NASHVILLE – The Lipscomb women’s basketball team lost 60-42 to the North Florida Ospreys Wednesday night at Allen Arena in the ASUN Tournament First Round.
“Our kids came out and battled defensively, especially in the first 30 minutes,” Lipscomb head coach Lauren Sumski said. “We executed the gameplan and did a really good job making them play the way we wanted to; we just really struggled to make shots today.”
Lipscomb went 15-57 as a team for a 26% mark on field goals, including 7-32 at the three-point line.
Despite 21 points and 12 rebounds from sophomore guard Jalyn Holcomb, including a double-double at halftime, the Bisons scored their lowest total of the season, including just eight points in the first and fourth quarters.
“I thought Jalyn [Holcomb] played well,” Sumski said. “She made a lot of shots, but beyond that I think she stepped it up defensively compared to the last time we played [UNF].”
Outside of Holcomb’s 5-7, the Bisons went 2-25 from beyond the arc. Sharpshooting guards Sydney Shelton and Blythe Pearson combined to go 1-14 from the three-point line, an uncharacteristic night for both.
Shelton, a graduate guard from Greenfield, Indiana, was visibly emotional as she stepped off the court for the final time in Purple and Gold.
“Those shots just didn’t fall,” Sumski said. “We knew we were going to get different looks where they were going to switch some, [and] we knew in those situations which ways we wanted them to rotate and where the shots would come from.
“We did a good job finding those, but we just didn’t convert them.”
Despite the scoring struggles, the home team kept it close through three quarters. UNF built a 12-3 lead in the first five minutes on 3-4 shooting from deep, but the Ospreys were held to six points in the rest of the quarter to put the score at 16-8 after one quarter.
The Bisons started the second quarter with intensity and quickly cut the lead to two, with the score at 16-14 with 7:25 to play in the first half. A 4-0 run from the Ospreys ended the half on a sour note, and Lipscomb trailed 24-17 at the break in a highly defensive scoreline.
A pair of three-pointers in the early going of the third quarter cut the lead to its lowest point, 26-25, with 7:24 left in the third period. Lipscomb couldn’t hold on to the momentum, though, as the Ospreys stifled Lipscomb on defense and pushed their lead to 39-29 with 2:24 left in the period.
With the lead still at seven points going into the fourth quarter, Lipscomb remained within striking distance until UNF took control in the final ten minutes.
North Florida scored 15 unanswered points to start the fourth quarter, extending the lead to an insurmountable 22 points. The teams traded baskets in the final five minutes, but the result was decided.
“You just hate it–you just hate losing,” Sumski said of the result. “You hate to see the look on our kids’ faces; they know the season is over for us, but we’ll use this and we’ll grow from this.”
From the visitors’ perspective, it was a strong finish to the game that they will bring into a quarterfinal tilt with top 25-ranked Florida Gulf Coast Sunday.
“[I was] really, really pleased with our group and the team effort,” Derrick Gibbs, head coach of the Ospreys, said. “I thought we came out with good intensity on both ends of the floor.”
“Coming out [in] the third quarter, I thought we got out to a decent start, but they responded pretty well and cut the lead,” Gibbs said. “We kinda regrouped, and that’s the thing that I think I’m most proud of right now. I thought we responded to that run and had good contributions from everybody.”
While UNF continues their postseason run in their travels to Fort Myers, Florida, Lipscomb closes the curtain on a season curtailed by injuries.
“We love [our players], they’re just tough,” Sumski said. “They do what’s needed and don’t complain. Our lineup has looked a billion different ways all year long, but our kids have stuck with it and worked through it.
“Overall, I just feel like we didn’t really get into a groove and hit a stride consistently, whether that’s with practice or with games this year.”
The Bisons only lose Shelton to graduation from their playing roster this year as they transition into the offseason ahead of the 2022-23 campaign.
The ASUN Quarterfinal round will be played Sunday, with eight teams remaining in the running for the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The semifinal games will be played March 9 and the final is scheduled for March 13.
Photo by CJ Arndt