BATESVILLE, AR – Tonight at Becknell Gymnasium in Batesville, the Lyon College Scots men's and women's basketball teams will be in American Midwest Conference action against the visiting Columbia College Cougars.
Tip-off for the women's contest is slated for 5:30 p.m. The men's game follows at 7:30 p.m.
 
MEN
The Cougars (7-3, 1-0) are coming off an 89-79 win over Baptist Bible College. Forward Collin Parker led Columbia College with 22 points, Trenton Tisdale had 18, Brock Davis scored 14 and Cole Gerken had nine points in that non-conference game.
Columbia's lone AMC win was a 76-47 victory over Williams Baptist, which was after the Cougars started 3-0 on the season with wins over Central Christian College of the Bible (115-56), Westminster College (77-55) and Missouri Valley College (68-63).
In the Fairfield Classic in Canton, Missouri, the Cougars lost to Culverton-Stockton in overtime 86-75, then fell to Iowa Wesleyan 73-64 before defeating Central Methodist 79-62. Columbia lost to No. 13 William Penn 93-91, but rebounded to defeat Bellevue University 71-61 and Baptist Bible College in the Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic.
The Scots (2-2, 0-1) evened their season record with a 76-69 home victory over Blue Mountain College just before Thanksgiving. Trenton Bell led Lyon College with 23 points, Sando Hill had 19 and Nikola SaSaroga scored 13 points.
Last year the Scots lost 90-71 and 83-62 to the Cougars. The last win in the series for Lyon College was February 13, 2021, 56-54.
Statistically for the Scots, Bell is averaging 23 points per game, Hill averages 13.3 and SaSaroga has an 11.3 points per game average. John Paul Morgan leads the team with an 8.3 rebounds per game average and Israel Palmer is second on the rebounding list with 7.8 rebounds per contest.
 
WOMEN
The Lyon College women's basketball Scots (1-3, 1-1) are coming off a disappointing 100-55 AMC loss at Missouri Baptist in their last outing.
Kayla Richardson led Lyon College in scoring with 12 points.
The Scots defeated Cottey College on the road, 89-75, to gain a conference win already. Allison Byars the team's leading scorer, averaging 15.8 points per game. Paige Tate is second with a 13.5 points per game average and leads the Scots with a 6.0 rebound average per game.
The Columbia College Cougars (5-3, 1-1) are coming off a somewhat surprising AMC loss to Stephens College, 60-52, at home. Stephens is the current leader in the conference standings.
The Cougars started off the year on a 4-game winning streak by defeating Central Christian College of the Bible (104-14), Kansas Wesleyan 76-73, Westminster College (79-46) and Oklahoma Panhandle State (77-67).
Columbia then suffered losses at Grand View (87-59) and No. 8 Clark University (78-62).
Last year, the two teams split in regular season competition with the Cougars winning at Columbia 67-53 and Lyon College winning at Becknell Gymnasium on a last-second buzzer-beater 73-71. The two met in the AMC tournament championship game in 2021 and Columbia won 53-48.
Mallory Shetley leads the Cougars with a 10 points per game average, DeLaney Horstman is at 9.8 points per game and leads the team with 7.5 rebounds per contest, Peyton Crowe averages 9.4 points per game and Abby Backes is at 9.3 points per outing.