Box Score Two steals by Lindenwood senior Marissa Lehnig in the final 1 minute 33 seconds of Wednesday's MIAA game against Southwest Baptist University helped the Lady Lions snap a four-game losing streak.

After Lehnig stole the ball from sophomore Dilonna Johnson, she fed junior Morgan Johnson streaking down the wing and Johnson nailed a three-point basket to give the Lady Lions a 62-60 lead. With 49 seconds left, Lehnig stripped freshman Mackenzie Skupa, and the Lady Lions' possession ended with Johnson making a layup to give them a 65-63 lead.

It took 17 lead changes and some late Kassidy Gengenbacher free throws before the Lady Lions came away with the 71-66 win over the Bearcats and won their first game at Hyland Arena since Dec. 14. The Lady Lions improved to 9-7 overall and 4-5 in the MIAA. The Bearcats fell to 7-9, 2-7.

"Marissa comes in and takes the ball out of a freshman's hands after a defensive rebound; that's what a senior does," Lindenwood coach Tony Francis said. "A senior makes a freshman look bad. That's what they're supposed to do."

It took several great individual plays for the Lady Lions to beat the bigger Bearcats. The Lady Lions didn't get into a rhythm offensively for most of the game, but still managed to lead 27-25 at halftime. Francis has shaken up the starting lineup the last few games to help turn the season around. Freshman Bre Zanders got her first start of the year against the Bearcats.

"I'm trying to find different mixes and let people know there's an expectation," Francis said. "All we want them to do is listen, do what they're told, and good things are going to happen because they have the talent."

The lead kept flip-flopping in the second half. Sophomore guard Jenny Rocha scored on one of her patented drives to the basket, then stole the inbound pass and scored again to give the Lady Lions a 59-58 lead. Rocha finished with a team-high 18 points. It's the first time this season Rocha has led the team in scoring and she raised her scoring average to 9.7 points.

"What I'm proud of is Jenny's play got some energy to the bench," Francis said.

Gengenbacher (17 points), Johnson (13) and Lehnig (10) all finished in double-figure scoring for the Lady Lions. Senior Caroline Bourlioux finished with eight points off the bench. It was the first game this season that Bourlioux has not been in the starting lineup, but she still played 30 minutes.

Dilonna Johnson leads the MIAA with 5.1 assists per game, but was held to three by the Lady Lions, who held the Bearcats to 37.5 percent shooting from the field. Senior forward Jacqui Zelenka led the Bearcats with 19 points and eight rebounds.

The Lady Lions travel to Warrensburg, Mo. Saturday to play the University of Central Missouri. Tip off is at 1 p.m. The Lady Lions close out January with a game against Northwest Missouri at Hyland Arena Jan. 30. Tip off is 5:30 p.m.