Missouri
Missouri teen dies after crashing into car that reportedly hit her first on I-24
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Missouri teen is killed in a crash on I-24.
The crash on I-24 East at the Haywood Lane ramp Friday night left a 17-year-old girl dead. Metro Nashville police believe a Honda Accord lost control and hit the Ford Fusion, driven by the teen, causing her to lose control.
Both vehicles went off the roadway into a grass median. Police say the Honda ended up in front of the Ford and crashed on it’s side into a rock wall. The Ford then hit the Honda in the front.
The teen, identified as Sofia Balk of Chesterfield, Missouri, died at the hospital. Two passengers in Balk’s car suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The driver of the Honda also had non-life threatening injuries.
Police say they found no signs of impairment from either driver.
No charges have been filed at this time.
Missouri
Lady Vols seek road win to open February at Missouri
The Tennessee Lady Vols return to action Sunday afternoon on the road at Missouri (3pm ET, SEC+) as the calendar turns to February.
The timing of having five days off since their 70-63 loss to South Carolina Monday night has been good for Kim Caldwell’s 15-5 squad.
“You have more time with your team that you can spend on yourself and not on your opponent. We are through a really hard part of our schedule. We still have a lot of hard left to go. We still have a tough road game coming up then we have LSU and Connecticut but I think we have made it through the top half so just making sure that we can finish our SEC schedule strong.”
To try and do that the focus this week has been on ramping back up the defensive full court press.
“I think it’s mindset,” Caldwell said of her improving the full court pressure. “It might be a little bit of conditioning, but hey let’s just go. Just make your rotations, be ready to go and don’t be timid at the top of the press.”
The month of January was certainly a challenge for Caldwell’s first squad. Of the eight games in January, four were against top-10 teams. The combined record of the Lady Vols January opponents is 132-42. Based on this week’s AP poll, Tennessee will play two games against teams ranked in the top 10 in a road trip to LSU and UConn. Kentucky, currently ranked 12th and Alabama, currently ranked 22nd, are the other two ranked opponents in February. Tennessee’s February opponents as they enter the month have 19 more combined losses than the Lady Vols’ January opponents. January’s opponents are 39-25 in SEC play. February’s current sit at 28-28, so the league schedule on paper is not as difficult the last month of the regular season.
The other possible aid to Caldwell’s team is simply the fact that it’s the last month of the regular season. In her head coaching career, Caldwell has never had a three game losing streak and have only lost 3 games in the month of February as a head going going 58-3 which makes you wonder if her style of play if more effective later in the season as teams battle fatigue.
“That’s a good point. I have never really thought about it from the opponent’s standpoint,” Caldwell said. “I have thought about it from us and it takes time. It takes a while to get used to playing this way and get subbed this way. Shooting quick and pressing. It does take time to get comfortable with that, but I do think maybe as teams start to taper things down and we continue to ramp things up that maybe we do get a leg up.”
Whether or not there is any leg up remains to be seen but as the Lady Vols start February play Caldwell’s likes the outlook likes the possibility with her team if they can minimizing some of the issues that has plagued them in January.
“I think our team still has a really high ceiling,” Caldwell said. “I think we have a really low floor. I think we have seen our floor at times. In almost every game I think we have shown our floor. But I think we have a really high ceiling and we have to continue to raise our floor.
“It’s frustrating because you want to touch it (the ceiling) and you want to be there. Again, you want to raise your floor. You want to stop having these quarters where you don’t show up. You want to stop having these bad five minute lapses in games.”
The first test in raising the floor the back half of league play starts at Missouri were the Lady Vols take on the Tigers.
Missouri
Missouri Baptist Defensive End’s Unwavering Pursuit of Pro Football Dream
ST. LOUIS — Missouri Baptist star defensive end Rakweon Ramsey has been catching the eye of pro football scouts from various leagues.
Ramsey, a Belleville East High School alum, played five seasons for the Spartans and is the program’s all-time leader in sacks with 32.5. In 2024, Ramsey tallied 17.5 sacks in 10 games for Missouri Baptist en route to Heart of America Athletic Conference Second Team honors.
In addition, he received an invite and participated in the Trillion Tropical Bowl in Orlando two weeks ago. The game featured some of the best prospects in Division-I FBS and FCS.
Rakweon has dreams of playing professional football. He trains six days a week to prepare for his Pro Day at Mizzou in March.
Missouri
1 killed in overnight vacant church fire in Kansas City, Missouri
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One person died overnight in a vacant church fire in Kansas City, Missouri.
A Kansas City, Missouri, Fire Department spokesperson said around 2:15 a.m., crews were dispatched to the fire at the vacant church in the 2400 block of Chestnut Avenue.
As firefighters started to put out the fire, crews entered the building where they found the victim.
Crews were eventually able to put out the fire.
Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire and the nature of the death of the victim.
The spokesperson said the department’s Bomb and Arson unit is investigating as part of standard protocol due to the fire being at a church.
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Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
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