Complete Game Notes in .pdf Format Here

Storyline
There are a lot of expectations coming into this season for the Lindenwood Lady Lions basketball program after a successful season a season ago. Coach Tony Francis and his squad will try to build on a 23-10 season from 2010-11.

The Lady Lions were one of the few teams that were just left out of the tournament last season. The team will be using that experience as motivation.

The Lady Lions will be extremely young this season. The team will consist of no seniors, three juniors, six sophomores, and four freshmen.

Lindenwood will return three out of five starters from last season. Morgan Harrington, Sarah Schnieders, and Caroline Bourlioux will all be back in the starting lineup, and Coach Francis is expecting a lot from this threesome.

Harrington will run the team at the point, and the offense will run through her. Last season, she averaged 13 points a game and also led, team in assists, three-point shooting, and free throw shooting.

Schnieders will be a key to the team's play around the basket. In 2010-11, she was third on the team in scoring with 10.9 points and was third on the team in rebounds with over five a game.

Bourlioux is the third returner and will be the team's primary scoring threat in the paint. Even after battling injuries a season ago, she still poured in eight points a game and almost five rebounds.

The team's sophomore class will be a big key to this year's success. Shantey Hibler, Marrisa Lehnig, Cassie Bluemner, Bourlioux, and Ashley Roth combined for 34 starts and almost 23 points a game.

Late last season Bluemner played a key role off the bench and started to shoot the ball with good success. Hibbler and Lehnig both averaged over four points a game and the coaches are expecting even more from the twosome after having a year of college basketball under their belts.

 This year's freshman class is highly touted and had tons of success in high school. Megan Hittle is a point guard from Indiana. Her high school team was one of the best in Indiana, and Hittle was a lynch pin in the lineup. Janel Whitworth and Katie Brown also played on very good teams their senior seasons. Julie Hlinak is the final season and she left high school as her school's all-time leading scorer.

This year's squad has a good mix of returners and newcomers, and the coaching staff is expecting big things.  

Returning Starters
The Lions return three of last year's starters in Morgan Harrington, Sarah Schnieders, and Caroline Bourlioux. The trio averaged over 25 minutes a game and scored over 31 points combined.

Record Books
The 2010-11 Lady Lions had one of the best all-around seasons in school history. The team is now all over the Lindenwood record books. Last year, the team averaged 70.1 points a game which is the highest average in the history of the program.

Lindenwood was also top five all-time in wins (21), total points scored (2,173), and free-throw percentage (.727).

Road Warriors
The Lady Lions will be criss-crossing the country in 2011-12 and will also take a trip off the continental United States. Lindenwood will travel to 10 states this season including the program's first ever trip to Hawaii. The ladies will travel to Louisiana, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and South Dakota.

Road Warriors
For the first time in over five years the Lady Lions finished in the top two of the final standings in the HAAC. Lindenwood finished second behind champion, Evangel, and hosted the first two rounds of the HAAC postseason tournament.

Harrington Leading the Way
Last season Morgan Harrington was the leader of the Lady Lions. In her first season, she led the team in numerous categories. She was first on the team in scoring (13.4), assists (71), free-throw percentage (.895), and three-point shooting (.402).

After the season, the Belleville, Ill. native was named to the first-team All-HAAC, honorable mention NAIA All-American.

Home Court Advantage
The Hyland Arena floor was a big advantage for the Lady Lions in 2010-11. Lindenwood compiled a record of 12-4 at home.

Streaking
In 2010-11, the Lady Lions put together a couple nice long winning streaks. The team had two six-game winning streaks.

Young Squad
The 2011-12 version of the Lindenwood Lady Lions will be very short in the tooth.
There are no seniors on the team and just three juniors. The Lady Lions consist of four freshman, six sophomores, and the three juniors.

Opponents
This season with the Lindenwood athletics department in a transition year, the team will be taking on a wide range of opponents. The Lady Lions will play 10 NCAA Division II teams, five NAIA teams, and two NCAA Division I teams.

About Lincoln
The game against Lindenwood will be Lincoln's first contest of the season. In 2010-11, the Blue Tigers compiled a record of 2-24.

Last season, Lincoln scored an average of 54.7 points and surrendered 69.3 on defense.

Lincoln's roster underwent a makeover from last season, but Vivian Essuon is back after leading the team in 2010-11. The senior center averaged 16.4 points and 10.2 rebounds a game. Leading the way at the point is sophomore point guard Jackeya Mitchell. She averaged 8.2 points and 2.8 rebounds.

Katie Vaughn is the head coach of the women's basketball program and is in her second season. Before her time at Lincoln, she was the head coach at Moberly Community College.

About Kentucky Wesleyan
Kentucky Welseyan will take on the Lady Lions after a game against Oakland City. Last season, the Panthers compiled a record of 17-10 and finished in second place in the GLVC. The Panthers qualified for the national tournament in 2010-11.

In 2010-11, Wesleyan averaged 71.7 points a game and shot over 43 percent form the field.

The Panthers are led by a pair of seniors. Katie Behrens led the team in scoring last season with an average of 10.9 a game. She also pitched in 4.5 rebounds a night. Kristen Rowe is the other senior and averaged 10 points and 4.6 rebounds.

Caleb and Nicole Nieman are co-head coaches for the Panthers. In their first season, at the helm of the program the Niemans led the team to a 17-10 record and the program's first ever trip to the national tournament.