The Lindenwood women's basketball team defeated McKendree 70-46 on Tuesday afternoon in Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo.
 
The Lady Lions started off strong in the first quarter.  After the Bearcats made the first bucket of the game, Lindenwood went on an 11-0 run with five different players pitching in.  Vanessa Zailo knocked down back-to-back buckets and Kylie Ferguson capped off the quarter with a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Lady Lions an 18-4 lead after the first quarter.
 
Lindenwood allowed McKendree to pull within six near the end of the first half.  With a 25-19 lead, Kassidy Gengenbacher hit her second three-pointer of the quarter to extend the Lindenwood lead to 28-19 going into the break.
 
McKendree again made it a six-point game to start the second half, but Gengenbacher hit another three-pointer to get the lead back to nine.  Both teams traded free throws with less than a minute to go and Jenny Rocha hit a jumper with seven seconds left to give Lindenwood a 44-32 lead.  The Bearcats attempted a long range heave as time was running out, but the missed attempt landed out of play with just under one second remaining.  Lindenwood ran a back door cut to Charisse Williams for the quick tip in resulting in a 46-32 lead.
 
The Lady Lions began the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run.  After two McKendree free throws, Lindenwood went on a run of 9-0 to pull further away.  The Lady Lions put up 24 points in the fourth quarter and held on the defeat the Bearcats 70-46.
 
Gengenbacher ended with 16 points, including 4-of-7 shooting from three-point range.  Rocha dished out a team-high seven assists and added nine points to her totals.  Zailo dominated the boards with 12 rebounds and had two blocks as she added eight points.  Lindenwood shot 47.1 percent from behind the arc and was efficient from the free throw line at 83.3 percent.
 
Gengenbacher moved up into third place in career three-pointers made in Lindenwood school history.  With 127 three-pointers made, Kassidy is 10 buckets behind Crystal Barz who is in second place.  The Lady Lions bench pitched in with 20 points to help the Lady Lions to victory.
 
Lindenwood improves to 4-2 on the year.  The Lady Lions will have a long break before they host Lincoln (Mo.) on December 5th for a 1 p.m. in Hyland Arena to open MIAA play.