by Kailey Schuyler | Nov 7, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s basketball team didn’t take long to clinch their first win of the 2018-2019 season. The Bisons handily defeated Sewanee by a score of 97-53 at Allen Arena Tuesday night. “Overall I’m definitely pleased,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “A nice margin [of victory] and everyone got to play pretty significant minutes. I felt like the mentality we had for most of the game was pretty good.” It appeared the Bisons needed to knock off some rust in the first few minutes of the game as they struggled to find their rhythm. “From game to game there are going to be stretches where you are not performing quite as smoothly as you would like, and it just happened to be the beginning of this game,” Alexander said. “We never really got in-sync offensively where we were shooting it well and scoring the ball at a high clip.” Redshirt freshman Ahsan Asadullah made his Lipscomb debut after suffering an ACL injury last year. He finished with 26 points and nine rebounds. “I don’t know if I was expecting 26 and 9,” Alexander said. “He played with a lot of poise. He never really rushed things, never really forced things… just kind of did his job, executed and delivered.” Asadullah said he was thrilled to be back on the court for his first game action since he graduated high school in 2017. “It’s been a long time… and I think over the whole course of the period since I’ve been hurt, and since the offseason workouts, and since the end of last season, we have really worked hard,” Asadullah...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 6, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The wait is finally over for college basketball fans. The Lipscomb men’s basketball team begins its quest for a second consecutive ASUN championship on Tuesday when Sewanee pays a visit to Nashville. Lipscomb is loaded with experience, but that means expectations are high. The ASUN tabbed the Bisons as the preseason favorite to win the league, and numerous media outlets also have projected Lipscomb to return to the NCAA tournament. “Regardless of how last season went, which everyone still wants to talk about, we’d still be ready to play and excited about what’s ahead,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “It’s a fun group and a group that has a lot of potential.” Here are five storylines to watch as Lipscomb begins its season: Can the Bisons recreate last season’s magic? Championship seasons usually require the stars to align, and that’s exactly what happened for Lipscomb last year. The Bisons swept Belmont for the first time since the 2009-10 season, finished atop the ASUN with a 10-4 conference record and knocked off Florida Gulf Coast on the road to take the league title in front of a national TV audience. With each of its top six scorers returning, it’s reasonable to assume that Lipscomb’s offense could be improved in 2018-19. Couple that with the attrition that other ASUN teams have experienced during the offseason and it’s easy to see why the Bisons have been tabbed as the favorite. “We’ve got a new team with a new schedule and a new season,” Alexander said. “Our only goal is for this year’s team to be as good as this year’s team can...
by Spencer Boehme | Nov 6, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
This year’s women’s basketball season brings Lipscomb fans a lot of exciting possibilities. If you ask Lady Bisons head coach Greg Brown, “it’s going to be a fun season.” All things considered, the 2018-19 year might also be a tough season. After finishing last year as a fourth seed that destroyed USC Upstate in the ASUN quarterfinals, the Lady Bisons will return this year with some expectations —but seven former seniors, including superstar Loren Cagle, won’t be there to help. “[The team] expects to go back,” Brown said. “They expect to host [a tournament game]. And I think that’s the thing that we finally have gotten to now, they expect to win. And they expect to go into practice knowing the things that it takes to win.” The Lady Bisons will have to rely on redshirt sophomore forward Emily Kmec, junior guard Lauren Rau, and sophomore guard Taylor Clark, who each had impressive seasons last year. This year’s roster will also feature six freshmen, whom Brown said he anticipates to undergo “a lot of growth.” The schedule is daunting, both in and out of the ASUN conference, featuring road matchups against teams like Clemson, Cincinnati, Belmont and Georgia, alongside home and road games against Florida Gulf Coast and Liberty. “If we continue to work hard, get better and play with a little bit of hunger and a lot of humility, then we’ve got a chance to be pretty good,” Brown said. Here are six storylines to watch this season: Loren Cagle’s absence When you look at the stats from last season, Cagle played well over 1000 minutes, converted on 192...