The Lipscomb women’s basketball team suffered a 57-52 loss in their first match of the season against Loyola Maryland Friday night in Allen Arena.
The Lady Bisons headed into the match having won both exhibition games. Lipscomb defeated Freed Hardeman 63-0 and dominated Young Harris 100-61.
Both teams started off slowly as they struggled to score in the early stages of the game. The Lady Bisons found their rhythm and kept a lead through the first half.
The Lady Bisons led the Greyhounds 34-33 with senior Ashley Southern scoring 15 points and a school-record 20 rebounds. Junior Alex Banks also finished the first half with nine points.
Southern, who finished with a double-double, proved to be an important factor in the Lady Bisons success during the preseason.
Southern was voted in the preseason Atlantic Sun All-Conference team by the league’s head coaches. Last season she finished second in the A-Sun for scoring.
Loyola raised the level in the third quarter with nationally ranked Colleen Marshall getting some play-time. Bri Betz-White had 14 points for the Greyhounds and five rebounds.
In the final minutes of play, the Lady Bisons lost composure and started to miss a lot of shots. Loyola capitalized on this and found their rhythm, winning the tightly contested affair 57-52.
“We did not perform very well offensively, and didn’t put ourselves in position to win,” head coach Greg Brown said.
Marshall finished with 12 points, while fellow Greyhound Betz-White had 23 points.
“We have to get a little bit better everyday and come out there with a quick turn around,” Brown said. “I have a tremendous amount of confidence in the girls that they will bounce back and take positives from today’s game.”
The Lady Bisons will travel to Georgia Southern for a game at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics