Thursday, January 19, 2012

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Behind a 19-point effort on Thursday night against Atlantic Sun Conference foe USC Upstate, Lipscomb senior guard Anna Bowers became the fourth player in school history to reach the 1,000 point mark as the Lady Bison fell 73-66 to the Spartans at the Hodge Center.

Needing only 13 points to reach the milestone, Bowers hit a layup with 6:01 remaining to put her over the mark on a night she led the Lady Bison (3-16, 1-7 A-Sun) behind four three pointers.

Despite the 19-point performance from Bowers and another 14 from junior wing Hannah Phillips, the Lady Bison were unable to overcome a second-half drought that saw the Spartans (4-15, 3-5 A-Sun) go on an 8-0 run that broke open a 56-53 contest.  The game up until that point had been a close affair with neither team able to gain more than a two-possession advantage.

Upstate was sparked by Tee’Ara Copney, who dropped 24 points for the Spartans in the win.  Shelby Hicks and Lauren McRoberts added 13 and 12 points, respectively for the home team.

A big difference in the contest was the foul line where the Spartans sunk 20-of-22 free throws, a 90.9 percent average, while Lipscomb was 9-of-16 from the charity stripe.  Upstate also won the battle of the boards 35-31 behind a nine-rebound effort from McRoberts.  The Spartans were also aided by a hot shooting second half that saw Upstate hit 53.6 percent from the floor.

The Lady Bison continue A-Sun road action on Saturday at Noon taking on in-state rival ETSU at the Memorial Center.