Friday, November 04, 2011

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – With eager anticipation, the Lipscomb women’s basketball team kicks off the 2011-12 slate on Saturday night with a 5 p.m. exhibition tilt against Harding at Allen Arena.

The contest features a battle of the Lady Bisons as both teams share a common moniker.

“I think the players are excited about playing against another school and having game conditions tomorrow night,” said Lipscomb head coach Frank Bennett.  “I think there’s a lot of excitement about playing somebody outside. It will be good to see how we react in that situation."

The 2011-12 Lipscomb squad features a good mix of new and old as the Lady Bisons welcome five freshmen to the fold and return nine players from a year ago.  Senior guard Anna Bowers comes back as the top returning scorer after averaging 13.2 points per contest last season.  Gone from the team is Jenna Bartsokas, who finished her career with 1,411 points just 27 shy of the school record since moving to Division I.

Lipscomb does return five of the top seven scorers from 2010-11.  Led by Bowers (13.2), the Lady Bisons also return junior Hannah Phillips (8.0), senior Brittany Duerk (5.7),  senior Leah McAlister (5.5) and sophomore Jess Reece (5.3).  Those five accounted for 60.2 percent of the offense last season.

The opponent:  Harding – The Lady Bisons open the 2011-12 slate this weekend hosting NCAA Division II Harding in an exhibition contest.  Harding heads into the Saturday night’s game having already played a pair of exhibitions as HU lost 88-73 to Missouri-Kansas City and 88-56 to Missouri State.  Harding returns their top leading scorer for 2011-12 as senior Sierra Rollins comes back for HU after averaging 14.7 points a year ago.  The veteran nearly averaged a double-double after hauling in 9.7 rebounds per contest to go along with her scoring average.  Harding is coached by Tim Kirby, who is in his seventh season on the bench for the Lady Bisons.

“Harding ‘s played two Division I games already so they’ve got some game experience under their belt,” said Bennett.  “They played UMKC (Missouri-Kansas City) a fairly close game so I think it will be a pretty good challenge for us.”

Tickets: To purchase individual game tickets or season tickets logon to http://www.LipscombTickets.com