Today's Contest
- The Lady Lions face Southwest Baptist in a rematch from Jan. 22. The Lady Lions had lost their first four games in 2014 before beating the Bearcats 71-66 at Hyland Arena. A win against the Bearcats would give the Lady Lions a three-game lead over them in the MIAA standings with four games to play.
- Four Lady Lions reached double figures in scoring against the Bearcats in the previous meeting. Sophomore
Jenny Rocha led the Lady Lions with 18 points. Freshman
Kassidy Gengenbacher (17), junior
Morgan Johnson (13) and senior
Marissa Lehnig (10) also reached double figures. Three Bearcats scored in double figures.
- Two steals by Lehnig in the final 1:33 helped the Lady Lions beat the Bearcats. Lehnig stole the ball from Dilonna Johnson, fed 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 Mackenzie Skupa, and the Lady Lions' possession ended with Johnson making a layup to give them a 65-63 lead.
Lindenwood Notes
- Senior
Caroline Bourlioux set a career-high with 15 free-throw attempts in the win against Missouri Western Saturday. Bourlioux made 10 of 15 free throws. Bourlioux set a record for free throws made in a game in 2011 with 12. She has 507 career rebounds and is closing in on 1,000 career points with 939. Despite giving way to freshman
Bre Zanders in the starting lineup the past two games, Bourlioux is still the team's go-to player inside.
- Zanders doesn't take a lot of shots, but she's been very accurate when she does. She sank her only shot against Missouri Western and is 30 of 63 (.476) from the field this year.
- The Lady Lions had their best shooting performance of the season against the Griffons. They made 9 of 19 shots (.474) in the first half, then really got hot in the second half, sinking 13 of 21 shots (.619). Their game shooting performance was .550. The Lady Lions are shooting .454 this season, second in the MIAA.
- Freshman guard
Traci Keller has appeared in four straight games, her longest streak of the season. Keller grabbed a defensive rebound against the Griffons in limited action.
- Sophomore guard
Jenny Rocha continued her torrid pace shooting the ball against the Griffons. She made 4 of 5 shots from the field and 4 of 5 shots from the free-throw line to finish with 12 points. Rocha is far and away the Lady Lions most accurate shooter, making 75 of 136 shots (.551). She leads the team with 72 assists.
- Freshman
Kassidy Gengenbacher has been the Lady Lions' scoring leader for more than a month. Her next field goal will be the 100th of her young career.
- Junior
Morgan Johnson has been a steadying influence on the Lady Lions all season. The Saint Louis University transfer has just 24 turnovers in 392 minutes. She leads the team with 33 three-point baskets and 12 blocked shots.
- Junior
Julie Hlinak has never missed a game in her three seasons on the Lady Lions. Despite being bumped from the starting lineup earlier this year, Hlinak has been one of the most consistent rebounders. Tonight's game against Southwest Baptist is the 75th of her career at Lindenwood.
- Lindenwood coach
Tony Francis has insisted on giving his underclassmen valuable court time and seems content with two freshmen starters in the stretch run to the MIAA Tournament. Francis is unapologetic about the pressure being placed on young players to be key factors in the school's first ever NCAA Tournament berth.
Last Time Out
- The Lady Lions got off to a better start in the first half, and led visiting Missouri Western 34-30 at the break. Accurate shooting kept the Lady Lions ahead of the Griffons for all but a few seconds of the second half in a 72-60 victory.
- The Lady Lions improved to 11-10 overall, but more importantly, they are 6-8 in the MIAA, and put two games between them and the Griffons, who fell to 9-12, 4-10. Twelve of the 14 teams in the conference will receive a tournament bid. The Lady Lions are tied with Northwest Missouri for eighth place.
- In the previous meeting against the Griffons Feb. 1, a 65-62 loss, the Lady Lions turned the ball over 17 times in the first half. Saturday, the Lady Lions had 18 turnovers in the entire game.
- Senior
Caroline Bourlioux didn't start but she led the Lady Lions with 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists, a block and a steal.
Southwest Baptist University Notes
- The Bearcats gave No. 13 Central Missouri all it could handle but fell 67-64 Feb. 6. The Bearcats trailed by 12 points in the second half but battled back to take a 52-50 lead with 9:16 left in the game on a three-point basket by Brook Duncan. Duncan led the Bearcats with 20 points. Jacqui Zelenka registered her second straight double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.
- Duncan has started all 20 games and leads the Bearcats with a scoring average of 14.5 points. Duncan has made 103 of 245 field goals (.420), leads the team with 47 three-pointers and is second with 6.1 rebounds.
- Zelenka, from Mackay, Australia, leads the Bearcats with 8.5 rebounds per game, and is second in scoring with 13.5 points. She's shooting .492 from the field and .746 from the free-throw line.
