Lipscomb’s fourth quarter heroics come up just short against UTC

The Lipscomb Bisons fell to the UT Chattanooga Mocs 59-56 on Sunday. This comes one game after Lipscomb’s 105-46 victory over Sewanee in their home opener on Nov. 6.

It was a struggle to find points all afternoon for either side, but the low scoring kept the game close throughout it all.

Junior transfer McKayla Miller opened the scoring for the Bisons, and two points from junior guard Elena Bertrand and sophomore transfer Hannah Richardson had the Bisons trailing 7-6 at the first media timeout.

Points were hard to come by for the remainder of the quarter, as the Bisons trailed the Mocs 16-9. The second quarter was a different story, however, as senior guard Molly Heard splashed home two 3-pointers. The Bisons found themselves in the lead at halftime by a score of 26-25.

Heard added to her double-digit afternoon with a three to begin the third quarter. Sophomore guard Addison Melton added a couple threes as well to keep Lipscomb in front throughout the third quarter.

Despite only shooting 7/18 from the foul line through three quarters, the Bisons held a 44-41 lead over the Mocs with one quarter remaining.

The Mocs flipped a switch in the fourth quarter, scoring possession after possession, and making one defensive after the next. Next thing the Bisons knew, we were over halfway through the fourth and they trail 56-45.

Lipscomb didn’t lay down by any means, even in the final two minutes of the game, as layups by Richardson and Bowen eventually cut the lead to four. Then, with 45 seconds remaining, Miller nailed a left-wing 3 to make it 58-55 in favor of the Mocs.

Heard had one final chance to tie it at the buzzer, but a missed shot ended Lipscomb’s hopes of a rally, and they fall to Chattanooga 59-56.

Heard was the leading scorer for the Bisons with 17, and she now sits only 17 points away from becoming just the 12th player in Lipscomb D-I history to reach 1,000 points in her career.

Heard has a chance to reach the milestone in Allen Arena on Nov. 13 when the Bisons face off against Johnson University.

Featured image taken by Micah Barkley.