The Lindenwood Lady Lions' basketball team was eliminated from the HAAC Tournament on Friday night after an 81-72 semifinal loss to Avila at Hyland Arena.
After the loss, the Lady Lions fall to 21-10 overall. Lindenwood is one of the top teams in the NAIA after Christmas, going 16-4 since that time under first year head coach
Tony Francis. In that span, it is averaging nearly 70 points a game and holding opponents under 60 points. Lindenwood is one of the top rebounding teams in the NAIA, having nearly a +10 rebounding margin in its last 20 games.
Against Avila, it was a tale of two halves for the Lady Lions. In the opening half, Lindenwood shot 57 percent from the field, but in the final half, made just six of 28 shots. To close the game out in the second half, the Eagles shot 64 percent.
After falling behind by four in the early going, the Lady Lions went on a 19-6 run to go up 20-10. After the Eagles cut the lead to eight the Lady Lions once again extended the lead to 10 after a pair of
Christina Edwards' free throws. But the 10-point advantage did not last long as the Eagles went on an 8-0 run in two minutes of play to cut the lead to two.
Avila got the lead down to one with 1:11 to play, but Lindenwood scored the last three points of the half to hold a 42-38 lead heading into the locker room.
The second half started with the Lady Lions extending the lead to six with 15:44 to play. From that point on, it was all Avila. Over the next nine minutes the Eagles went on a 24-7 run to go up by 11. Lindenwood got the lead to seven but that was as close as the Lady Lions could get.
Avila was led by Victoria Murillo, who missed a triple-double by one assist. Murillo scored 28 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and dished out nine assists.
Lindenwood outrebounded Avila 36-32 and committed 11 turnovers compared to the Eagles 12.
