The Lindenwood Lady Lions shrugged off a tough first half to battle back against No. 25 McKendree, but just couldn't finish off the game and fell 71-66 at home on Tuesday night.

Both teams started the game very sluggish with the Lady Lions shooting 23 percent and McKendree 31 percent in the first half. The Bearcats would score the final four points of the half and would take a halftime lead of 30-21.

Morgan Harrington started the second half off for the Lady Lions connecting on a jumper which would cut the lead to seven. That jump shot would send Lindenwood on a 16-6 run capped off by a bucket by Ashley Roth which would give the Lady Lions its first lead of the game.

After the Lady Lions took the lead the two teams would trade buckets until the 9:18 mark when McKendree would regain the lead and quickly extend it up to 10 with 3:53 to play.

The home team would not go down quietly putting together an 8-3 run to cut the lead to five with just over a minute to play. Trailing by just five Harrington would launch a three-pointer to try and cut the lead to two but it would fall short and the Bearcats would then close out the Lady Lions at the free-throw line.

Lindenwood would shoot 35 percent from the field for the game compared to the Bearcats' 36 percent. Both teams struggled from behind the arc making a combined three of 19 attempts. The Lady Lions outrebounded McKendree 42-39 but the difference was the free-throw line. McKendree shot 20 more free throws that Lindenwood and made 14 more.

Senior Kelly Albers led the way for the Lady Lions recording a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Harrington led the team in scoring with 17 and every Lady Lion but one who played scored at least two points.

The loss drops the Lady Lions to 2-1 and up next for team is a road trip to Missouri Baptist on Saturday.