FORT MYERS, FLA. – It was a warm, sunny day in Fort Myers, but the Lipscomb Lady Bisons experienced a freezing outing from the field in their 75-57 loss Wednesday afternoon at Florida Gulf Coast in Alico Arena.
The Lady Bisons were 20-of-63 from the floor for 31.7 percent. Lipscomb’s top three scorers on the season – senior Jenna Bartsokas, junior Anna Bowers, and sophomore Hannah Phillips – combined to shoot 12-of-46 for 26.1 percent.
Bowers led Lipscomb (6-7, 3-1 A-Sun) with 13 points as she connected on four 3-pointers. Bartsokas posted 10 points.
Florida Gulf Coast (11-0, 4-0 A-Sun) was the second Lipscomb opponent in the last week that receives votes in the national polls. Lipscomb lost 91-52 at Miami on Saturday.
Florida Gulf Coast shot 41.3 percent and was led in scoring by Sarah Hansen with 16 points. She had a team high eight rebounds.
FGCU led 48-38 on the boards. Bartsokas had a team-high eight rebounds while Bowers brought down seven and Phillips had six boards.
FGCU began to open the contest early going on a 9-2 run to take an 18-9 lead eight minutes into the contest. The Eagles pushed their lead to 17 points, 41-24, with a minute to play in the first half and led 41-27 at halftime.
FGCU took its largest lead 29 points on a layup by Shavonne Butler with 4:54 to play.
Lipscomb closed the game on a 15-4 run.
Lipscomb returns to Nashville tomorrow ending a nine day stay in sunny Florida. The Lady Bisons host Jacksonville Saturday at 4 p.m. Benjamin Seamon will have the call on the Lipscomb Sports Network and ASun.TV.