by KJ Lauck | Nov 13, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons (20-7, 12-2) clinched the #1 seed and a first round bye in the A-Sun Tournament by defeating the North Florida Ospreys (18-13, 8-6) in three sets during the regular season finale on Friday night in Allen Arena. Lipscomb also clinched its 6th A-Sun regular season title and its 9th season with at least 20 wins, while also extending its win-streak to 13 games. “It means a lot from the standpoint of the grind of regular season conference play,” head coach Brandon Rosenthal said. “It’s at least 10 weeks and a ton of pressure on those girls, but the pressure’s what we want.” Both teams came out with a lot of energy but the Lady Bisons, lead by the energy of senior Taylor Racich, took early advantage with a score of 12-6 in the first set. “Taylor’s got a heck of an arm – one of the best in the country,” Rosenthal said. “She’s coming off an illness and we encouraged her to get in a spot where she could bring that energy. “It was a huge difference maker, especially in the third set.” It was a hard-hitting rest of the set, as both teams fired off missile-like serves and spikes that led to kills and a 17-10 score. The Lady Bisons took the first set 25-15, pulling away from the Ospreys late in the set to take a 1-0 match lead. Freshman Lauren Anderson started the second set giving Lipscomb an early 5-0 lead. However, North Florida battled back to trim the Bison lead to 13-11 after some Lipscomb miscues. Still, Lipscomb was doubling North Florida in kills 32-15, assists 31-15...
by Cole Gray | Nov 12, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Led by Rob Marberry’s 22 points and 6 offensive rebounds in his first game as a Bison, the men’s basketball team beat down the Division III Sewanee Tigers 96-53 in an exhibition in Allen Arena Friday night. “Marberry had a nice game,” head coach Casey Alexander said. “He was really efficient from the floor and rebounded the ball really well.” Marberry transferred to Lipscomb from Western Kentucky University after the 2014-15 season and was forced to redshirt last year as a transfer. The Bisons out-rebounded the Tigers 47-27 and scored 20 second-chance points. Alexander noted that Sewanee was built around the three-point shot, and that Lipscomb did a good job taking it away. “Their best chance to stay in the game was to make a lot of threes. That’s really how they play and what they try to do,” Alexander said. “I thought we guarded the three-point line very well. We had hands up, and they went 5-for-22.” Senior forward Josh Williams played his first game since tearing an ACL in December 2015, but finished efficiently, shooting 5-8 in the second half. “We’re just glad to have Josh back out on the floor after being hurt last year,” Alexander said. “He had a little bounce in his step. He’s an important player for us so having him back…that was the best thing I liked seeing out of Josh.” The Bisons’ 2014-15 scoring leader provided one of the only highlights of the second half with an emphatic rejection of Sewanee’s Taylor Howell at the rim. Freshman guards Michael Buckland and Kenny Cooper played a combined 54 minutes despite not starting. Cooper played...
by KJ Lauck | Nov 11, 2016 | News Slider, Opinion, Sports
Lipscomb basketball is officially here as the men’s team kicked off its 16th season Friday afternoon at noon in Allen Arena. The Lady Bisons will open their season with a game against Loyola (MD) tonight at 5 p.m. The following preview is a rundown of last season as well as predictions for both the men’s and women’s upcoming season. Last Season for men’s basketball Last year, Lipscomb finished 12-21 (7-7) and advanced to the A-Sun semi-finals as the number six seed. Lipscomb was beaten by Stetson 96-75. As a team, Lipscomb out-shot its opponents from the three-point line, making 331 to its opponents’ 305 made threes. The Bisons were led by leading scorer and senior point guard, J. C. Hampton (15.9 PPG) and leading rebounder freshman forward Eli Pepper (7.8 RPG), who was also third in the A-Sun in rebounding. Sophomore guard Nathan Moran led the team in assists with (4.6 APG). Outlook Subtractions: The Bisons lost J. C. Hampton and fellow senior forward Talbot Denny as both players transferred. Lipscomb will look to replace Hampton’s scoring. Denny redshirted last year due to injury. Additions: Four freshmen: guards Kenny Cooper, John Matt Merit and Michael Buckland and forward Kenny Bunton. One transfer: guard Matt Rose from Samford University. Coach Casey Alexander’s thoughts: “I don’t walk into this season, this year – at all thinking we’ve got holes.” “I think that we have depth. I think we have balance, and so that’s really the first time since we’ve been here that I knew that was the case.” “This is really the first time since we’ve been here that we’ve got...
