Lady Dawgs Look to New Players to Get back on Track
Game 15: Fisk Lady Bulldogs (5-9, 5-3 HBCUAC) vs. Tougaloo College (6-6, 3-2 HBCUAC)
Date/Time: Friday January 3, 2025, 6 p.m. (CST)
Watch: UEN Network
Live Stats: Tougaloo (MS) vs. Fisk (TN) | PrimeTime | Fri, Jan. 3, 2025 6:00 PM CST
Location: Dr. Billy C. Hawkins Student Activity Center – Talladega, Alabama
TALLADEGA, Ala. (JANUARY 2, 2025) – As the calendar turns to 2025, the Fisk University Lady Dawg Basketball Team is in need of a turn of fortunes. They are trying to break losing streaks, as they head into three conference games at neutral sites. The Lady Bulldogs finished out the 2024 portion of their season falling to NCAA DI UT Martin this past Sunday. Fisk only dressed eight players, due to injury including top scorer Jayla Bibbs. Bibbs is day-to-day, so the team needs to find a lift.
In Need of a Win
Fisk (5-9, 5-3 HBCUAC), losers of their last three, need a win heading into 2025. Injuries and the loss of Laila Eliotti, who has opted out of the Spring Semester due to finishing school early, have made it tough on the team lately. They started the conference with a record of 5-1. Now they have lost two in a row in conference play, and four total.
"No excuses from me, if you are on this roster, you will need to step up," said head coach Victoria Crawford. "We have a good group, and we have experience. It is time for us to figure it out and get back on track."
Crawford opened a shiny new toy in the loss to UT Martin this past Sunday. Freshman Kayla Lee scored 15 points and had five steals against the NCAA DI opponent. Lee worked hard to gain her eligibility during the first half of the season. She attended every game, home and away to learn as much as she can. There was one element that she couldn't simulate during her time off. How fast the game is on the college level.
"The speed of this level was surprising to me," said Lee. "Every time I got past someone, there was somebody there to replace them. A few times I thought I was by myself for a lay-up but I had to slow the break down. Hopefully I will get used to it sooner rather than later."
KEY MATCHUP:
Tougaloo's Makaila Brown has won four conference weekly honors this season. She is the reigning HBCUAC Defensive Player of the Week. Look for Fisk to assign A'Niya Young to Brown who ranks fourth in the HBCUAC in blocks, fifth in defensive rebounds, seventh in total rebounds and ninth in rebounds per game.
WMG Pick2Click
Freshman Kayla Lee played well against NCAA DI UT Martin in her first collegiate game. Look for her to help to pick up the scoring and defensive pressure from the point guard position and take the pressure off of Courtney Lumpkins and Mia Robinson in running the offense.
Lady Dawgs at A Glance
Senior Leadership
The days of college players playing for four years at one school has become a loss art. The Fisk Women's Basketball Team has done a pretty good job of keeping players in school through their eligibility. With a mixture of returning players and transfers, Fisk started the season with nine seniors on their roster. The team heads into the second semester with seven.
Mia Robinson, Dee Scott and A'Niya Young are three holdovers from the highly decorated "Notorious Nine" recruiting class of 2021. They join Jayla Bibbs, Keeli Burton-Oliver, Courtney Lumpkins, and Ami McClow as the seven seniors.
Courtney Carrying
With key backcourt players out, senior Courtney Lumpkins has carried the bulk of the load in running the point guard position and scoring. Against the Virgin Islands, she scored a career-high 23 points. Lumpkins has scored double figures in the past four victories.
In The Nikki of Time
Senior Mia Robinson has logged a lot of minutes lately. The St. Louis native nicknamed Nikki, has averaged a little over 37 minutes per game in the past four contests, two of which she played the full 40 minutes. The versatile power forward has played all five postions during the stretch.
UP NEXT: The Lady Bulldogs will play in the HBCU Athletic Conference's Stillman POD on Monday and Tuesday against SUNO and Dillard.