The Lindenwood women's basketball team held a lead for over 89 percent of the game, but fall 70-67 to Southwest Baptist in Bolivar, Mo. on Saturday afternoon.
 
Southwest Baptist scored the first bucket of the game, but Beth Maenpaa picked up right where she left off and made a layup to start the scoring for the Lady Lions.  Charisse Williams and Kassidy Gengenbacher made two free throws apiece and Gengenbacher made a layup to put Lindenwood up 8-2.  Jenny Rocha and Bri Wilber joined the scoring to help extend the lead, and a three-pointer by Williams gave the Lady Lions a 19-8 lead with just under three minutes left in the first quarter.  Maenpaa lead all scorers at the end of the first quarter with seven points, and she grabbed three rebounds.
 
The Lady Lions scored 14 points in the paint and held the Bearcats to just six in the paint.  The Bearcats saw eight points from their bench in the opening quarter.  Maenpaa was 3-for-3 in the first quarter to extend her consecutive made baskets streak to nine.
 
CeCe Rapp opened up the scoring in the second quarter with a jumper, and Rocha quickly scored two buckets.  The Bearcats hit a few three-pointers, but Lindenwood still held a 32-25 lead with just over four minutes to go in the half.  The scoring was scarce in the final four minutes as the Lady Lions held a 34-29 lead at the half.  Rocha had a solid second quarter as she tallied eight points by halftime.  Maenpaa had nine points and four rebounds at the break, while Williams tallied seven points.
 
The lack of scoring continued into the second half as neither team scored in the first two minutes of the third quarter.  Southwest Baptist pulled within three points after a two-point bucket.  Both teams traded baskets until back-to-back layups by Wilber and Rocha put Lindenwood in front 40-33.  Rocha went off with two more layups with a free-throw make to tally her 15th point of the game.  The Bearcats continued to use the deep ball to keep the game close.  Southwest Baptist hit a three-pointer to pull within four points, and then a steal opened up a fast-break layup to close the gap to just two.
 
After a Lindenwood timeout, Gengenbacher drove to the basket to score a layup and got fouled to complete the three-point play.  Like the end of the second quarter, the third quarter ended with little scoring by either team.  Lindenwood was able to get a free throw make by Kylie Ferguson and in the final seconds of the quarter, Williams made two free-throws to give the Lady Lions a 51-43 advantage.
 
The Bearcats continued to hit their three-pointers, as a long-range shot cut into the Lindenwood lead.  Gengenbacher nailed her first three-pointer of the day to extend the Lindenwood lead to eight.  Southwest Baptist hit back-to-back free-throws, but Gengenbacher came back down to court to knock down another three-ball to keep Lindenwood in the lead.  Southwest Baptist hit two free throws, but Rapp hit a layup to counter the Bearcat points.  Ferguson extended the Lindenwood lead with a big three-point shot with 5:34 remaining resulting in a 63-54 lead.
 
The Bearcats scored seven points within one minute to pull within two points with 3:23 remaining.  Rocah drove to the bucket and drew a foul, but made just one of two.  Southwest Baptist came right back down the court and hit their eighth three-pointer of the game to tie the game a 64-64.  The Lady Lions could not find an open shot and were charged with a shot violation.  The Bearcats took advantage and grabbed the lead with a layup and momentum was in the favor of Southwest Baptist.  With 1:11 on the clock, Gengenbacher drove to the lane and was fouled, but like Rocha, she made just one of two free throws.
 
Down 66-65, Lindenwood had a chance after a Bearcat turnover, but an empty possession gave the ball back to Southwest Baptist.  The Bearcats made their first free throw, but on the second shot, the miss was rebounded by Southwest Baptist forcing Lindenwood to foul.  The Lady Lions were down four points with just 16 seconds remaining.  Gengenbacher hit a layup with eight seconds remaining to pull within two, but the Bearcats were sent to the line with seven seconds remaining.  Southwest Baptist hit one of two free throws to give Lindenwood a chance down three.  Gengenbacher threw up a shot to tie the game, but the rim was unkind and the Lady Lions fell 70-67.
 
Rocah and Gengenbacher led the team with 16 points each and Williams dropped 10 points.  Rocha added six rebounds and two assists, while Maenpaa tallied nine points with six rebounds.  The Lady Lions had the lead for over 35 minutes, but could not close it out.  Lindenwood beat itself up by allowing 21 points on 18 turnovers, and the short bench resulted in a 33-12 advantage for the Bearcats on points from the bench.
 
Head Coach Tony Francis spoke on the frustration his team is going through, but he remains positive about how close the Lady Lions are to getting over the hump.
 
"The ladies are physically playing hard and are close to breaking through," Francis said.  "We just have to believe in ourselves and expect to find success."
 
Lindenwood falls to 7-10 on the year and 3-8 in the MIAA.  The Lady Lions will return to St. Charles, Mo. on Thursday to host Pittsburg State at 5:30 p.m. in Hyland Arena.