Cold Shooting Costs Racers at Lipscomb
A cold night shooting from all over the floor Tuesday in Nashville cost the Racers as they fell, 65-64 to Lipscomb. MSU shot just 35.4 percent from the floor in the loss while the Lady Bisons shot 36.5 percent.
The Racers (1-3) also went just 9-of-16 at the line for a 56.3 percent clip. MSU entered the game fourth in the nation shooting 85.7 percent from the line.
The first three quarters of the contest were defensive struggles as neither team shot very well from the floor. The Lady Bisons (2-4) led 41-39 entering the fourth quarter. Both teams found some offensive rhythm in the fourth as the Racers scored 25 points and LU had 24.
LU led by as many as eight on two separate occasions in the fourth, including 59-51 with just 2:32 left to play. A three from Bria Bethea and a lay-in by Brianna Crane cut the deficit to 60-56 with just over a minute to play. After a pair of free throws from Lipscomb, a jumper by Ke’Shunan James and another layup by Crane made it 64-60.
Trailing 65-61, Bethea hit another three to make it 65-64 with just two seconds to play and after a pair of misses at the line from LU, Bethea grabbed the rebound but couldn’t get a shot up before the final buzzer sounded.
Bethea led the way with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting including going 5-of-11 from 3-point range. James scored 19 points and added a career-best 17 rebounds to go along with four assists. Abria Gulledge added 13 points in the loss.
The Racers out-rebounded an opponent for the first time this season as they had a 51-42 advantage on the glass. MSU also had a big 20-4 edge in second-chance points while outscoring the Lady Bisons 22-16 in the paint. LU was able to score 17 points off MSU turnovers while the Racers scored 11 off miscues. The LU bench also had a 12-0 edge in points.
MSU led at halftime 26-25 thanks to three 3-pointers from Bethea in the final 2:35 of the half. The Racers trailed 21-15 with 4:10 left to play in the second period.
Friday sees the Racers return to action as they travel to face fourth-ranked Louisville in a noon tip, central time.
by Kevin DeVries
