Box Score In the chase for one of the 12 seeds in the MIAA Tournament next month, the Lindenwood women's basketball team has been tripped up recently by the gravity of the situation.

After upsetting Central Missouri, the No. 8 ranked team in Division II at the time, Jan. 25, the Lady Lions lost three straight games to teams below them in the conference standings. Each loss was marked by a slow start as the Lady Lions trailed at halftime in all three games.

Saturday at Hyland Arena, the Lady Lions burned with energy 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 and they put the breaks on the losing skid with a 72-60 victory.

Lindenwood coach Tony Francis said he's been the cause of the pressure the Lady Lions have felt as they chase down a tournament seed in their first official season as part of the conference.

"And I'm not going to apologize for it," Francis said. "I want our kids to learn we have that expectation year in and year out. I'm not going to handle them with kid gloves. Let's put it all out there. The freshmen have to learn, we're trying to do what we can to give the seniors their best year possible."

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.

To try and invigorate the Lady Lions early in games, Francis has inserted freshman Bre Zanders into the starting lineup. What Francis is giving fans of the Lady Lions is a peek into the future. Zanders has been starting alongside freshman Kassidy Gengenbacher, who could be a candidate for MIAA Freshman of the Year, sophomores Dru Haertling and Jenny Rocha and junior Morgan Johnson.

Starting a younger lineup allows Francis to bring off the bench the two most experienced players on the team, seniors Caroline Bourlioux and Marissa Lehnig. Bourlioux is second on the team in scoring with 11.9 points per game, Lehnig is third at 11.3.

In the previous meeting against the Griffons a week ago, 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.

"The first half of the first half we were very aggressive offensively," Francis said. "We just saw them a week ago; we knew what they were going to do. They're strong trapping and creating turnovers. For the first seven minutes of the game, I thought we attacked their defense well. Then we got back on our heels. We're still fighting that confidence, maturity issue."

Bourlioux didn't start but she led the Lady Lions with 16 points, including 10 free throws, seven rebounds and six assists, a block and a steal. It's the kind of all-around effort that has been the keystone of Bourlioux's four-year career at Lindenwood. She has 507 career rebounds and is closing in on 1,000 career points with 939.

"Caroline has been hard on herself lately, but she played very well today," Francis said. "These teams are physical. Not sure what the officiating emphasis has been the last couple of weeks, but it's the February grind preparing for March Madness. These teams we're playing are fighting for their lives, and we're in that group. Now it comes down to the team that's hungriest, can execute under pressure and has the will."

Gengenbacher dug the Lady Lions out of a 5-0 hole by scoring their first five points, finished with 15 points and made 4 of 6 shots from the field – 2 of 3 three-pointers – and was 5 of 7 from the free-throw line. Rocha was the other Lady Lions player to reach double figures in scoring with 12 points. Lehnig finished with eight points on 4 of 5 shooting.

One of the top two shooting teams in the MIAA all season, the Lady Lions shot a season-best 55 percent from the field against the Griffons, who turned the ball over 23 times.

"The reason we shot better today is we distributed the ball better," Francis said. "Outside of those times we weren't attacking traps, we shared the ball and passed well, and we got into a rhythm."

In another pivotal conference game, The Lady Lions travel to Bolivar, Mo. Tuesday to play Southwest Baptist (9-11, 4-9).