The Lindenwood women's basketball team fell short of an upset in a 71-67 loss to No. 24 Wayne State on Friday night in Wayne, Neb.
 
Kassidy Gengenbacher finished with a team-high 23 points and added five rebounds, while Vanessa Zailo tallied 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.  The Lady Lions held all but one opposing player under 10 points, but Paige Ballinger put up 36 points on Lindenwood to help Wayne State pull out the victory.
 
Lindenwood started the game very slow and fell behind 7-0 and eventually found itself down eight just three minutes in to the game.  Jonna Raflund sparked a 6-0 run for the Lady Lions to pull within two points.  The Wildcats and Lady Lions traded baskets throughout the remainder of the first, but Lindenwood was able to tie the game at 18-18 at the end of the first quarter.  Lindenwood had eight points from the bench including four from Raflund.
 
The second quarter was again a slow start for Lindenwood as it allowed six unanswered points.  The Lady Lions again had eight bench points, but allowed 12 points in the paint and four second chance points in the second quarter, but they were only down by one at the half.  Lindenwood shot 7-of-8 from the free throw line in the first half and had eight points each from Gengenbacher and Zailo.
 
Coming out of the break, the Lady Lions again could not find the big start they wanted and fell behind 44-38 just four minutes into the second half.  Jenny Rocha hit a jumper just under the five minute mark and was followed by back-to-back Gengenbacher layups to tie the game up.  Freshman Charisse Williams hit a three-pointer to put the Lady Lions up by three.  The Lady Lions scored just two points in the final two minutes of the third quarter and were behind 53-51.  Turnovers hurt the Lady Lions as Wayne State scored five points off the offensive mistakes including six fast-break points.
 
Gengenbacher sparked a big start to the fourth quarter with back-to-back three-pointers giving the Lady Lions a 57-53 after one minute of play in the final quarter.  Lindenwood held the lead for the next six minutes until a Wayne State three-pointer tied the game at 62-62 with three minutes to play.  Wayne State took the lead with just under two minutes left and held on to a slim lead resulting in a 71-67 loss for the Lady Lions.
 
Williams finished her night with nine points, while Rocha had nine of her own along with seven assists.  The Lady Lions shot 44.1 percent from the field and 35 percent from behind the arch.  Head Coach Tony Francis was knew his team would not back down against the Central Regional Semifianlist from a year ago.
 
"I am very proud of the way we fought against a top-25 team and playing in their house," Francis said.  "This team has a very bright future if we can take this and learn from it."  Francis continued, "I don't think Wayne Sate expected that battle."
 
 
Lindenwood is now 0-1 on the year.  The Lady Lions will complete their stay in Wayne, Neb. on Saturday for a 2 p.m. game against Northern State.