Second annual Lippy Awards honor excellence in athletics

Student athletes traded their uniforms for formal wear for the second annual Lippy Awards Wednesday evening in Allen Arena. The Lippys honor athletes, coaches and others who contribute in various ways to Lipscomb sports teams. Before the show, guests enjoyed live music from Marquee Mayfield and showed off their formal wear at photo booths. The show was hosted by soccer coach Chris Klotz and cross county coach Marcus Evans. To begin, the James R. Byers Award was presented to senior field thrower April Terry and senior baseball player Josh Lee. It is the highest award given to student-athletes. Terry quoted the Mary Mary song “God in Me” in her acceptance speech, saying, “I hope that you see that I’m really not that outstanding, but all of the accolades, the records, the titles – it’s all God working.” Lee, who made his way from Vandy to Central Arizona College and finally landed at Lipscomb, said that he’s blessed for the opportunities at Lipscomb. “This is a great accomplishment, but the one thing I’ll remember is all the relationships I’ve built with my teammates,” Lee said. Golfer Dawson Armstrong and cross country runner Paige Stoner took home the male and female Freshman of the Year awards. Senior soccer player Luke Gearin won International Player of the Year. Women’s soccer coach Kevin O’Brien received the Don Meyer Head Coach of the Year for his inspiration to the athletic program. “I think I have the best job in the world,” O’Brien said. “I’m so thankful to get to work with the girls I work with every day.” Luke Syverson, who coaches track and field, was...

Bison hoops finish strong against Kennesaw State on senior night

The Lipscomb men’s basketball team closed out the 2014-15 season with a 94-75 win over Atlantic Sun Conference foe Kennesaw State Saturday morning in Allen Arena. With a solid start to the first half, the Bisons carried their attacking play with a 47-32 lead as sophomore J.C. Hampton executed a lay up. “I thought for the most part we were really solid — I was proud of their effort and I felt like we really played to win,” Lipscomb’s head coach Casey Alexander said. “We played together, which may sound simple, but things haven’t been going our way and sometimes that’s hard to do.” The Bisons controlled the game as sophomore Josh Williams finished with 19 points, nine rebounds and five assists. “The team came together tonight more than we ever have done this season,”  Williams said. “It was great to see a lot of guys contribute to this win. “Rebounding was on point tonight and the guys did really well with their offense but also defense.” Senior Martin Smith came out to the court with an ora of determination for senior night. Smith added 12 points onto the score board. Kennesaw State’s Yonel Brown led all scorers with a 22 points, along with a pair of treys and six free throws. The Bisons recognized graduate student Chad Lang and seniors Chad Johnson and Smith during a pregame ceremony. “It’s so weird that this is the night we wait for during these four years,”  Smith said. “I am so grateful for my time here and it was a great game — kind of a bittersweet. I’m really looking forward to the...

Lady Bisons fall in aggressive game against Jacksonville

The Lady Bisons fell to the Jacksonville Dolphins 75-63 Saturday afternoon in Allen Arena. The final five minutes turned in favor of the Dolphins as they suddenly rose to a ten-point lead over the Lady Bisons. “I thought we played very hard, we just had some breakdowns in key turns,” Lipscomb head coach Greg Brown said. The Lady Bisons came out strong in the first half and were leading 35-33 at halftime. Junior Danay Fothergill led the team, scoring twenty-three points total, 10 of which were free throws. “Danay did a great job and took advantage of the mismatches she had,” coach Brown said. Junior Ashley Southern followed by contributing 17 points to the final score, shooting multiple baskets in the paint. The team scored 75 percent of their free throws, resulting in 21 points. “We got them [the Dolphins] into foul trouble,” coach Brown said. Both teams came on to the court with high intensity and renewed energy during the second half. The Dolphins pushed outside the paint, sinking three-pointers and taking advantage of the foul line. The final three minutes were swamped with free throws from both teams. The excitement from the Jacksonville bench overthrew the competition, as the Dolphins shot 16 free throws within the final two. As the season is coming to a close, the Lady Bisons are 8-18 overall and 3-9 in the A-Sun Conference. The Lady Bisons will finish the regular season at home against USC Upstate at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 25. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...

Bisons advance with fifth conference win over Stetson

The Lipscomb mens basketball team recorded its fifth conference win over the Stetson Hatters with 87-85 on Thursday night in Allen Arena. The slow starting game began as both teams struggled to establish any momentum. After the media timeout the Bisons began to find their feet and gained an assertive lead 43-27 just eight minutes later. The Bisons were able to turn the tables from two weeks earlier, where they found themselves under the pump in the reverse fixture on Jan. 31. The team entered intermission holding a substantial lead 51-37. Lipscomb was en route to a season-best with 51 points at halftime. That gave the Purple and Gold a 14-point cushion at the break, something the Bisons would need as the Hatters would outscore them 48-36 in the final 20 minutes of action. “We need to limit our turnovers, and take better shots,” senior forward Malcolm Smith said. “We have been struggling on defense and I would say that’s something we need to work on going into the next few games.” Smith led Lipscomb with 29 points. Sophomore guard Josh Williams followed just behind with 25 points. “We’ll take the win, but we need to make improvements to make some noise in the conference tournament,” Malcolm said. In previous games, the Bisons have had issues with their offense and defense, but the topic for this game was the team’s poor turnover against the Hatters. “It was almost [a] carbon copy of that previous game, [but] this time it turned out differently,” head coach Casey Alexander said. “It was almost the same game which adds to the frustration.” In this case...

Lumination’s Top 10 Stories of 2014

Happy New Year, Lumination readers! Now that the new year’s resolutions have been made and the first day of 2015 is here, we want to take a hop back in time to look at some of Lipscomb’s biggest moments of 2014. Before we get to the top 10 stories, we want to take a moment to honor those we lost in 2014. Alumni Andrew Nash, Anastasia Sloan, Meghan Day and Jacob Akers, and associate professor of pharmacy practice Kim Barker and longtime faculty member Earl Dennis all passed away. As we begin a new year, we would like to keep those listed and their families in our thoughts and prayers. Quite a few stories made it close to the top 10. They include a few annual events, special guests and people in new positions of leadership. In December, Amy Grant hosted the tenth annual Lighting of the Green in Allen Arena. This year, a scholarship was created in Grant’s honor. During the spring, the fifth annual Charlie Daniels’ Scholarship for Heroes concert brought country music stars and fundraising to Allen Arena once again. Also in 2014, the Dove Awards returned to Lipscomb for its 46th ceremony. In November, the Lipscomb community came together at one of Nashville’s premier venues: The Ryman. Nashville’s Charles Esten joined the program “Lipscomb: On a New Stage,” and even performed a few tunes, too. Also in 2014, Lipscomb welcomed Darrin Bellows as the new director of security and safety and Josh Roberts as the new dean of student development. In April, Drew Watson was elected as the new SGA president. 10. Dana Carpenter wins national award In October, Dana Carpenter took home...