Lipscomb University Women's Basketball

Chris Sumski enters his seventh season on the Lipscomb staff after joining the program in the summer of 2019 and has been an instrumental part of the Bisons' success thus far. Sumski entered Lipscomb with six years of collegiate coaching experience, including spending the past two years working for new Lipscomb head coach Lauren Sumski at Rhodes College in Memphis.  During his time at Rhodes, Sumski assisted Rhodes College to an SAA Tournament Championship and an NCAA National Tournament appearance during the 2018-19 season. In his first season at Rhodes, Sumski helped a team that achieved the nation's third largest turn-around at the NCAA Division III level. The Lynx had a 13-win improvement, propelling the team to a second-place finish in the Southern Athletic Association. The Lynx were ranked first in the conference in field goals made, field goal percentage, defensive rebounding, defensive field goal percentage, and defensive three-point percentage. At the end of his first season with the Lynx, Sumski saw four Rhodes players earn All-Conference accolades.  Sumski spent two years at Union University, in Jackson, Tennessee, before Rhodes. During his time at Union, he was primarily responsible for opponent scouting, film breakdown, and working with the post players. He helped develop Tiara Caldwell into an NCAA Division II All-American post-player during those two seasons. He was also part of a Gulf South Conference Regular Season Championship, helped lead Union to a No. 1 - South Region ranking in the NCAA National Tournament, and a top-25 NCAA DII final ranking.  Before Union, Sumski was an Associate Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator for the men's basketball program at St. Andrews University as they transitioned from NCAA Division II to NAIA. During his time at St. Andrews, Sumski was involved in all aspects of the program, where he recruited and developed two AAC All-Conference players, one of whom played professionally in Spain. Sumski also served as the head coach of the school's junior varsity men's basketball team. Sumski played collegiately for St. Andrews University for four years during the end of the school's era as an NCAA DII institution. During his senior year, he averaged 10 points per game and set the school record for three-pointers made in a season (81). He twice set the school record for three-pointers made in a game (nine) and finished third in the Conference Carolinas overall three-point percentage (42%). He graduated from St. Andrews University in May 2012 with a bachelor's degree in sports management. Sumski is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, and is the eldest son of Steve and Melissa Sumski. He wed the former Lauren Avant, current Lipscomb Women's Basketball Head Coach, on March 31, 2015, and they currently live in Nashville, TN. 

Sydney Shelton was named assistant coach in July 2022. After spending three years in a Lipscomb uniform, she joined the women's basketball coaching staff and is now entering her fourth year as an assistant coach and second as recruiting coordinator.   Shelton played for Sumski for three years at Lipscomb after playing two years at Butler. She was a three-year leader and a captain who contributed both on and off the court.    While at Butler, she was named to the 2017 Big East All-Freshman Team and finished the season as the top three-point shooter on the team and in the conference, connecting at a 49 percent clip. She played in 11 contests her sophomore year with the Bulldogs before coming to Nashville.    After sitting out the 2019 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Shelton was sidelined due to injury after just three games of the 2020 season after scoring double-digits in two of those outings. Though the injury was thought to be career-ending, Shelton persevered and fought to get back on the court.    "To our knowledge and understanding, no one has come back to play competitively after the first procedure that she had to correct the first injury," said head coach Lauren Sumski. "For her to undergo this and still have a passion for the game, the toughness to persevere through difficult rehabilitation, and to be willing to serve her teammates through it all says a lot about her. I can't tell you how many times we told her that she didn't have to continue playing and that she didn't have to fight, but she wanted to stick it out."    After returning from her injury, Shelton was a pivotal contributor to the 2020-21 team. She appeared and started in 16 games, scoring 110 points with 20 three-pointers. Shelton earned a spot on the 2021 ASUN All-Academic Team after posting a 4.0 GPA. At the start of conference play, however, she had a similar injury that sidelined her for the remainder of the season.   Yet again, Shelton defied the odds and returned to play her senior season. After playing nearly every 2021-22 season game and averaging 6.9 points per game and 2.6 rebounds per game, Shelton was once again named to the 2022 ASUN All-Academic team.    "The silver lining through the injuries is that she really had time to figure out what was most important to her. We learned she had an eye for seeing the game at an elite level from the sidelines, as well as a unique feel for the game. We began challenging her increasingly with things like film breakdown and scouting reports, and we realized she was really special," said Sumski. "She's already elevated our program and had such a unique impact that I have total confidence that she will continue that on in a new role – with our current team members and future prospects."   

Jacob is entering his third season as the Assistant Coach/Director of Operations after spending the his first season as a student assistant for the Bisons. Ogle has played a tremendous part in the program's success over the last two seasons, both on the court and in day-to-day operations. As an assistant, Jacob is instrumental in advanced opponent scouting, video coordination, stats and analytics and player development. Prior to Lipscomb, Jacob served in multiple capacities at Nashville Christian School. He was an assistant coach for the middle and high school boys' basketball teams and the head coach for the middle school's junior varsity team. While coaching at Nashville Christian, he was also heavily involved with skill development in the Nashville area, working with Lipscomb alum Andrew Fleming. Jacob also prepped at Nashville Christian, where he was a part of two District and Sectional championship teams and helped his team to their first state tournament appearance since 1981.  

Bailey Pedigo enters her second season as a graduate assistant for the women's basketball program at Lipscomb in 2025-26. Coming off her playing career at Campbellsville University (Ky.), Pedigo was apart of three conference championships, two conference tournament titles and three NAIA national championship appearances (2021-23-24). All three of the team's postseason's berths saw them advance to the quarterfinals.  She played in 128 career games for the Tigers with 105 starts as a guard, and she scored 679 points, grabbed 446 rebounds and dished out 377 dimes. She was a member of the Mid-South Conference's Academic All-Conference Team and was the Champion of Character for both the MSC and the NAIA in 2023.  Off the court, she served Campbellsville as president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and a member of the MSC's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  Pedigo graduated Summa Cum Laude from Campbellsville in 2024 with a degree in math and health and physical education. She is pursuing a Master of Education at Lipscomb with an emphasis in curriculum and instructional coaching.