Despite a comeback surge throughout the second half, the Lindenwood women's basketball team came up short against Nebraska-Kearney by a final score of 72-67 on Saturday. The Lady Lions tied the game up at 66-66 with 29 seconds remaining, but the Lopers pulled away behind clutch free throws.
 
Both teams started the game off neck-in-neck with two lead-changes. The Lady Lions trailed 11-6 until they drew three shooting fouls and converted six free throws to take the lead by one. However, the Lopers' Laramey Becker drained a three-pointer with three seconds left to give them a two-point lead at the end of the first quarter. Before that play, Becker attempted a jump shot that CeCe Rapp blocked.
 
The Lady Lions struggled to stop the Lopers' offense in the second quarter as the Lopers expanded their lead to as much as 14 points. That did not stop the Lady Lions from fighting back as their bench scored nine points in the quarter. Bre Zanders scored four points followed by Rapp's three. Hannah Reller and Beth Maenpaa registered two points each. The Lady Lions held the Lopers scoreless in the last 2:30 of the quarter due to two steals from Gengenbacher and one from Rapp. Both teams headed to locker rooms for halftime with the Lopers leading 38-29. Charisse Williams led the Lady Lions with six points while five tied with three rebounds each.
 
Although the Lopers scored the first basket in the third quarter, the Lady Lions began to play aggressively on offense led by Gengenbacher. She drained two three-pointers to cut the lead to four. Both teams traded buckets until Kylie Ferguson swished the third three-pointer of the quarter to make the score 44-41 led by the Lopers. At the 4:00 mark, Gengenbacher made an easy lay-up thanks to Reller's feed to cut the lead down to one. However, the Lopers found another offensive rhythm as they extended their lead to seven by the end of the quarter. Jenny Rocha scored four points in the last two minutes including a fast break lay-up off her own steal with 1:06 remaining.
 
In the fourth quarter, the Lady Lions would not back down. They played lock-down defense by holding the Lopers scoreless in the first 2:30 minutes. During that time, Gengenbacher made a layup along with a jumper from Ferguson. At the 8:01 mark, Gengenbacher caught a pass from Williams and nailed a three-pointer to tie the game up at 54-54. The Lopers responded by taking a five-point lead by 3:38 mark. Rocha and Gengenbacher retaliated with a layup and three-pointer respectively to cut the lead down to one with 2:51 remaining. With 29 seconds left, Gengenbacher drew a foul that converted one free throw to tie the game up. However, the Lady Lions got into foul trouble, allowing six free throws to give the Lopers a five-point victory.
 
Gengenbacher led the team with 21 points which 17 came in the second half while Rocha added 13. Vanessa Zailo grabbed a team-high seven rebounds followed by Gengenbacher's six. Reller provided three rebounds and three crucial assists in 16 minutes.
 
The Lopers shot better from three-point range, converting 59 percent of shots taken while the Lady Lions made 29 percent. However, the Lady Lions edged the Lopers in overall field goal percentage, completing 46 percent of their shots. The Lopers made 44 percent. The Lady Lions dominated the rebound contest with 33 while the Lopers grabbed 22.
 
After the tightly-contested game, the Lady Lions fall to 7-8 for the season and 3-6 in the MIAA. They will hit the road on January 13 for another MIAA showdown against Central Missouri. Tip-off is scheduled at 5:30 pm.