Bisons split opening day of Atlantic Sun Conference play

After a full day of basketball in Allen Arena Saturday, the Lady Bisons finished with a loss to Northern Kentucky while the men dominated the Norse on the opening day of conference play. The Lady Bisons put up a strong fight throughout the first half against a quick-paced Lady Norse team, but the two teams remained close in scoring until the end of the first half which left Lipscomb trailing by fourteen points. Head coach Greg Brown rejuvenated the team during the break.  He stated later that he did not fault their energy at all, and the team did a great job of keeping their spirits up and imitating their routines from practice. Despite the needed break, the second half proved to be too much for the women.  In the final 20 minutes of the game, the Lady Bisons worked their way back and cut the lead to eight points; however, they struggled to completely close the deficit. “We held the ball a little bit too much on offense,” Brown said. Junior Danay Fothergill and redshirt sophomore Chandler Cooper revived their team with multiple points off of steals on defense and strong offensive plays.  Fothergill was the leading scorer with 21 points. Ultimately, the Lady Bisons could not pull out the win they desired going into the first conference game. The Lady Norse came away with the 81-70 victory. “I thought we played very tough, but we have to be able to put toughness and intensity and technique together for forty minutes,” Brown said. The men’s game, however, had a very different ending. The Bisons were determined from the beginning to bring Lipscomb...

Bisons conclude non-conference play with two wins

The Lady Bisons broke their three game losing streak while the men’s team bounced back with a win after losing to Missouri. Against Trevecca, the game was a tale of two halves. The Lady Bisons were down 39-34 at half time before coming out with a strong effort in the second half. At just over 16 minutes, Lipscomb took a 47-41 lead and kept it the rest of the game. “We came out flat in the first half. It’s the first day back to classes, and we just weren’t ready to play in the first half,” head coach Greg Brown said. “I told them to forget the first half, make the adjustments and go, and I thought they played with a lot more intensity in the second half.”  The Lady Bisons had a strong offensive game in the second half that was led by senior Danay Fothergill. Fothergill had 26 points on the game and made shots from the paint as well as the three point line. Brown said that even though he’s happy with the win, his team needs to come out strong for all 40 minutes of conference games, not just the second half. “We told them to treat this game like it’s the first game of conference,” Brown said. “Hopefully it teaches them that that’s a great 20 minutes, but in the conference, these next games, you can’t afford to do that.” The Lady Bisons shot their best field goal percentage of the season against Trevecca. At the end of the game, the team had shot 54.1 percent from the field. Lipscomb came away with the 95-71 win improving their...

Women’s soccer to begin conference tournament after standout season

The Lady Bisons soccer team just completed a record-breaking regular season, and look to take the season even further this weekend. The team finished regular season play Friday Oct. 24 against Northern Kentucky. The game ended in a 2-0 loss, but the team finished with a 10-6-2 overall record, and the no. 2 spot going into the conference tournament. This 2014 season is the first season the Lipscomb women’s team has had a winning record. The Lady Bisons have also only made it into the tournament one other year, and that was last year. A change in coaching staff back in the spring of 2012 is a huge part of the program’s turnaround. Junior Emily Shuler was recruited to Lipscomb before the coaching change, and said she would have looked elsewhere had she been aware of the programs record, but she is thrilled with the change. “When I looked at Lipscomb’s website for them to come watch [me play], I remember their record was like, two wins, maybe. I was like, what am I doing, like why did I ask them to come, and it ended up being awesome,” Shuler said. “Now we’re at a place where we’ve got five times that for wins if not more.” Senior Karli Crosby played on the team before head coach Kevin O’Brien was hired, and she has seen first hand how much of a difference he has made. “We’ve gotten better every single year ever since OB (O’Brien) got here. He came in the spring of my freshman year. The fall before he got here we finished tenth in the conference and...

Lady Bison soccer team comes up short on senior night

Senior night for the Lipscomb women’s soccer team did not go as planned as they were shut out by Northern Kentucky Friday. Lipscomb attempted more than twice as many shots as NKU, but in the end had nothing to show for it, resulting in a 2-0 loss. Prior to the game, the Lady Bisons honored their three seniors: Karli Crosby, Baylee Linnell and Brittany Rupple. With conference tournament implications on the line, the stakes were very high. NKU’s Aubrey Muench opened the score in the 30th minute to give the Norse a 1-0 lead, then scored again in the 49th minute to seal the win. The Purple and Gold finish the regular season with a 10-6-2 record overall and 4-2-1 in conference. As it stands now, the Lady Bisons will likely head into the Atlantic Sun Tournament as the No. 2 seed, and will have a first round bye before taking on the winner between the No. 3 seed Jacksonville and No. 6 seed Kennesaw State. The two weekend, single-elimination tournament begins next Saturday, Nov. 1, and will conclude Sunday, Nov. 9 at Florida Gulf Coast in Fort Meyers, Fla. For more information about the 2014 Atlantic Sun Women’s Soccer Championship, visit atlanticsun.org/sports.wsoc or go...

Volleyball defeats Belmont in three sets

For the first time since 2011, the Battle of the Boulevard, volleyball edition, returned to Allen Arena. The Lady Bisons defeated the Lady Bruins in three sets Tuesday night. The closest that Belmont came to winning was in the third set, but Lipscomb finished it off winning 25-21. Senior outside hitter Lauren Ford finished off the night with 10 kills. Ford talked about what it means to rekindle the rivalry with Belmont. “The rivalry is huge. It’s awesome coming back on the court and playing again against them,” Ford said. “Some of the younger girls don’t necessarily have that same passion against Belmont, and so it’s fun to kind of teach them that this is how we do it, and this is the way we play against them every time no matter what.” The Lady Bisons took the first set 25-19 and the second 25-17. Junior Brittany Estes led the way for the quick three-and-out game with 13 kills. She was followed by Ford and senior Sophie Kellerman who had eight kills. Sophomore Kayla Ostrom led the team with 32 assists. Belmont is a non-conference opponent, but as far as conference opponents go, the Lady Bisons are undefeated. Prior to the Belmont matchup, they defeated Florida Gulf Coast and Stetson on the road. Lipscomb is now the no. 1 team in conference. The Lady Bisons play Northern Kentucky this weekend, and Ford talked about the importance of winning a midweek match before a conference game. “To have an out of conference game in the middle of season is kind of like a boost,” Ford said. “Every time we’re on...