The Lindenwood women's basketball team played a strong game against No. 3 Fort Hays State, but failed to end the night with a victory as the Lady Lions fell 65-59 on Thursday night in Hyland Arena.
 
Lindenwood battled on the boards against the Tigers, which has been a problem in recent games.  Vanessa Zailo clawed her way to 11 rebounds and Jenny Rocha fought for five boards.  Kassidy Gengenbacher did not have an easy night scoring has all of her 13 points were hard earned points.  Zailo tallied a double-double with her 11 boards and 13 points, while Rocha put up 12 points.
 
Lindenwood found itself down 14-6 early in the game, but a Kylie Ferguson three-pointer later brought the Lady Lions within four points.  The Tigers defense was too hot to handle for the Lady Lions as Fort Hays State scored 10 points off of turnovers.  Head Coach Tony Francis made it a point to his team that the rebounding differential has been an issue.  Lindenwood scored 10 points in the paint and had four second-chance points in the first quarter.  Fort Hays held a slim 20-15 lead after the first 10-minutes of play.
 
The Tigers jumped on the board early in second quarter with three straight points, but a Rocha layup and a Beth Maenpaa bucket plus one closed the gap once again.  Near the end of the first half, Zailo and Rocha hit back-to-back buckets to make it a one-point ball game with under one minute to go.  Fort Hays added two free throws before the end of the half to take a 32-29 lead going into the break.
 
The third quarter again was started by the Tigers after a three pointer and a layup put Fort Hays up by eight points.  Both teams were held scoreless for over two minutes, but a bucket by Charisse Williams sparked Lady Lion's offense.  The basket by Williams pulled Lindenwood within five points and a CeCe Rapp jumper made it a three-point game.  Rapp and Rocha closed out the scoring for the Lady Lions in the third quarter, and Lindenwood was down just two points heading into the final quarter of play against No. 3 Fort Hays State.
 
After the Tigers and Lions traded baskets to start the fourth, Fort Hays nailed a three-pointer to go up by five points.  Lindenwood responded with a layup by Rocha and a huge three-pointer by Gengenbacher tied the game at 51-51 with seven minutes to play.  With four minutes remaining the game was tied at 55-55, but the Lindenwood offense stalled.  For the next 3:29 the Lady Lions were held scoreless and could not hold the Tigers at bay, as Fort Hays took the lead and won by a 65-59 margin.
 
Lindenwood shot just 16.7 percent from behind the arc, but outshot the Tigers 40 percent to under 34 percent from the field.  The Lady Lions put up 36 points in the pain as opposed to just 16 for the Tigers, but Fort Hays scored 23 points off of 20 Lindenwood turnovers.
 
Lindenwood falls to 7-7 on the year and 3-5 in the MIAA after the loss.  No. 3 Fort Hays improves to 13-1 on the year and 7-1 in the MIAA.  The Lady Lions will return to Hyland Arena on Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. start against Nebraska-Kearney in St. Charles, Mo.