Wednesday, January 25, 2012

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In a rematch of the overtime contest earlier in the month, the Lipscomb women’s basketball team returns home to Allen Arena on Thursday night hosting Atlantic Sun foe Jacksonville at 6:30 p.m.

The Lady Bison (3-17, 1-8 A-Sun) return to the “Music City” after dropping league contests at USC Upstate and ETSU last week. Despite the losses, it was a memorable week for Lipscomb as senior guard Anna Bowers became just the fourth player in the NCAA era to reach the 1,000-point mark with a 19-point effort against Upstate and then junior wing Hannah Phillips posted a career high 22 points in the loss to the Bucs.

Phillips continues to pace the Lady Bison averaging 13 points per contest overall and 15 points per A-Sun game. The veteran also leads the team in rebounding averaging 5.2 rebounds per contest as well as steals (35) and assists (47).  Bowers ranks just behind Philips in scoring with a 12.4 points per game mark.

The opponent:  Jacksonville (7-13, 5-4 A-Sun) heads to Nashville having won three of the last four outings including a road win at Mercer last week. The high-pressure Dolphin offense leads the A-Sun in steals with 231 thefts on the season.  JU also boasts the league’s third best shooting defense holding opponents to a .292 mark from the floor.

The Dolphins are led by Crystal Bell who averages 12.6 points per game overall and 13.7 points per game in league play.  She is followed closely by Tracie Sneed, who is averaging 10.6 points per game overall while Jade Cargill is a force on the boards for JU hauling in 9.7 rebounds per game in A-Sun play and 8.1 rebounds per game overall.

Up next:  The Lady Bison continue home action on Saturday hosting North Florida at 4 p.m. at Allen Arena. The contest is part of “Star Wars” night at Allen Arena in conjunction with the men’s contest against UNF at 6:30 p.m.