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Storyline
The story for the 2009-10 Lindenwood Lady Lions basketball team will be about a fresh start. The Lady Lions will return only three players from their 2008-09 team that finished 14-16 and will have six freshmen that will see plenty of playing time.

Leading the way for the returnees will be senior center Cassie Williams. Last year she was the team's fourth leading rebounder with five a game and also added over seven points per game. Also back for the Lady Lions is junior point guard Abby Schultehenrich who pitched in 6.5 points a game while starting 14 games and she also shot 38 percent from behind the three point line. The final returning Lady Lion will be guard Gina Ferrer who averaged just under five points a game. 

The Lady Lions roster will feature a lot of young talent led by Casey Junge who was a member of the honorable mention All-State team in Illinois during her senior year. Mariah West, Alexis Sutton, Destiny Wilson and Kaylie Jones will all see significant minutes during their freshmen campaigns.

To go along with the young freshmen, three fresh faces will join the Lady Lions from the junior college ranks. Megan Lankford will be in the starting rotation for the Lady Lions and Sade Adams from Southeast Illinois Junior College, and Kelly Albers will be key additions to Lindenwood's new look roster.

Head coach George Little is entering his second season as the head coach of the Lady Lions and will send out his youngest team so far. Last year coach Little led the Lady Lions to their most wins since the 2000-01 season.

For all of the Lady Lion fans, it will take them a few games looking over the programs to see who is on the court, but with the talent that coach Little has put together it won't take the rest of the HAAC long to take notice.

Returning Talent
The Lady Lions will return three players from last year's team. Leading the way is Cassie Williams who averaged 7.5 points in 2008. Abby Schultenhenrich and Gina Ferrer also return and each of them averaged 6.5 and 4.8 respectively.

Young Lady Lions
The 2009-10 edition of the Lady Lions will be very young. Coach Little will have six freshmen on the roster and all will see the floor. Four out of the six freshmen were either first or second in scoring for their high school team.

Local Flavor
Lindenwood's roster will be made up of seven players from St. Louis or St. Charles County. Alexis Sutton and Mariah West come to LU from Parkway North, Sade Adams from Hazelwood Central, Abby Schuiltenhenrich from St. Charles High, Destini Wilson from Whitfield, Cassie Williams from Wright City and Kaci Weston from Wentzville High School. 

Home Sweet Home
In 2008-09, the Lady Lions were 6-5 at the Robert F. Hyland Performance Arena. The Lady Lions averaged over 68 points every time they took the court at home.

Getting Better
In 2008-09 the Lady Lions showed improvement. The team's 14 wins were the most since 2000-01, and Lindenwood was one win away from being .500 in conference play for the second straight season.

Close Games In 2008-09
Lindenwood did not have many close games in 2008-09  but when they did they were successful. The Lady Lions were 2-0 in games decided by four or less points, and 5-2 in games decided by under 10 points.

Cleaning Up The Glass
Cassie Williams, who is back for her senior year, was third on the team in rebounding a year ago with over five a game. She also was the leading rebounder in a game eight times in 2008-09.

Finishing Games
Last year when the Lady Lions went into the half with a lead they won 10 out of 11 games.

Shooting From Downtown
Over the last ten games in 2008-09, Lindenwood made seven or more three-pointers nine times. In that span, the Lady Lions averaged 8.3 three-pointers a game, and made over ten twice.
For the entire season the Lady Lions were 21st in the country in three-pointers made per game at 6.53 and were 28th in the NAIA in overall three-pointers made with 196.

Losing Some Scoring
The Lady Lions will come into the 2009-10 season losing 79 percent of their scoring from last year's team. Williams, Schultenhenrich and Ferrer accounted for 21 percent last year.

 Snapping The Streak
Lindenwood is looking to snap a three game losing streak dating back to the 2008-09 season. The Lady Lions lost their last two regular season games plus the first round of the HAAC tournament.

HAAC Pre-Season Rankings
The Lady Lions were ranked seventh in the preseason polls by the coaches of the HAAC.

High Scoring Games
The last two times the Lady Lions and the Lady Tigers met the teams have scored over 80 points. During the 2007-08 season the Lady Tigers won both times by the scores of 94-87 and 114-101.
The 100 points scored has been the only time the Lady Lions have gone over the century mark since 2005.

About The Lady Tigers
Last year the Lady Tigers ended their season with a 16-14 record. The Lady Tigers feature a run and gun style offense which routinely scores in the 90 to 100 point range. Five times in 2008-09 the Lady Tigers scored over 110 points in a game and averaged over 43 three-point attempts a game. Every player on last year's squad but one shot over 30 three pointers for the year.

Olivet Nazarene is led by senior guard Courtney Neil who averaged just under 10 points a game last year. Also in the same back court will be sophomore Holley Wierseman who also averaged just under 10 points a game.

Olivet Nazarene is coached by Doug Porter who is in his 29th year as a women's basketball coach and 11th year as head coach at Olivette Nazarene University with a career collegiate record of 243-167.

About The Pipers
The Pipers come into the 2009-10 season with high expectations after finishing with a 18-13 record in 2008-09. The Pipers are led by junior forward Keishanna Hodges who averaged over 15 points a game to lead the team a year ago. She also led the Pipers in rebounds with over seven a game and was named a NAIA Honorable Mention All-American.

Tracy Stewart-Lange, a Lyon College alumna and member of its Athletic Hall of Fame, is in her fifth year as head women's basketball coach at Lyon. Stewart-Lange is a former NCAA Division I head coach of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Lady Trojans.

Up Next
The Lady Lions will play their first game of the year against a ranked opponent in the No. 14 ranked Columbia College. The last time the Lady Lions played Columbia was in the 2006-07 season and they lost in overtime 68-67.