Complete Game Notes in .pdf format here

Storyline
The Lindenwood Lady Lions basketball team will be back on their home court Thursday night when the team begins its conference portion of the schedule.

Lindenwood enters HAAC play with a record of 4-4 and will play one game at home before going on the road for the final two games before winter break.

First up will be a home contest against head coach Tony Francis' alma mater, Culver-Stockton. The final two games of the stretch will be a pair of tough road games. First will be Baker who was receiving votes in the preseason NAIA poll. To close the first half of the season the team will take on the Evangel Crusaders who began the season ranked No. 24.

Last Time Out
Over the past two games the Lady Lions compiled a 1-1 record.

The stretch would start with the Lady Lions falling on the road to Hannibal-LaGrange 70-65.
Both teams struggled shooting the ball in the first half. Hannibal would hold the lead heading in the half and the Lady Lions could not overcome the deficit.

Lindenwood was led by Sarah Schnieders who poured in a career-high 25 points.
To close out the two-game road stretch Lindenwood would travel to Fisk University and would leave Nashville with a 87-49 win.

Kelly Albers would lead the team with 20 points and seven rebounds. As a team Lindenwood shot 67 percent from the field.

Shooting Lights Out
The Lady Lions shot a staggering 67.9 percent from the field in a win over Fisk. The shooting percentage broke a 22-year old school record. The previous record was 65 percent and was set in 1988.

In the record breaking performance the team began the game shooting 71 percent from the field in the opening half.
 
Scoring Is Tops
As the team enters the HAAC portion of the schedule, the Lady Lions are leading the conference with 72.25 points a night. The Lady Lions have also scored the most points (578) in the conference. 

Dominating The Boards
The Lady Lions are outrebounding their opponents by an average of five rebounds a night which is the second best margin in the conference.

The team is also first in the conference in offensive rebounds a game with 16. The best rebounding effort came against Harris-Stowe earlier in the season. The Lady Lions outrebounded the Hornets 58-36.

Block Party
Lindenwood's defense has been very stellar so far this season and blocking shots has been a strength. The team has recorded a total of 28 blocks on the year for an average of 3.5. The 3.5 blocks a game is 22nd best in the whole country and ranks first in the HAAC.

Kelly Albers, Sarah Schnieders and Caroline Bourlioux all lead the team with seven blocks each.


Stellar Defense
Defense has been a strong teaching point for head coach Tony Francis and the teaching has spilled over to the court. Lindenwood's defense is only giving up 67 points a night and has held opponents to under 39 percent shooting. The defense has also compiled 76 steals.

Young Talent
The 2010-11 edition of the Lady Lions is a very young squad. The five freshmen have combined for 12 starts and are averaging a combined 31.2 points a game. Shantey Hibbler leads the freshman averaging 8.1 points a night.

Forcing Turnovers
The Lady Lions have done a exceptional job forcing turnovers and not turning the ball over this season. Lindenwood is 18th in the country with a +4.4 turnover margin. In six out of eight games, the team has had fewer turnovers that its opponents.

Center of Attention
Center Kelly Albers has made her presence felt in the paint. The senior is averaging 13.3 points a game and leads the team in rebounds with 9.8.  Her best night of the season came against Harris-Stowe earlier in the season when she scored 22 points while grabbing a career-high 15 rebounds.

Abby's Stellar Career
Abby Schultenhenrich continues to climb up the career leader board at Lindenwood. The senior is eighth all-time with 98 career three-pointers made. 

Scouting The Wildcats I
The Culver-Stockton Wildcats come into the match-up against the Lady Lions with a record of 1-5 and have lost their last two games. This will also be the first conference game for the Wildcats.

Culver is scoring an average of 56 points a game and surrender almost 70 points on defense.

The Wildcats are led by a pair of upperclassmen. Junior Rachel Larson leads the team in scoring with over nine points a game and five rebounds while senior Jamai Letcher chips in with 7.6 points and 5.4 rebounds.

Leading the Culver program is first year head coach Seth Minter.

Scouting The Wildcats II
The Baker University Wildcats have began their season with a record of 4-4. The match-up against the Lady Lions will be the Wildcats second HAAC contest. Baker will face Benedictine in its opening conference game.

Baker is one of the best defensive teams in the conference. The Wildcats defense allows just 61 points a night and is in the top 10 in the country in opponents shooting percentage (.340). As a team, the Wildcats shoot 75 percent from the free throw line which is ninth in the country.

Leading the way for Baker is a pair of seniors. Emily Gibson and Brittany Hines both average 13.8 points a game. Gibson also leads the team in rebounds with 8.8 a night.

Susan Decker is entering her 10th season as the head coach of the Wildcats.

Scouting The Crusaders
The No. 24 Evangel Crusaders have started their season with a record of 2-3 but have played a very tough early season schedule. The Crusaders beat No. 8 Oklahoma Baptist and then fell to No. 3

Oklahoma City the next night. Evangel has also played a pair of games against NCAA Division II schools.
The Crusaders are averaging 56.8 points a game and are surrendering 64 points on defense. As a team Evangel has the top free throw percentage in the country at 83 percent.

Leading the way for Evangel is a trio of double-digit scorers. Kara Blakenship  leads the team in scoring with 14 points and six rebounds. Caitlin Russel chips in with 13.6 points and also grabs six boards a game. Lacey Luttrell is the point guard and fills up the stat sheet every night. Luttrell is averaging 11 points, six rebounds and 5.6 assists.

Evangel is led by Leon Neal who is in his 17th year as the head coach of the Crusaders.

Up Next
After this three game stretch, the Lady Lions will have almost a month off until they get back to action on Jan. 6 against Missouri Valley.