The Lindenwood women's basketball team fell 84-66 to No. 10 Fort Hays State in Hays, Kan. on Thursday night.
 
The Lady Lions opened up the game with a 7-4 lead after a three-pointer by Charisse Williams silenced the crowd.  Fort Hays immediately responded with an 11-0 run to take a 1507 lead before a Lindenwood timeout with over five minutes remaining.  Bri Wilber made her first start of the season and made it count.  Wilber made a quick cut to the hoop to lay it in, and Beth Maenpaa knocked down two free throws to pull Lindenwood within four points.  The Tigers knocked down three three-pointers in the first quarter to take a 22-17 lead after the first quarter of play.
 
Lindenwood spread out the scoring as seven players had two points, and Williams led the squad with five points.  The Lady Lions turned the ball over seven times with Fort Hays compiling 14 points off of those turnovers.  Lindenwood scored 10 points in the paint to establish a commanding post game.
 
The Tigers opened up the second quarter with six points in just under three minutes, while holding the Lady Lions scoreless.  Lindenwood struggled to handle the basketball, and found itself it early foul trouble.  Fort Hays played strong defense that did not allow the Lady Lions to get clear looks at the rim, and the Tigers jumped out to a 32-19 lead with just over four minutes to go in the first half.  For the remainder of the quarter, play slowed down as Fort Hays held a 36-21 lead at the one minute mark.  CeCe Rapp closed out the first half by knocking down two free throws, but the Lady Lions still trailed 36-23 after the first half of play.
 
Lindenwood scored just six points in the second quarter due in large part to Fort Hays scoring 18 points off of 13 Lindenwood turnovers.  The Tigers caught up to the Lady Lions in the post by scoring 10 points in the paint, and outrebounded the Lady Lions 23-17.  Lindenwood was a perfect 8-for-8 from the charity stripe, but Fort Hays had twice as many attempts and hit 11 free throws in the first half.
 
Fort Hays opened the second half hot by scoring on three of its first four possessions, but the Lady Lions clawed back.  Wilber had a hand in nine of the Lindenwood points with two assists and four points to bring Lindenwood within 13 points.  Kylie Ferguson scored the next four points for the Lady Lions to make it a 10-point game with 5:36 remaining in the third quarter.  Fort Hays went on a 13-4 run to take a commanding 59-40 lead with under two minutes to go in the third quarter.  The Tigers added a free throw near the end of the quarter to take a 20-point lead heading in to the final quarter of play.
 
The Lady Lions continued to play though throughout the end of the game, and Jenny Rocha moved up in the record books with her first free throw of the game.  Rocha is now in ninth place all-time for most free throws made in Lindenwood history.  The Lady Lions could not string together a significant run in the game, but had great production from Wilber.  Lindenwood scored 26 points in the final quarter of play, but it was too little too late, as the Lady Lions fell 84-66.
 
Wilber tallied 16 points on 7-of-16 shooting, while adding seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals.  Ferguson scored 12 points, as Rapp dropped 11 points with four rebounds.  Lindenwood was 21-for-28 from the free throw line, while Fort Hays was 33-for-47 from the charity stripe.  The Lady Lions grabbed 42 rebounds as opposed to 40 for the Tigers, but the offense turned the ball over 24 times in the game.  Gengenbacher was held under double-digit points for the first time since February 1, 2014 against Missouri Western.
 
Head Coach Tony Francis acknowledged the quality of opponent his team faced, but he mentioned some positives his team can take away from Hays, Kan.
 
"I feel this was a good lesson for our players to experience on a top-10 teams' home court," said Francis.  "They made it a point to attack from all five positions on their offensive end," he continued, "at this level, you must present more than a couple scoring threats or you become easy to scout."  Francis added, "Kassidy didn't get the looks we needed because we were not aggressive from all five of our positions."  Francis ended, "I though (Bri) Wilber played a nice game and she scored in multiple ways, and when we get this type of threat at two more positions, we will begin to turn the corner."
 
Lindenwood is now 7-18 on the year and 3-16 in the MIAA.  The Lady Lions will travel to Kearney, Neb. on Saturday to take on Nebraska-Kearney at 2 p.m.