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 5, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb women’s soccer team patiently waited to learn its fate for the program’s first NCAA tournament appearance Monday afternoon at a watch party in the Allen Arena Hall of Fame room. As luck would have it, the Lady Bisons (14-4-2) were paired with another NCAA first-timer in Mississippi State (9-6-2). The first-round match is set for Friday at 4 p.m. in Starkville. “It’s going to be a difficult game, but I’m excited about the opportunity to travel,” Lipscomb coach Kevin O’Brien said. “We thought we might get Vanderbilt and that would’ve been a great game, but I know the girls really were excited about being able to get on the road and get the [full] NCAA postseason tournament experience.” The two teams have a history – Lipscomb went to Starkville and emerged with a 1-0 victory over the Bulldogs on August 26, 2016. Ellen Lundy scored the lone tally in the 16th minute and goalie Anna Buhigas made nine saves to preserve the win. “We know Mississippi State and played them a couple years ago,” O’Brien said. “I’m actually friends with their coaching staff a little bit. They’re going to be motivated.” Lipscomb junior forward and 2018 ASUN Player of the Year Olivia Doak is one of seven current Lady Bisons that played in the 2016 match at Mississippi State. The nine-goal scorer said that experience should be a confidence booster for Lipscomb. “I remember their environment being really crazy,” Doak said. “Knowing that we won on [their] field before is good to have in the back of our minds.” Lipscomb clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 5, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
It’s been nearly 20 months since Nathan Moran has appeared in a basketball game for the Lipscomb Bisons. The team won its first-ever ASUN tournament title and made its first NCAA tournament appearance while Moran rode the bench as a redshirt last season. But that certainly wasn’t by choice. The former walk-on has dealt with injuries throughout his career, and he discovered after his junior season that he had torn labrums in both hips. To make matters worse, Moran’s right hip also required microfracture surgery. “The cartridge had peeled off, so they had to drill holes in my bone,” Moran said of his right hip. “That was a super long recovery and it was very painful. When I thought I was getting back, I wasn’t [healthy], which was stressful.” After a lengthy recovery, the sharpshooter is finally ready to get back on the court. He is expected to play in Lipscomb’s opener against Sewanee on Tuesday. “I’m close to 100 percent,” he said. “I’ve had some good weeks and some bad weeks. I’m feeling good right now at the right time.” Moran’s ball-handling and shooting were sorely missed last season, according to Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander. “I think we were lucky to survive without him because he means that much to our team,” Alexander said. “In that sense, it’s great to have him back.” Moran returned to practice in January, but his lack of lateral mobility at the time made a midseason return impossible. He then took a redshirt season to salvage his final year of eligibility. “We thought that if I didn’t have microfracture [surgery] on my right...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 4, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb freshman Zarek Jakubowski picked a key time for his second career goal, and junior Ben Locke found plenty of space for his rocket shot in the first half. Those goals gave the Bisons a 2-1 victory over Jacksonville in the ASUN men’s soccer semifinals at Lipscomb Soccer Complex on Sunday, propelling the Bisons to their second-straight ASUN title game appearance. “In September, we hit [a] rough patch and weren’t sure if we were going to turn it around or not,” Lipscomb soccer coach Charles Morrow said. “We were certainly talented enough. From a coach’s standpoint, we believed we could [return to the title game], and I don’t think the players ever doubted that they could.” The Bisons topped Jacksonville by the same score to win last year’s title and advance to their first-ever NCAA tournament. But after graduating 10 seniors, Lipscomb had to find production from its younger players. The team started the season 1-7, including a 3-2 loss in double overtime at Jacksonville on Sept. 22. “We’re not the same team we were in September,” Morrow said. “This is a team that has continued to grow and develop. We knew we were a work in progress earlier in the year.” Lipscomb took a 1-0 lead in the 13th minute when Locke fired a low shot into the bottom-left corner of the net off a feed from Austin Eager. Two minutes later, Jacksonville forward Reed Davis potted his sixth goal of the season to tie the score at one. Jakubowski’s tally came when Jacksonville goalie Matt Levy misplayed a ball in the box, giving the Lipscomb forward a free...
