sun Valley Spartans 0

Statesville Greyhounds 40

North Iredell Raiders 10

West Rowan Falcons 20

South Iredell Vikings 14

West Iredell Warriors 14

Patton Panthers 40

Draughn Wildcats 6

Hibriten Panthers 56

Alexander Central Cougars 39

McDowell Titans 7

St. Stephens Indians 13

Watauga Pioneers 49

Shelby Golden Lions 20

Burns Bulldogs 18

South Point Red Raiders 45

East Rutherford Cavaliers 0

Kings Mountain Mountaineers 41

Ashbrook Green Wave 0

Hickory Red Tornados 12

Forestview Jaguars 20

Charlotte Observer Sweet 16 (As of Tuesday, March 16)

16. Ardrey Kell (4A)

15. Olympic (4A)

14. Hibriten (2A)

13. A.L. Brown (3A)

12. Burns (2A)

11. Hickory Ridge (4A)

10. Crest (3A)

9. Kings Mountain (3A)

8. Charlotte Catholic (3A)

7. Shelby (2A)

6. Butler (4A)

5. Myers Park (4A)

4. Hough (4A)

3. Weddington (3A)

2. Richmond Senior (4A)

1. Vance (4A)

Garett

Queen City Sports Report