Video Highlights NASHVILLE, TN—After being sidelined for the last eight contests due to injury, Lipscomb's redshirt senior Ashley Southern scored 18 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, leading the Lady Bisons to their first Atlantic Sun Conference win of the year, 63-49 over visiting NJIT Wednesday evening at Allen Arena.
Lipscomb (4-20, 1-8 A-Sun) snapped its 17-game losing streak with the win and is now tied for seventh with NJIT in the standings with five games remaining on the regular season schedule.
Southern, who last played against Jackson State on December 30 due to a stress fracture, made an immediate impact Wednesday, coming off the bench and shooting 7-for-13 from the field and 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Her 18 points and 9 rebounds were a game-high.
Sophomore guard Loren Cagle was the Lady Bisons' other double-figure scorer on the night, filling up the stat sheet with 10 points, 9 assists and 7 rebounds. Redshirt junior Alex Banks added eight points, nine rebounds and three assists for the winners.
NJIT (4-20, 1-8 A-Sun) was led by redshirt freshman
Kelly Guarino with 12 points, while juniors
Camerin Spahn and
Ruta Vetra scored eight points. The eight points for Vetra is a season-high, while Spahn's six rebounds paced the Highlanders.
Junior guard
Olivia Dudley chipped in seven points and set a new personal-best in assists with 7. Redshirt freshman
Tatianna Torres added six points in 13 minutes off the bench.
NJIT started off the contest on a 5-1 spurt, but the Lady Bisons quickly responded, scoring the next seven straight to pull ahead, 8-5. Lipscomb's Cagle had five in the run.
Southern's bucket at the 4:37 mark sparked five consecutive points for the Lady Bisons, who extended the lead to 16-10. NJIT, which was held scoreless from the 5:11 mark after a jumper by
Ruta Vetra, to 1:44 left in the quarter, when
Olivia Dudley broke the ice on a three-pointer for a 16-13 score. Lipscomb closed out the final 1:36 on a 5-2 run, ending the quarter with a 20-15 advantage.
The Highlanders opened the second quarter with four straight, pulling within one, 20-19, after a jumper in the paint by Tatiana Torres. Lipscomb extended its lead to 27-21 on a three-pointer by Kennedy Potts at the 5:19 mark.
NJIT closed out the second quarter on an 8-2 run, sparked by back-to-back jumpers by Torres to pull to within two of the home team, 31-29, heading into halftime. NJIT's Guarino and Cagle led all scorers at the half with seven points each.
Trailing, 31-29, the Highlanders cut Lipscomb's deficit to five on two occasions in the quarter, the final at the 5:54 mark, on a jumper by Vetra, 40-35. Lipscomb used a 12-2 spurt to push its lead up to nine, 50-41.
Lipscomb outscored the Highlanders in the final quarter, 13-8. NJIT would come as close as five points, after consecutive three-pointers by Guarino and Spahn, 54-49, with 6:06 remaining, but the Lady Bisons scored nine unanswered points picking up its first A-Sun victory of the season, 63-49.
NJIT will return to action on Saturday at 1pm, hosting Florida Gulf Coast in the Fleisher Athletic Center. In the teams' first meeting in Florida, FGCU won 70-37. The Eagles now lead the all-time series, 2-0.
