The Lindenwood women's basketball team defeated Lincoln 89-58 on Saturday afternoon in Hyland Arena.
 
The Lady Lions won its first MIAA contest of the year by outrebounding the Blue Tigers 41-29 and shot 55.4 percent from the field as opposed to 32.7 percent for Lincoln.  Jenny Rocha led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting.  Rocha added six boards and seven assists in 31 minutes of play.  Kassidy Gengenbacher was the next leading scorer with 14 point and she had six rebounds as well.
 
Gengenbacher started the game with a three-pointer which helped spark a 9-3 lead just before the midway point in the game.  Lincoln fought back to tie the game at 11-11 with just under four minutes to play.  The Blue Tigers took the monmentum to a 17-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.  Lindenwood had 10 points in the paint, but allowed six points off turnovers and six second-chance points.
 
The Lady Lions regained the lead after a CeCe Rapp jumper put Lindenwood up 23-21.  After a couple minutes of back-and-forth basketball, Jerricah Butler put the Lady Lions up by seven with her first three pointer of the game.  Lincoln pulled back within five, but the Lady Lions went on a tear.  Rocha scored nine points and Beth Maenpaa put up three points, while Gengenbacher and Kylie Ferguson each put up two points in a 16-0 run to end the half.
 
Lindenwood scored 24 points in the paint and got 10 points from the bench in the second quarter to hold a 50-29 lead over the Blue Tigers.  Rocha was 6-for-6 shooting for a total of 15 points and four assists and the end of the first half.  Rapp was 4-for-6 for a total of eight points and Gengenbacher had nine points with three boards.
 
The Lady Lions continued to keep a large lead, growing their margin to as much as 25 points in the third quarter.  Rocha put up eight points in the third quarter while Ferguson put up seven of her 12 points in the third frame.  The Lady Lions went in to the fourth quarter with a 73-50 lead.  After a Lincoln bucket, Ferguson and Hannah Reller made back-to-back three pointers to put Lindenwood up by 27 points.
 
Hannah Bland put up four points late in the game to help Lindenwood to a large 31 point lead and the Lady Lions defeated the Blue Tigers 89-58.
 
Lindenwood shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half including a 35-point second quarter.  Charisse Williams had a quiet night on offense with just two points, but dished out five assists.  Williams had a great game on defense as she dove for loose balls and compiled three steals with one block and a defensive rebound.  Gengenbacher was honored after the game for scoring her 1,000th career point earlier in the season.
 
Lindenwood improves to 5-2 on the year and now stand at 1-0 in the MIAA.  The Lady Lions will remain in St. Charles, Mo. to take on Northeastern State (Okla.) on Saturday, December 12th for a 1 p.m. start in Hyland Arena.