NASHVILLE – Lipscomb women's basketball earned a crucial win over Central Arkansas Saturday afternoon, 65-59, to give Coach Lauren Sumski her 100th win as collegiate head coach. The win also gives the Bisons their 16th win of the season and ninth in conference play.
Graduate guard Blythe Pearson scored 17 points, including four three-pointers, in the win. Aleah Sorrentino (13) and Claira McGowan (11) also reached double figures for the Bisons.
Taylor Bowen was a point and rebound shy of her second straight double-double, scoring nine points and adding nine rebounds against the Sugar Bears. Molly Heard also wasn't far off a double-double herself with eight points and nine rebounds. Diana Saleh, one of the three players recognized on senior day, logged seven points and brought down five rebounds Saturday.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Lipscomb put the first two points on the board on free throws from Sorrentino at the 8:53 mark of the opening quarter. After trading baskets for most of the first quarter, Lipscomb took the largest lead of any team during the frame, going up six (13-7) on two free throws from McGowan five minutes in. Central Arkansas was able to fight back to take a two-point edge at the end of the quarter.
Both teams struggled to put the ball in the net in the second quarter, as the teams combined to score only 13 points in the second ten minutes. With 1:59, Blythe Pearson connected on a jumper to put the Bisons up five, but the Sugar Bears had another answer, ending the half with four straight points to only trail by one, 26-25, at the break.
Lipscomb got their offense going in the third quarter, outscoring the Sugar Bears 30-14. The Bisons went on a 13-point run halfway through the period to go up by 18 with 3:05 left in the third quarter as they were in complete control. However, Central Arkansas scored the first 12 points of the fourth to cut their deficit down to only five with 4:44 still left to play. Pearson briefly stopped the bleeding for the Bisons on a three-pointer on the next possession; however, the Sugar Bears were still able to worked to reach within two twice in the final three minutes.
Fortunately, the Bisons didn't panic and held serve down the stretch, getting four crucial stops on the defensive end to help secure the win. The Bisons also connected on 3-of-4 of their trips to the charity stripe in the last 10 seconds to claim victory and avenge their overtime loss to the Sugar Bears earlier in the year by a final score of 65-59.
HERD NOTES
- Lipscomb shot 36 percent from the floor and knocked down nine three points against the Sugar Bears.
- The Bisons out-rebounded the Sugar Bears by one (42-41) with 32 defensive rebounds. Lipscomb improved to 14-1 when winning the war on the boards this season with Saturday's result.
- Lipscomb scored 30 points in the third quarter, the most in any quarter by the squad this season.
- With 17 points tonight, Pearson now needs 21 more points to reach 1,000 points for her career.
- The Bisons have held 11 opponents to 60 or fewer points this season and are 11-0 in those matchups.
UP NEXT
Lipscomb will end the regular season with two road tests, the first being in Louisville, Kentucky, against Bellarmine on Thursday, Feb. 29, with a 5:30 p.m. CT tip. Continue to check lipscombsports.com and the team's social media accounts (@lipscombwbb on IG and @lipscomb_wbb on X) for the most up-to-date information on Lipscomb women's basketball.