by Todd Lamberth | Nov 9, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Winning one conference championship is impressive for any team, but winning six consecutive championships is almost unprecedented. Coming off of their sixth consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference championship, the Lipscomb women’s cross country team looks to continue their success at the Regional Championships this weekend in Tallahassee, Florida. Cross country head coach Bill Taylor knows that it has been no small feat being at the top of the conference for six straight years. “We’re pretty blessed,” Taylor said. “It kind of hit me more this year even than it did in previous year about how hard it is to keep on winning. The other teams aren’t letting us win. I think the whole conference is getting better trying to get to us.” Their recent success breeds a level of confidence amongst the runners on all teams that inspires them to continue working and striving for championship wins. “In some ways it’s easier because there’s an expectation of winning. We know what we’re out to do, and we believe we can do it because we’ve done it so many times. You do have to keep going out and recruiting great kids and developing them, and I think we do a great job of that. “We do a lot of development. Our runners probably improve more than any program in the country on a regular basis. We look for people that fit Lipscomb really well.” As proud as he is of their Atlantic Sun titles, Coach Taylor knows the program can do more than just win conference championships. “Our goals are actually well beyond the conference level. We haven’t achieved what we want to achieve and...
by Micah Dempsey | Nov 8, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s men’s and women’s soccer seasons have come to a close after losses in the ASUN semifinals and finals, respectively. As the two seed in the ASUN tournament, the Lady Bisons received a bye in the first round and defeated Stetson 2-1 in the semifinals. However, the team fell 0-2 to Florida Gulf Coast in the final game. They finished the season with a record of 12-5-2, a mark that ties last season for the most wins in program history. Lipscomb also put five players on the ASUN All-Academic Team: Emily Rogers, Ellen Lundy, Brooke Brenner, Maycie McKay and Scholar-Athlete of the Year Natalie DuBoise. Nominees were required to have at least a 3.30 cumulative GPA and participate in at least 50 percent of their team’s games. As a team, the Lady Bisons achieved a cumulative 3.69 GPA, the highest mark in the conference and the second-best in all of Division I. Anna Buhigas claimed the ASUN Goalkeeper of the Year award for the third season in a row, becoming the first player in conference history. She accumulated 91 saves, six shutouts and a 1.08 GPA this season and finished her career with an incredible 376 saves. Olivia Doak was named ASUN Freshman of the Year with seven goals on the season, and Nimah Rawlins achieved the Defensive Player of the Year award as well. The ASUN All-Conference First Team featured five Lady Bisons: Buhigas, Doak, Rawlins, Lundy and DuBoise. Maycie McKay was also named Second Team All-Conference. Lundy, Rawlins and Brooke Brenner were named to the 11-person All-Tournament squad in addition to their regular season achievements. “It was another...
by Eric Ansett | Nov 7, 2016 | News Slider, Sports
Coach Greg Brown and his team got a different outcome in their final exhibition game on Saturday than the one they had a week ago. Lipscomb’s women’s basketball team controlled the game from start to finish for a 83-45 drubbing of Rhodes college in Allen Arena. Lipscomb suffered an exhibition loss last week to Freed-Hardman, an NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) school, but the outcome was never doubted on Saturday. Brown helped the Lady Bisons improve during practice and noticed their advancement at the game. “There was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm about the things we have been working on in practice defensively,” Brown said after the win. “That’s what you’re looking for is to get carryover from the exhibition games to the next week at practice and then to the first game. I liked our positioning and our ball pressure was much better.” The Bisons used a balanced attack to overwhelm the Lynx, with five players scoring in double figures, led by point guard Loren Cagle who brought in 16 points for the Bisons. Alex Banks and Loshaveon Jones both scored 12 for Lipscomb, followed by Meredith Lovelady’s 11 and Laure Assena’s 10 points. “That’s how we recruit, and thats the depth that we’re looking for, and it shows that we’ve got unselfish players,” Brown said. Cagle was the picture of efficiency in the contest, shooting 6-7 from the floor, including a perfect 4-4 from the three-point line to go along with four rebounds and three assists. She was recently named on the Nancy Lieberman watch list, an award that goes to the nation’s top point guards who exhibit leadership,...
