Box Score Senior guard Marissa Lehnig just missed her career high in scoring and led Lindenwood University to a convincing 82-69 non-conference win against McKendree (Ill.) University at Hyland Arena Tuesday night.

Lehing, who leads the Lady Lions in scoring this season, poured in 23 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field and made 7 of 8 free throws in the home opener. Lehnig set her career high February 2012 against Oakland City with 25 points.

The Lady Lions snapped a five-game home losing streak and improved to 2-2.

"The biggest thing is we got a win," Lindenwood coach Tony Francis said. "We were struggling at 1-2 to start the season. We're putting in a whole new system on both sides of the ball. We've got a lot of new players. You can see in the first couple of games that we weren't sure if we had the confidence to do what we want to, so we have a lot of things to correct."

Four Lady Lions scored in double figures Tuesday. Senior Caroline Bourlioux had 12 points, junior Morgan Johnson had 13 and freshman Kassidy Gengenbacher had 13. The Lady Lions have been shooting around 50 percent from the field in each game and made 53.7 percent of their shots against the Bearcats (1-1).

McKendree guard Brittany Willis scored 32 points against the Lady Lions in an 86-71 win last season, but Willis was held to 10 points on 2 of 8 shooting Tuesday. Although the game doesn't count in the MIAA standings, Francis said the two schools have a good rivalry.

"A great rivalry happens when both teams win evenly," Francis said. "I don't know if this shows how far we've come yet, but we'll come into practice (Wednesday) morning eager and hungry with the taste in our mouth that we want more."

Johnson, a 5-foot-9 transfer from Division I Saint Louis University, gives the Lady Lions confidence and a spark on and off the court, Francis said. Johnson sank 3 of 5 shots from three-point range against the Bearcats and leads the Lady Lions with six three pointers.

"Morgan does a lot on the floor, but what she does in the locker room is even better," Francis said. "One of the things we liked about her is she can come into the locker room and keep that chemistry for us. She has that experience of playing Division I for two years, along with Dru (Haertling). They know there's going to be long nights. It's a long season."

That winds back up Thursday at Hyland Arena against Harris Stowe State at 5 p.m. The Lady Lions will try to win consecutive games for the first time since February 2012. It's the second of a six-game homestand that concludes Dec. 14.