by Travis Byrd | May 2, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The Atlantic Sun conference has taken the college basketball world by storm over the last couple of years. In 2013, A-Sun member Florida Gulf Coast went on a magical run to the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA tournament, and in March, the Mercer Bears upset heavily favored Duke in the first round of the tourney. To Lipscomb Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson, the success of fellow A-Sun teams provides a good reputation to the other members of the conference. “A rising tide lifts all boats,” Hutcheson said. “When teams from this conference win, it makes everybody look good.” The good news for Lipscomb fans is that the Bisons have been very competitive with the conference’s top teams. “This year, we were right there,” Hutcheson said. “We split with FGCU and swept or split with most of the teams in the conference. We aren’t far from the top.” One of the problems that face teams from the A-Sun is that it is considered a non-power conference. The A-Sun is not in the same conversation as the ACC, SEC or Big Ten, but Hutcheson said he believes that with the recent success, the conference will not go unnoticed for long. “The thing about our conference is that only the conference tournament champion gets in the NCAA tournament,” Hutcheson said. “If teams from this conference continue to get in the tournament and advance, that could open the door for other teams that have good years in this conference to get an at-large bid.” This past season in men’s basketball was the first for Lipscomb head coach Casey Alexander. He led the Bisons to a fifth...
by Chad Johnson | Mar 8, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
It was a tale of two halves for the Lipscomb women’s basketball team Saturday at Allen Arena. After connecting on six 3-pointers in the first half, the Lady Bisons could not buy one in the second half, which resulted in a 91-71 loss to USC Upstate. The Purple and Gold kept pace with the Spartans for the majority of the first half, but a late 15-2 run for Upstate carried them to the finish. “I thought we played well the first 14 minutes,” head coach Greg Brown said. “But throughout the rest of the game, we did not match their physicalness or their intensity. With our size and depth, we can’t afford that.” It was evident that their lack of size became a problem as Upstate more than doubled their offensive rebounds and hauled in 20 more altogether. Redshirt sophomore guard, Danay Fothergill led all scorers with 21 points; however, it was not enough to slow down the Spartans. “We kind of changed our defense, they kept going downhill and getting threes,” Fothergill said. “They just kept getting offensive rebounds, and I think that’s what hurt us the most.” The Lady Bisons seemed to be very aggressive the whole game. They made several drives to the basket that resulted in 39 free-throw attempts, yet they could only account for 25. “We were trying to get to the foul line on offense, but we just couldn’t knock down those easy shots like we have been,” Fothergill added. Redshirt sophomore forward Ashley Southern was the only other Bison to score in double figures. She recorded 12 points and pulled down 11...
by Jesica Parsley | Mar 6, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bisons softball team swept Ohio University Wednesday afternoon at Draper Diamond. Game one was pretty quiet until the fourth inning. Ohio University sophomore infielder Alexia Cortez reached on an error then stole second. Cortez scored on a throwing error to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead. The Lady Bisons had a couple of hits through five innings, but the game-changing hit came in the sixth. Junior outfielder/infielder Gracey Aguirre got walked. Senior infielder Kristen Sturdivant hit a two-run homerun over the left center field fence to give the Lipscomb the 2-1 lead. “We knew we were going to have to make adjustments throughout the game, and I knew going up to the plate, with Gracey on base, it was my time to step up,” Sturdivant said. The Bobcats threatened in the seventh inning. Ohio’s senior infielder Alexandria Basquez got a leadoff single and then was bunted over to second. Sophomore pitcher Savannah Jo Dorsey hit a single to center field. Lipscomb’s outfielder/infielder Brittany Elmore threw the tying run out at the plate. Ohio’s junior outfielder Dakota Pyles singled to load the bases with two outs. Lipscomb pitcher Ashley Anderson got a strikeout to end the game. Anderson remains unbeaten with a 7-0 record and finished the game with seven strikeouts while giving up two hits. “We showed great composure in that tight situation, and Ashley [Anderson] did a nice job of staying focused,” said Lady Bisons head coach Kristin Ryman. The Lipscomb bats came to life in game two of the doubleheader. The Bobcats struck first, but the Lady Bisons answered scoring two runs in the first off a...
by Jesica Parsley | Feb 23, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb’s redshirt sophomore forward Ashley Southern got her nineteenth double-double of the season in the Lady Bisons’ loss to the Northern Kentucky Norse Saturday 61-57. Southern is chasing the double-double season record of 21. She finished the game with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Redshirt freshman guard Chandler Cooper added 11 points. Redshirt sophomore guard Danay Fothergill scored 10 points. Northern Kentucky’s senior guard Kayla Thacker finished with 24 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Christine Roush and freshman guard Kelley Wiegman added nine each. The Lady Bisons had a slow first half, which led to them chasing the Norse the entire game. Lipscomb shot 27 percent from the field in the first half. The Lady Bisons shot 17 three pointers, while only making four. “Because of their defense, we couldn’t get what we wanted,” Southern said. “All the credit goes to them.” Cooper and Fothergill went to the bench with four fouls each with 12 minutes to go in the second half. Southern stepped up, scoring 21 of her 27 points in the second half. Northern Kentucky went on an 11-0 run at about the five-minute mark of the second half. The Lady Bisons stayed in the game by getting three turnovers on the full-court press with four minutes remaining. A made three-pointer by Cooper with two minutes left cut the lead to three. Northern Kentucky hit three free throws to take the lead back to six. Another made three-pointer by Southern took the lead back to three with 33 seconds to go. The Norse’s freshman guard Lauren White made two free throws to put the game out...
by Erika Thornsberry | Feb 22, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
For the Bisons men’s basketball team, this Friday night started out a little slow, but the end was anything but slow. Conference foe Northern Kentucky traveled to Allen Arena to play the victorious Bisons, who won the conference game 70-66. Northern Kentucky was first to get on the score board, and Bisons head coach Casey Alexander didn’t waste any time pulling out all five of his starters and putting in a fresh five. It didn’t take long after that for junior Malcolm Smith to get two three point plays (two baskets plus free throws) and for the momentum to start shifting in favor of the Bisons. “My teammates were really looking for me. We took advantage of the size mix-match down low,” Malcolm Smith said. “I focused on posting up hard, attacking the basket quick, and when I got to the foul line, knocking them down.” Going into halftime, senior Khion Sankey made a shot right at the buzzer making it 35-29 in favor of Lipscomb. That wasn’t the only big shot of the game as Martin Smith knocked down a 3 pointer with 34.8 seconds left giving the Bisons a 67-63 score. “It was a huge shot,” Malcolm Smith said. “That made it a two possession game. It helped us put the game away.” During time out, Coach Alexander drew a play up, but sometimes, once you’re out on the court, things don’t go exactly as planned. “That’s not the play we drew up, but we improvised well,” Alexander said. “J.C Hampton hit Martin right on the money, and he stepped up and hit the shot. He’s made a...
