Friday, February 17, 2012

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Lipscomb women’s basketball team is set to close out the home portion of the 2011-12 campaign on Saturday afternoon hosting USC-Upstate at 4 p.m. at Allen Arena in Nashville.

The contest features “Senior Night” against the Spartans (7-19, 6-9 A-Sun) for the Lady Bison (5-12, 3-12 A-Sun) as Lipscomb will honor seniors Anna Bowers, Brittany Duerk and Leah McAlister in a postgame ceremony.  The trio has combined to play in over 300 games and 6,400 minutes over the last four seasons.

Needing only a pair of 3-pointers to become the all-time Lipscomb leader from beyond the arch in the Division I era, Bowers continues to pace the Lady Bison with a 12.9 points per game scoring average overall and a 14.1 mark in Atlantic Sun Conference action.  Bowers has scored in double digits in 14 straight games.

Junior wing Hannah Phililps leads the way on the glass hauling in 5.2 rebounds per game and adding 11.5 points per game.  Phillips also leads the team in assists (66) and steals (44).

The opponent:  Upstate heads into Saturday afternoon’s contest having lost four of their last five contests but with a win over the Lady Bison, the Spartans will lock in a berth into the A-Sun Tournament.

The Spartans are led by Tee'Ara Copney, the third-best scorer in the league, who averages 15.5 points per contest.  Paulina Zaveckaite leads Upstate on the glass hauling in seven rebounds per outing.

Up next: The Lady Bison travel to Mercer on Thursday night for a 6:30 p.m. tip against the Bears.