Saturday, February 26, 2011

MACON, GA. – Junior Valerie Bronson had a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Anna Bowers posted 17 points as the Lipscomb Lady Bisons defeated Mercer 70-67 Saturday afternoon to close the 2010-11 regular season.

The Lady Bisons snapped an eight-game losing streak with the victory.

Lipscomb was down 33-24 at halftime after shooting 25.9 percent in the first half.    In the second half Lipscomb outscored Mercer 46-34 behind a 51.6 percent shooting performance.

Down ten just under two minutes into the second period, Lipscomb went on a 12-3 run to cut the game to 40-39 on two free throws by Hannah Phillips at the 15:06 mark.

Lipscomb wouldn’t take their first lead of the second half until a layup by O’Neisha Smith put the Lady Bisons up 56-54 at the 7:08 mark.

The teams would remain within four points of each other for the rest of the contest.  Jenna Bartsokas hit a pivotal jumper with 16.2 seconds left to give the Lady Bisons a three-point lead.

Mercer had two three-point attempts in the final ten seconds that would have tied the game, but both were unsuccessful.

Bartsokas had 13 points, including 11 in the second half on 5-of-8 shooting.

Briana Williams led Mercer with 18 points and Brittnee Hazel had 17 points and eight rebounds.

Lipscomb improves to 9-20, 6-14 in the A-Sun, while Mercer dropped to 2-27, 2-18 in the conference.

Lipscomb opens the 2011 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Championship Wednesday at 11 a.m. central time against No. 1 seed ETSU at Mercer’s University Center.