by Erika Plunkett | Dec 17, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
After last minute cancellations and rescheduling, Lipscomb women’s basketball hosted the Morehead State Eagles in a Thursday afternoon matinee matchup and survived a series of runs to pull off the 79-73 win. In a game that involved a total of six lead changes and three ties, Lipscomb jumped out to an early lead 11-2 going into the first media break. The Eagles quickly adjusted to a full court press which forced seven early turnovers from the Bisons, and Morehead State took the lead into the second quarter. Lipscomb head coach Lauren Sumski said, “I wish we could have gotten rid of the last five minutes of the first quarter.” The Eagles continued their scoring, including a couple uncharacteristic threes, to complete the 19 point turnaround. Morehead State then led the Bisons by nine, before Lipscomb switched to a zone defense and went on a 19-0 run of their own, led by key shots from redshirt junior guard Sydney Shelton, who shot her 14 points in the first half. The Bisons’ success from their second quarter changes marked a big change from a year ago. Coach Sumski attributed the 19-0 run to her girls doing a really good job sticking with and trusting the plan. “Basketball is a game of runs,” said senior forward Taylor Clark. “Our biggest growth from last year to this year is withstanding runs.” But it was the Eagles who came out stronger in the second half rapidly cutting into the Bisons’ 12 point with an 8-0 before taking a five point lead of their own into the fourth quarter, led by junior forward Ellie Jo...
by Grant Ledgister | Feb 19, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb Lady Bisons survived a second-half comeback from the NJIT Highlanders 68-66 Monday night in Allen Arena. The win snaps a six-game losing streak and keeps the Lady Bisons in the driver’s seat for the eighth and final spot in the ASUN Championship Tournament. “We knew that today’s game was going to be a battle for the conference tournament,” Lipscomb head coach Lauren Sumski said. “We knew they were going to do some things they hadn’t done all year; they had to step up and make shots they hadn’t made all year.” It was a sluggish first quarter for both teams. Neither team shot particularly well, with Lipscomb only taking a 12-8 lead because of three-pointers from senior guard Carleigh Short and junior forward Taylor Clark. Lipscomb took a 34-17 lead into halftime off the back of a 14-4 run in the second quarter. “That’s been the consistent theme for us,” Sumski said. “We’ve been putting together pretty good second quarters when we settle into the game. If we don’t have that second quarter, we don’t have the result we had tonight” Despite widening the lead to 40-17 with nine minutes to play in the third quarter, Lipscomb would only make four more field goals the rest of the quarter and none in the final three minutes. This allowed NJIT to drop the lead to 51-42 with only 70 seconds played into the final quarter. “We just have to do better out of halftime defending and keeping a sense of urgency,” Sumski said. “It’s about being tough and withstanding those runs.” A scoreless run by Lipscomb late in...
by Erika Plunkett | Nov 20, 2019 | BREAKING NEWS, News Slider, Sports
Sparked by Lady Bisons’ turnovers, the visiting Murray State Racers staged a late-game comeback to walk away with a 67-57 victory in a game that has Lipscomb coach Lauren Sumski perplexed. After holding the edge in the turnover battle in the first half, Lipscomb allowed 15 second-half turnovers while Murray State only allowed three. “We are better than that,” Sumski said after the Tuesday loss. “We are better than giving up 19 and 25 points in the third and fourth quarter.” Despite the fact that the Lady Bisons were unable to hit a three-point shot until late in the second quarter, it was Lipscomb that jumped out to an eight-point early in the game. Going into the halftime break, Sumski and her team still held a six-point lead, led by sophomore guard Jane Deason’s seven points and sophomore center Dorie Harrison’s six points. Entering the second half, the Lady Bisons extended their lead to 10 before four consecutive turnovers cut the lead to three. “They made a lot of the shots that we gave them from poor communication and poor transition,” Sumski said. The Racers took advantage of these missed opportunities from the Bisons and went on 25-9 run to close out the game behind sophomore guard Macey Turley’s 20 points and freshman forward Macie Gibson’s 19 points. “We are better than that defensively,” Sumski said. “But tonight I felt like they beat us to 50-50 balls, and they turned it on when it mattered. We didn’t respond in the second half when they went on their run.” The Lady Bisons continue to play this weekend in the...
by Russell Vannozzi | Mar 7, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
For as difficult as the 2018-19 season was for the Lipscomb women’s basketball team, it couldn’t have ended in a better way. Junior Carleigh Short banked a three just as the clock expired in overtime, giving the Lady Bisons a 72-69 victory over Kennesaw State at Allen Arena Tuesday. “The basketball gods smiled on us for once this season,” Lipscomb coach Greg Brown said. “It’s good to end that way and get a little bit of momentum to carry us forward.” Lipscomb closed the year with a dismal 4-25 record (2-14 ASUN) and missed the conference tournament for the first time since 2013. The Lady Bisons averaged 21 turnovers per game and shot just 34 percent from the field for the season. “It’s wild how well we’ve played at times versus how poorly we played at other times,” Brown said. “It’s been one extreme or the other. They continued to practice hard and do things well, but they just hadn’t been rewarded.” Was Tuesday’s victory a sign of good things to come? The evidence says that’s a possibility. The Lady Bisons don’t have any seniors, so their entire roster will return, including top scorers Taylor Clark (11.1 PPG) and Lauren Rau (8.5 PPG). Kaylee Cotton took a redshirt due to an injury and will be back next season. They’ve also added three high school signees, and Butler transfer Sydney Shelton will be eligible after sitting out this year. “Not having a senior is definitely weird, but it also gave the freshman and us juniors time to mature,” Short said. “I really think that next year, with three new people...
by Charissa Ricker | Jan 30, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb women’s basketball took on the Liberty Flames Tuesday night in Allen Arena and saw its losing streak extend to 17 games in a 77-60 defeat to the ASUN newcomer. The Lady Bisons (2-18, 0-7 ASUN) won the tip-off and slowly found their rhythm after Taylor Clark scored the first points for Lipscomb. Jane Deason then quickly followed with a three-pointer to put the Lady Bisons ahead. The team hit a streak of three-point shots in the first half with the first four shots all coming from beyond the arc. The Lady Bisons ended the first quarter with a 17-10 lead thanks to another three-pointer from Deason. “They’ve worked hard opening up shots on their own and then just shooting it with confidence and they did,” Lipscomb coach Greg Brown said. “We did a good job of making the extra pass and finding that [girl] that was open inside.” Lipscomb held a steady ten-point lead in the beginning of the second quarter, however, Liberty closed the gap midway through the second quarter. After Liberty (8-12, 4-3 ASUN) took the lead, Clark shot a buzzer-beating layup to cut their advantage to 39-37 at halftime. “We knew they were physical,” Brown said. “We knew they like to play inside and attack like that. We knew we should be able to have chances to reverse the ball and get open looks, which we did. So I mean it played out a lot preparation-wise – everyone was prepared for that and handled that part of it.” Lipscomb started the second half on a rough note, and they did not make a basket until hitting a...
