Box Score Freshman Kassidy Gengenbacher scored a season-high 26 points but the Lindenwood women's basketball team lost their last game of the regular season to Missouri Southern 71-61 Thursday at Hyland Arena.

With the win, Missouri Southern improved to 18-7 overall, 12-6 in the MIAA and clinched a first-round bye in the conference tournament that begins March 3. The Lady Lions, 14-12, 9-10, were locked into seventh place in the MIAA going into the game and will host the 10th place team Monday, 7 p.m. at Hyland Arena.

"They are one of the top four teams in arguably one of the top conferences in the country," Lindenwood coach Tony Francis said. "What's frustrating is we battled with them. We left a lot out there, whether it was their size, I don't know. But we didn't attack the basket like we had worked on or we could have gotten them in foul trouble."

Several teams in the MIAA are in the mix for the 10th spot, but Francis won't know who the Lady Lions will play until Saturday. Francis said the starting lineup of Gengenbacher, freshman Bre Zanders, sophomores Dru Haertling and Jenny Rocha and junior Morgan Johnson would stay the same for the Lady Lions' first trip to a NCAA conference tournament.

Gengenbacher is averaging 15.4 points per game and has led the Lady Lions in scoring the past four games. Against Missouri Southern, she was 8 of 11 from the field, 4 of 5 from three-point range and matched Rocha for a team-high three assists.

"If Kassidy is not the Freshman of the Year, there's something wrong," Francis said. "She got beat up tonight on cuts to the basket, on drives to the basket, and she kept going."

Senior Caroline Bourlioux needed 12 points Thursday to reach 1,000 in her career with the Lady Lions, but finished with six points. Bourlioux can still reach the plateau Monday. She led the Lady Lions against the Lions with 10 rebounds; the fourth time this season she's posted at least 10 boards.

Johnson was the only other Lindenwood player to reach 10 points. The second leading three-point shooter in the league behind Gengenbacher, Johnson has slumped from behind the arc in the last three games where she's made 4 of 18 shots.

Missouri Southern used its size advantage to outrebound the Lady Lions 35-22. The Lions were 22 of 28 from the free-throw line and Johnson and Haertling fouled out.

Missouri Southern missed all four three-point attempts in the first half, and the Lady Lions led 29-26 at the break. But the Lions made all three treys they attempted in the second half. Junior guard Alexis Fitzpatrick led the Lions with 18 points. Sophomore Sharese Jones, of St. Charles, had 15 points and eight rebounds (five offensive) for the Lions who beat the Lady Lions 72-61 Jan. 15.

"They keep running big kids in at you," Francis said. "They go nine-deep and we're shorthanded right now. Are you going to pout about it, or step up and do something about it? I think we stepped up."