Allen Arena has been an exciting-yet-heartbreaking place for basketball in the past few days.
After the men’s basketball team nearly pulled off a big win over Belmont, the women’s basketball team opened their season in similar style, nearly topping their own Ohio Valley opponent.
Despite a standout afternoon for redshirt sophomore Ashley Southern, the Lady Bisons fell in overtime 82-77 to the visiting Morehead State Lady Eagles.
The Lady Bisons started off strong with two three-pointers from junior Sara Bliss, but Lady Eagle difference-maker Terrice Robinson began to put her own points on the board, giving Morehead State a brief lead. Soon after, Lipscomb took control of the first half, leading at halftime 33-25.
The game looked to be far from the Lady Eagles’ reach when the Lady Bisons went up 47-33 with around fifteen minutes on the clock, but some key arch buckets from Robinson got Morehead State right back in the game. Lady Eagle Shanice Parker sunk a three at the 11:41 mark that that had the Lady Bisons’ lead down to four.
The Lady Bisons began to once again distance themselves from Morehead, going up 57-49 at the eight minute mark, but more clutch play from the Lady Eagles allowed them to catch up to Lipscomb, taking a small lead as the final minutes ticked away. The Lady Bisons refused to call it quits, though, keeping the margin low for the Lady Eagles.
With 19 seconds left, Robinson scored a layup that put Morehead up by 3, but a last-second three from Bliss sent the crowd into an uproar and the game into overtime.
Though overtime was constantly close, the Lady Eagles managed to capitalize on free throws in the final minute of free basketball, sealing the win.
Southern posted up a double-double with a team leading 25 points and 18 rebounds, and sophomore Alex Banks also had numbers in the double-digits with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Bliss had 15 points for the day. Southern also led the team in assists with 4.
Despite the loss, Southern talked about the team’s effectiveness in keeping the offensive flow of the game going.
“I think we kept our fast-paced offense the whole game,” Southern said. “We executed some plays at the end that helped us stay in the game.”
To Southern, the Lady Bisons showed a lot of toughness during Sunday’s tough defeat.
“I think we played really hard,” Southern said. “We never gave up. It was right there for us to take plenty of times.”
The Lady Bisons face a short turnaround, traveling to Birmingham, Ala., to take on UAB on Tuesday before returning to Allen Arena Thursday night to partake in their only Battle of the Boulevard this season against the Belmont Bruins.
Southern said that the team is already anticipating Thursday’s big matchup .
“Belmont’s always a fun game to play,” Southern said. “We’re already pumped about that.”
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics