The Lindenwood women's basketball team fell to Illinois State 71-70 in an exhibition on Wednesday night in Normal, Ill.
 
The Lady Lions played strong all night, but could not close out the game as Illinois State took the lead with under one minute left and held on for the win.  Freshman CeCe Rapp led the Lady Lions in scoring with 20 points, while Kassidy Gengenbacher put up 19 points, including four three-pointers.  Jenny Rocha led the squad with 34 minutes played, and she added eight points and four assists to her stat total.
 
Lindenwood played an even game in the first quarter as it ended in a 14-14 tie.  The Lady Lions kicked it into high gear with 20 points in the second, and they held Illinois State to just six second-quarter points.  With a 34-20 lead heading into the second half, the Redbirds covered some ground and pulled within eight after the third quarter.  Illinois State put up 30 points in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback and win 71-70 over Lindenwood
 
Lindenwood outscored Illinois State 34-26 in the paint, but surrendered 22 points off of turnovers, including 17 in the second half.  Head Coach Tony Francis noted his team must learn from the experience in order to become a better unit.
 
"I was very proud of everyone's effort tonight," said Francis. "We will learn from the second half of this game and it will make us a better team down the road." Francis continued, "I'm humbled that Illinois State invited us to play in a great environment."
 
Lindenwood will open up its regular season in Wayne, Neb.  The Lady Lions will compete in the Wayne State Classic, with their first game against Wayne State on November 13th starting at 6 p.m.