Box Score Just when it seemed the Lindenwood women's basketball team was ready for upward mobility in the conference, it was bitten again by those gnawing growing pains.

One game after upsetting No. 8 Central Missouri on the road Jan. 25, the Lady Lions returned to the Hyland Arena Thursday with a solid 10-7 overall record, 5-5 record in the conference and a chance to move closer to a berth in the MIAA Tournament. Visiting Northwest Missouri, 6-12 overall, 3-8 MIAA, had other ideas, though.

Junior guard Ashleigh Nelson sank a three-point basket 2 minutes 27 seconds into the game to give the Bearcats a 3-0 lead. Junior guard Julie Hlinak bagged a three-pointer for the Lady Lions to tie the game 10-10 with 13:31 left in the half, but senior guard Monique Stevens answered with a trey the next time down the floor and the Bearcats never were tied or trailed in a 70-59 win.

"I told the girls all week this game would be a dogfight," Lindenwood coach Tony Francis said. "Monday and Tuesday we had very good practices and (Wednesday's) practice went downhill. I don't know if they had too much fun in practice, but it starts with me as coach to make sure I grab their attention. They have to understand that this kind of performance is totally unacceptable if we want to get where we want to be."

That would be still playing in March in the conference tournament. There are 14 teams in the MIAA, but only 12 seeds are up for grabs. The Lady Lions travel to play Missouri Western (2-8, 7-10) Saturday and Lincoln, Mo. (0-10, 3-14) Feb. 5. If the Lady Lions win those two games against teams below them in the standings it would go a long way to gaining a tournament seed.

But Francis said the Lady Lions still have to learn how to deal with the success of beating a ranked team.

"These kids had never beaten the No. 8 team in the nation before, so they had to come in and play a team below us in the standings," Francis said. "Give Northwest all the credit in the world. They outhustled us, they outcoached us, outdid everything than better than us tonight."

The Bearcats pulled down more rebounds (40-29), but the Lady Lions somehow shot better from the field (40 percent to 39.6), had fewer turnovers (15-16) and more blocks (3-1). The game's biggest discrepancy was at the free-throw line where the Bearcats made 26 of 31 and the Lady Lions just 5 of 9.

The Lady Lions backcourt looked out of sync and guard Jenny Rocha fouled out for the first time in her two-year career. Rocha left the game with two points and five turnovers. Freshman guard Kassidy Gengenbacher scored 18 points as her scoring average continues to climb, but she picked up her third and fourth fouls within 30 seconds midway through the second half and finished with four fouls and four turnovers.

Hlinak had 10 rebounds against Central Missouri and had another strong game on the boards with six rebounds. Hlinak finished with 10 points and wasn't called for a foul in 23 minutes on the floor.

Senior Caroline Bourlioux made 7 of 12 shots from the field and finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. Bourlioux now has 910 career points with at least eight games left in her four-year career.