Three point shots were falling all over the court for the Lady Bisons as the team secured its first conference win of the season against Jacksonville University.
Sophomore guard Kelli Smith had a career high 18 points for Lipscomb in the 94-79 win. She was four for six from the 3-point line and five for seven from the field. Her previous career high was also against Jacksonville.
Thursday’s win was also the first home win of the season for Lipscomb. Before tonight, their last win was on Dec. 21 against Gardner-Webb.
Chandler Cooper led the Lady Bisons with 22 points. She scored 12 points in the first eight minutes, including a trio of 3-pointers.
Lipscomb made nine 3-pointers in the first half, which allowed them to lead the Dolphins 46-37 at the half. The Lady Bisons have struggled to put together two complete halves this season, but that wasn’t the case tonight.
Jacksonville made 50 of their points in the paint and they only took four 3-point shots the whole night. The Dolphins made three quick baskets driving right through Lipscomb’s defense to tie the game at 61 with 11:11 left in the game.
Smith countered Jacksonville’s run with a 3-pointer that would start the Lady Bisons on a 15-2 run to build the lead again. Lipscomb had stretched the lead to 12 with 3:57 to go and, with four Jacksonville players in foul trouble, the game was all but over.
“I feel great. It’s a huge relief,” Smith said. “Its one of those things where we’ve been close a lot, and it’s just time for it to happen. Now, we can take this and learn from it and keep going to finish the season strong”.
The Lady Bisons will next host North Florida in Allen Arena on Saturday Feb. 15, at 4 p.m.
Photo credit: Erin Turner