by Spencer Boehme | Apr 4, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
On Saturday night, Lipscomb’s four seniors were just two consecutive FGCU points away from never seeing the NCAA tournament in their college careers. In the fifth set, FGCU’s Erin Shomaker gave the Eagles a 14-13 lead to set up match point. All the Eagles had to do was collect the next point, and that would have been ballgame. But then three of the Bisons’ seniors aided in a 3-0 run that ultimately gave the Bisons the win Saturday evening. Senior hitter Megan Kuper tied the game on kill, and senior blocker Sami Rubal assisted with a block after that. And then it was senior defensive specialist Ashley Maher who set the ball up for junior hitter Garret Joiner, who rocketed it past FGCU libero Dana Axner near the back endline for the game-winner. The ASUN named Rubal the tournament MVP, and Dilfer and senior libero Alyssa Zwolensky received All-Tournament team honors. It will be the eighth NCAA tournament appearance in Lipscomb history, all of which have come under 18-year head coach Brandon Rosenthal. Lipscomb first advanced to the tourney in 2007. The Bisons have won the ASUN championship seven times (they received an at-large bid in 2014). ESPNU will air the selection show at 3 p.m. CT. The Division I volleyball tournament will be played in Omaha, Nebraska. Rubal and Kuper led the way with 14 and 13 kills for Lipscomb, while Joiner followed up with 12. Freshman Delaney Dilfer once again had an impeccable evening setting the ball, as she accounted for 50 assists after garnering 53 the night before. For FGCU, the sophomore hitter Shomaker wreaked havoc...
by Erika Plunkett | Mar 12, 2021 | News, News Slider, Sports
Despite trailing for most of the game, Lipscomb was able to defeat Stetson 50-47 after forcing overtime late in the 4th quarter. Junior guard Jane Deason came out strong in the first quarter putting six points in the book for the Bisons in the first five minutes, but as has been the story for much of Lipscomb’s season, scoring droughts quieted the Lady Bisons for several minutes at a time, the longest of which occurred in the second and third quarters where Lipscomb had no points for 6 minutes, giving the Hatters their biggest lead of the afternoon at 10, 36-26. Luckily for the Bisons, although Stetson was able to take the lead for most of the game, scoring droughts of their own, as well as foul trouble from key contributors, kept the game low scoring. In the fourth quarter, Lipscomb slowly got into more of a rhythm and chipped away at the Lady Hatters lead. Junior Dorie Harrison and freshman Jordan Peete made several crucial free throws and layups to bring the game to one-possession before Deason’s three-pointer with one minute remaining in regulation forced overtime. Harrison, who finished the day as Lipscomb’s leading scorer with 18 points, kept her scoring going into the overtime period, getting all seven of the Bisons’ overtime points, and clinching the victory. The Lady Bisons will be in action again tomorrow at 1 PM against the reigning ASUN champion FGCU Eagles. Lipscomb is looking for their first-ever win against the Eagles and a spot in the ASUN championship game on Sunday. Photo courtesy of Lipscomb...
by Erika Plunkett | Mar 11, 2021 | News, News Slider, Sports
The fourth-seeded Lady Bisons open conference tournament play Thursday afternoon in Kennesaw, Georgia against the fifth-seeded Stetson Hatters. In head coach Lauren Sumski’s first season, Lipscomb is coming off of one of their best seasons in recent memory, going undefeated at home for the first time in the program’s Division-I era. The Bisons enter the tournament with their highest seeding since the 2017-2018 campaign when they fell in the semifinals to the FGCU Eagles. A huge reason for the Bisons’ success is senior ASUN second-team senior forward Taylor Clark, who is averaging 12.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game for Lipscomb. Clark has been a leader on and off the court, and her versatility makes her an integral part of everything the Bisons do. Joining Clark as an ASUN honoree is freshman Jordan Peete, who has already made a huge impact with Lipscomb in her first season, averaging 9.3 points per game. For Lipscomb to advance, they will need to rely on Clark and Peete, as well as sophomore stalwarts Casey Collier and Jalyn Holcomb. Thursday afternoon Lipscomb will “host” the Stetson Lady Hatters in the one-site tournament location at Kennesaw State University. This new format was introduced to minimize travel in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 but will allow teams to have more consistency in between matchups. The Lady Bisons are going to have quite a challenge hoping to clinch the automatic NCAA tournament bid. While Lipscomb swept Stetson in the regular season, the Hatters will be looking to bounce back in this third matchup of the season and keep their perfect record against the Bisons...
by Erika Plunkett | Mar 5, 2021 | News Slider, Sports
Coming into the ASUN tournament with at least one win against every other ASUN opponent, except North Alabama, Lipscomb was projected to go deep into the tournament and even have a chance to win it all and earn a spot in the 2021 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. But the inconsistencies that have plagued the Bisons all season long got the best of them in game one of the tournament to end their season early after the 72-60 loss to the Eagles. Early in the game, it was Lipscomb who had taken control of the matchup, going on a 21-2 run to take a 17 point lead. This effort was headed up by sophomore guard KJ Johnson who finished the afternoon with 18 points. However, the Eagles would not stay silent for long and went on two runs of their own to cut down on the Bisons lead. Going into the halftime break, Lipscomb led by only four. Sophomore guard Jake Wolfe would score a basket early in the second half before the Bisons went on a nearly 10 minute scoring drought, which gave FGCU the lead. Even though the Bisons finally were able to put points on the board in the last quarter of the game, it did nothing to stop the Eagles from staying on their scoring rampage. With just a few minutes to go in the second half, FGCU lead Lipscomb by 23 points with a 70-47 lead. Lipscomb would go on a 13-2 run to end the game, but by this point it was too little, too late for the Bisons, whose unexpected loss cost them...
by Spencer Boehme | Mar 3, 2021 | News Slider, Sports, Uncategorized
On March 3, 2020, the No. 3-seeded Lipscomb men’s basketball team beat No. 6 FGCU 68-63 off a 40-point effort from center Ahsan Asadullah. The game was played in Nashville less than 24 hours after a devastating tornado struck Middle Tennessee. So many things have changed since then, and I don’t even think I have to tell you what all of them are. But this year’s edition of the ASUN men’s basketball tournament will be single-city (as will the women’s), with teams participating on the campuses of Jacksonville University and North Florida, both located in Jacksonville. Much like last season, the Bisons (15-11, 9-6 ASUN) once again hold the three seed, with the Eagles (9-7, 4-5 ASUN) taking up the No. 6 spot. Neither team has played a full 16-game conference slate, although FGCU’s cancellation-littered schedule is more notable. The game is scheduled for Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT, to be played in Swisher Gymnasium at JU. Disappointment is really the first thing that comes to mind for how the Bisons’ season went. They were picked to win their conference (which could still happen in the tournament) but now sit behind Liberty and Division I newcomer Bellarmine. Inconsistent play and the inability to hold large leads have created headaches for this squad all season long. Redshirt junior Ahsan Asadullah is once again the leading scorer at 14.2 points per game, but he had a slow start to the season before putting up bigger numbers late. Grad transfer Romeao Ferguson adds 13.6 points per game at the shooting guard position, and sophomore guard KJ Johnson is the lone other...
