Game 12
Lindenwood Lady Lions (7-5, 1-5 MIAA) vs.
RV Fort Hays State Tigers (12-1, 5-0 MIAA)
Thursday, Jan. 8, 2015 - 5:30 p.m. - St. Charles, Mo. - Hyland Arena
Radio: KCLC Radio Listen Live - Live Video: Stretch Internet Watch Live - Live Stats: Follow Here


Tonight's Game

• The Lindenwood Lady Lions will finally be back home on their home court Thursday night when the Fort Hays State Tigers come to Hyland Arena. Tonight's game is the first of a three-game home stand.  

• Lindenwood is coming off a loss to No. 1 Emporia State Monday night 97-52. The game was the third straight against a ranked team. 

• The Fort Hays State Tigers come into the contest with a record of 12-1 overall and 5-0 in MIAA play. The Tigers are coming off a win in their last game against Southwest Baptist 72-56 and have won their last 11 games in a row.

Lindenwood Notes

• The last four game stretch for the Lady Lions has been possibly the toughest in the country. Lindenwood's last four opponents have a combined record of 48-5.

• When the Lady Lions have the lead with five minutes to go the team is a perfect 5-0. On the contrary, Lindenwood is 1-5 when trailing at that moment. 

• With her 10 double digit scoring games this season Gengenbacher has now scored in double figures in 22 of her last 25 games dating back to last season. 

• Leading at the half usually leads to a win for the Lady Lions. Lindenwood has a record of 7-2 when leading at the half but are 0-3 when losing at that end of the first half.

• In her first season on the court for the Lady Lions Vanessa Zailo has been a beast on the boards. She is averaging 13.6 rebounds a game and has double digit boards in every game but two this season. Her best rebounding game came against Northeastern State when she grabbed 19 rebounds. 

• Zailo is climbing up the leaders boards in both the MIAA and the NCAA. She is the top rebounder in the conference and is second in all of Division II.

• During the Tony Francis Era the Lady Lions have compiled a 36-23 record at home in front of the Lindenwood faithful. 

• In 2013-14, the Lady Lions finished the season with a record of 5-4 against non-conference teams and have started this season 6-0. 

• Once again this season, turning the ball over has been an issue in the early season for the Lady Lions. Lindenwood has turned the ball over 194 times in just 12 games. 

• To start the season, the Lady Lions defense has been stifling. Lindenwood has held every opponent to under 50 percent shooting so far this season. Against Selma, the Lady Lions held them to just 19 percent shooting. 

• The reigning MIAA Freshman of the Year, Kassidy Gengenbacher is back for her sophomore season. Gengenbacher exploded onto the scene last year averaging over 16 points a game in her first year of college basketball. The sophomore scored over 450 points. 

• Kassidy Gengenbacher was named the MIAA Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 10 after leading the Lady Lions to victory over UMSL.

• Lindenwood will return 62 percent of its scoring output from 2013-14. It will return its top scorer in Gengenbacher plus Morgan Johnson and Rocha who both averaged over nine points a game. 

• This year's roster will welcome six newcomers to the Lindenwood family. The newcomers will consist of four freshman, a division I transfer, and a walk on.

• New assistant coach Morgan Harrington is no stranger to Lindenwood. Before becoming a coach she played two seasons at Lindenwood and helped lead the Lady Lions to the brink of the NAIA National Tournament in 2010-11. After graduating from Lindenwood, Harrington went to Murray State where she was a graduate assistant. 

• The Lady Lions return four of their five main starters from a season ago. The only starter not back is Caroline Bourlioux. 

• Lindenwood was picked as the seventh best team in the MIAA preseason coaches poll. The coaches picked Emporia State as the top team in the conference followed by Pittsburg State, Washburn and Fort Hays as the top four.