Women's Basketball Wins Battle of the Boulevard

Photo taken by Nick Rampe

The Battle of the Boulevard between the Lipscomb University Bisons and the Belmont Bruins women’s basketball teams quickly turned into a massacre, with the Bruins prevailing 80-60.  

The Bruins never trailed in their 16th consecutive win over the Bisons as Belmont improved to 3-2 on the year, while Lipscomb dropped to 2-4.  

Bruins head coach Bart Brooks spoke on this illustrious rivalry between the two schools and how much it means to everyone involved on the Belmont side. 

“This rivalry goes back way before my time here, so it’s a legacy we want to carry on for our alums, and we always want to compete well in this game,” Brooks said. 

Senior Emily La Chappell also touched on the rivalry and how it unites the university. 

“We know that it not only means a lot to us, but to everyone else who’s in the stands and the generations before us. It’s really important, and it was fun to play in front of this kind of crowd,” La Chappell said.  

Brooks also acknowledged the difficulties associated with rivalry games but commended his team’s performance despite all the added gravity to a game like this one.  

“Our message going into the game was that there was going to be a lot of distractions... There was a lot of excitement and buzz on campus, but we have to focus on our job, which is between the lines,” he said. “I thought our players did that well. I thought they were prepared, ready and started great.”    

That great start from the Bruins began 80 seconds into the game with a layup from sophomore Hilary Fuller to give them their first lead of the night. 

Lipscomb tied the game at two apiece before a layup from sophomore Quinn Eubanks led to a 22-0 Belmont run, spanning from 7:56 to 1:45 remaining in the first quarter.  

Six different Bruins scored during that run, including La Chappell, who had six of her team-high 14 points during that stretch.  

“Everyone was just ready to rock right off the bat,” she said. “I feel like our decisions were great. The open player got the ball, and we took our in-rhythm shots that we make at a really high clip.” 

Lipscomb would respond with an 8-0 run of their own to cut into Belmont’s lead, but a buzzer-beating jumper from Fuller ended the first quarter on a high note, with the Bruins ahead 26-10.

Belmont’s lead was then cut to 13 after a layup from Lipscomb’s freshman guard Olivia Vinson at 2:11 into the second quarter. From there, the Bisons would not hit another field goal until 10 seconds before half.  

During this stretch, Belmont outscored Lipscomb 18-2 and took a 46-17 advantage before a three-pointer from redshirt freshman Taylor Holt made it 46-20.  

However, momentum stayed with the Bruins after another buzzer-beating jumper, this time from junior Jailyn Banks, to make it 48-20 at the half.  

The Bruins played some of their best basketball of the season in the first half, with the offense producing 53% shooting from the field and nine assists to complement the defense’s 14 forced turnovers and nine steals, which yielded 23 points.   

The second half was a different story. 

The Bisons came out of the half hot, going 11-for-16 on shots from the field and outscoring Belmont 27-19 in the quarter, while the Bruins went cold.  

Belmont turned the ball over five times in the third quarter alone and shot just 6 of 16 on field goals. 

Despite still maintaining a large lead, the third quarter revealed a weakness that Brooks and the rest of the coaching staff have been trying to address: the team’s inconsistency. 

“Our challenge is to always play with a standard. We’ve got to have a fight and competitiveness in us to win the possession that’s in front of us, whatever the score is," Brooks said.

Despite the second-half lull, Belmont cruised to a victory and never let its lead fall below 17 points.  

The Bruins set season-high marks with 30 field goals made, 24 turnovers forced, 30 points off turnovers, 18 assists and 17 steals. 

Despite Belmont’s dominance, Lipscomb outshot Belmont percentage-wise on field goals, three-pointers, and free throws.  

Brooks pointed to his team still learning its defensive identity as a key reason to explain this, and he was encouraged by what he saw. 

“I think our team is finding our identity. We’ve had some trouble against some of the better teams on our schedule with rebounding the ball. So, finding ways to turn over teams that are good in the half-court and finding ways to pressure without exposing us on the glass are really important things,” said Brooks. “We’re going to have nights where the ball doesn’t go in as consistently, and we can make up for that by how we defend and how we rebound.” 

La Chappell echoed her coach’s message about taking intentionality with the little things, like forcing turnovers and getting rebounds. 

“Those things are really important, especially when it comes down to the end of the season, tournaments and all that stuff. It really is the difference-maker, and we’re continually trying to get better at that,” she said.  

The Bruins are back in action on Nov. 24 when they travel to Columbus, Ohio to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

This article was written by Sam Dicus