by Grant Ledgister | Jan 26, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
An afternoon of loose shooting and scoring runs given up proved to be the downfall of the Lipscomb Lady Bisons against the UNF Ospreys with a deceptively close final score of 68-60. It was looking like this game may be a low-scoring, close game in the beginning stages, as the first quarter ended with the Ospreys ahead 15-12. The first quarter was a defensive battle, with each team forcing four turnovers. The Ospreys also had three blocked shots. Carleigh Short scored the first basket of the second quarter to pull the Lady Bisons to within one at 15-14. It would be several minutes before the Lady Bisons made another basket. The Ospreys went on a 13-0 run that lasted until 2:29 in the quarter and gave the team a 30-18 lead. Poor shooting hurt Lipscomb the most in this quarter. The Lady Bisons shot 5-14 in and were 0-4 from beyond the three-point line. At halftime, UNF’s Jazz Bond had eight points, six rebounds, and two blocks Lipscomb struggled to keep up with the faster, more physical playstyle of UNF. This gave the Ospreys several fastbreaks and points scored from the paint and played a part in the Ospreys out-rebounding the Lady Bisons 22 to 14 in the half. The Lady Bisons scored the game’s next four baskets to shrink UNF’s lead to 30-24 at the beginning of the third quarter. The teams would go scoreless over the next two minutes due to good defense and missed shots. The teams went basket-for-basket with each other until the Ospreys set off on another run with just under four minutes to...
by Grant Ledgister | Jan 14, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb (4-13, 1-3) was unable to even its conference record, blowing an eight-point lead to Kennesaw State (7-7, 1-2) in the loss on Monday night. Both teams’ defenses played strong in the early minutes of the game, forcing turnovers and bad shots, to keep scoring slow. However, Lipscomb’s junior forward Taylor Clark was able to find her way to the basket and establish herself, scoring five of the Lady Bisons’ first seven points. The first half was a sloppy one. Five minutes into the game, the teams had combined for a total of eight turnovers. Lipscomb was able to improve on that front. Kennesaw State was not and finished the quarter with eight total turnovers and the half with 13, including several travelling violations. Despite this difference, much of the half was very close. Kennesaw State was able to keep the Lady Bisons’ leading scorer, freshman guard Jalyn Holcomb, in check. She had only four points in the half. The Bisons were also severely outrebounded throughout much of the first half, by a margin of 20-10 by its end. Lipscomb was finally able to put a scoring run together in the late stages of the second quarter, going on a 14-3 run and leading by as much as eight, the largest lead of the game to that point. Freshman guard Casey Collier and a couple key 3-pointers from sophomore guard Taylor Hammack led the charge for the Lady Bisons. A scoring run by the Owls to start the second half saw Lipscomb’s lead shrink to just two. Lipscomb would get the lead back up to four, and back-to-back threes...
by Grant Ledgister | Jan 12, 2020 | BREAKING NEWS, News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons (4-12, 1-2 ASUN) struggled to stick with the faster, more pressuring style of defense of the UNA Lions (12-3, 3-0 ASUN), falling 84-72. Lipscomb was also extremely limited from the free-point line, a spot where it has been dominant from (.799 percentage from the line entering the game). Though they only led for a total of 1:53, the Lady Bisons kept it close for much of the first half. Turnovers plagued both teams early, as both teams gave up possessions leading to easy fast breaks and scores for the other side. Both teams settled in after the early run by UNA, making it a much closer affair, with the Lady Bisons taking their first lead on a 3-point shot from freshman guard Blythe Pearson late in the first quarter. Much of the second quarter was similar to the first, with the Lions staying in front but Lipscomb doing enough to keep it close. That all changed when a combination of poor ball handling and passes leading to turnovers (Lipscomb ended the half with 10 total compared to UNA’s four), only shooting 16.7% from the field in the quarter, and an inability to get to the free-throw line (going 0-2 in the half) where the team has been so dominant saw UNA going on a 17-0 run to end the half ahead 38-22. Although for much of the third quarter the damage caused by the end of the first half did not get worse, a three and a layup from UNA’s senior guard Ivy Wallen had Lipscomb fall behind by 20 points. However, Lipscomb didn’t stop...
by Grant Ledgister | Nov 10, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
It all came down to who missed first during penalty kicks, and Lipscomb had just enough to pull off a 4-3 thriller over the Kennessaw State Owls to win to win the 2019 ASUN soccer championship. It is the second consecutive title and seventh consecutive win this year. The Owls took control early, dominating the time of possession and creating several chances to score. However, Lipscomb’s “bend but don’t break” style of defense allowed them to escape the first ten minutes without conceding a goal. In the next several minutes, the Lady Bisons created enough space to find several of their own chances at the goal. Olivia Doak had several chances to score in the first half. Two of them were being near empty boxes and one on a corner kick, but good defense, an errant pass and an offside call ended those efforts. Lipscomb and Doak’s offensive advances paid off in the 15th minute, when Doak received a pass from Molly Grant, and put the shot into the upper corner of the net. “[The goal] gave us confidence,” Lipscomb coach Kevin O’Brien said. “We started playing better after that.” Lipscomb had control of the time of possession in the latter stages of the half, but the Owls still came close to equalizing. Goalkeeper Melissa Gray kept the ball out of the goal with several key saves and other defensive efforts. Lipscomb had eight offside penalties in the first half and added one more on its first possession of the second half, which would end up setting the tone for the half. The Lady Bisons never seemed to be able...
by Grant Ledgister | Jul 18, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
The last couple of weeks have been big for former Bison Men’s Basketball standout Garrison Mathews. Not long after officially signing a two-way contract with the Washington Wizards, Mathews participated in the NBA Summer League with the team. He played in the final two of the team’s four games. Playing against the Los Angeles Clippers, Matthews was in the game for 19 minutes and scored seven points on 3-4 shooting from the field. His points included the first three of the game. In the Wizards’ final game against the Atlanta Hawks, Mathews had significantly more playing time, scoring 11 points (nine of which came from 3-pointers) in 30 minutes. Mathews will look to bring his ability to score from beyond to the arc to the next step in his journey to play for an NBA team during the regular season. He will be playing the majority of his minutes with Washington’s G League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go. Mathews will have some time off between now and when he has to report to the Wizards organization once again. The official date for the start of both NBA and G League training camps has not been announced yet, but they typically begin in late September and October, respectively. Per NBA regulations, Mathews could spend training camp on the Wizards roster if the organization so chooses. Otherwise, he will do it as a member of the Go-Go. After training camp, Mathews will then play in the G League regular season. The season begins in the fall, shortly after its training camps, and has its playoffs in the spring. At any point...
