NASHVILLE – The Lipscomb women’s basketball team dropped their third straight game to the Stetson Hatters by a score of 61-50 Thursday night at Allen Arena.
Despite a season-high 20 points from sophomore guard Jalyn Holcomb, the Bisons’ 16-point comeback bid in the 4th quarter came up short.
A closely contested game in the first four minutes was thanks to a strong defensive affair on both sides of the ball. Despite the Bisons shooting 44.4% from the field, they trailed most of the quarter. Stetson took an 8-0 run due to a total of six turnovers by the Bisons in the first quarter.
Sydney Shelton, the transfer from Butler, cut the Stetson lead to one point, and after free throws by Sophomore Diana Saleh, and a forced shot clock violation, Lipscomb held the lead at 13-12.
Senior guard Yazz Wazeerud-Din continued to shoot well for Stetson from three-point land, and led the half with 11 points. Despite her big numbers in the half, the second quarter was a defensive slug-fest.
Lipscomb only scored 7 points in the quarter, but Jalyn Holcomb, a native of Murfreesboro, ended a scoring drought with a layup and then a three pointer to follow a Stetson make from behind the arc.
At half, Stetson led 23-20 with both teams shooting 4-11 from three and Lipscomb edging out Stetson in field goal percentage at 31.8% to the Hatters’ 27.6%
Assistant coach Chris Sumski felt there was a dichotomy in the Bisons’ play.
“I feel like we really battled the defensive speed,” Sumski said, “[but] I think offensively we had some struggles to make important threes and just finish some plays when we were right there.”
Holcomb continued her big game in the second half with a shot clock-beating layup, and freshman Jordan Peete cut a 7-point Stetson lead back to 4. However, the quarter was won by the Hatters who made 57.1% of their 3rd quarter shots and took the lead up to 18 after a 14-0 run.
Holcomb scored 8 points in the quarter before a three from Shelton cut the lead to 5 at a score of 49-44. However, guards Jamiya and Kiya Turner from Stetson finished their half efficiently, as both tallied points in double digits along with Wazeerud-Din. The Hatters held off the Bisons in the final minutes to win 61-50.
When asked if anything needs to be changed moving forward, Sumski noted that the team will work to “figure out where the mismatches are” and “what part of the floor to attack [the opposing team] at.”
After breaking her season high last Saturday at North Florida, Holcomb broke it again against the Hatters with 20 points. Holcomb also finished with six rebounds, tying guards Blythe Pearson and Casey Collier. Bella Vinson, a forward from Manchester, Tennessee, finished second in scoring for Lipscomb with nine points.
The Bisons drop to 8-13 (3-5 ASUN) while the Hatters rise to 12-10 (5-4 ASUN).
The Bisons will play another East Division rival 1:30 p.m. Saturday as #22 Florida Gulf Coast team travels to Allen Arena. That match will be broadcast live on The Bison, Lipscomb’s on-campus radio station.
Photo by CJ Arndt