The Lindenwood women's basketball lost 71-64 to Northeastern State on Thursday night in Hyland Arena.
 
Alex Haley led the Lady Lions with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting while Sara Ross dropped 13 points and Gabby Walker scored 12 points.  Jerricah Butler had a strong night off the bench with six points and nine rebounds while Charisse Williams scored eight points with five boards.  Lindenwood outrebounded the RiverHawks 40-33 and shot better from the field (43%) and from behind the arc (33%), but Northeastern State was 8-of-28 from three-point range.
 
Haley hit a three-pointer for her fifth point of the game to put Lindenwood up 6-5 at the 7:32 mark of the opening quarter.  Beth Maenpaa grabbed an offensive rebound and the put-back to give the Lady Lions a 9-6 lead heading to the halfway point of the first quarter.  Northeastern State took a 13-11 lead after a 5-0 run.  Haley continued to have a strong start as she hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to tie the game at 16-16 to end the first frame.  The senior transfer finished with 10 points in the first quarter while Charisse Williams grabbed a team-high four rebounds.
 
Northeastern State had success on the offensive end and took a 25-19 lead in the first three and a half minutes of the second quarter.  Hannah Reller helped slow the bleeding with a layup and Haley knocked down a long jumper to put Lindenwood down by five.  The Lady Lions struggled to keep the RiverHawks off the board, but tough buckets by Ross and Walker put Lindenwood down 30-27 with just over one minute to play in the half.  Jerricah Butler made a free-throw with less than 10 seconds to go to cut the deficit to just two points and Ross ended the half with a clutch blocked shot to send the 30-28 game into the break.  Haley finished the opening half with 12 points while Ross tallied seven and Butler registered five rebounds.
 
Northeastern State was held scoreless in the final 3:05 of the first half, but opened the second half with a 5-2 run in the first two minutes.  The RiverHawks found another run of 5-2 to extend the lead to 40-34 with 4:41 remaining in the third quarter.  Lindenwood continued to fight on both sides of the ball, but the three-point shooting by the RiverHawks kept the Lady Lions from making a significant dent in the deficit.  The third quarter ended with a 54-44 lead for Northeastern state with the help of seven three-pointers made and 14 points off of turnovers.
 
Walker scored the first four points of the fourth quarter for the Lady Lions to cut the discrepancy to 56-48.  Haley ran down the floor and knocked down a jumper on the next visit and added a free-throw on the following trip to put the Lady Lions down by five with 7:35 to go in the game.  Butler made a fast-break layup to make it a 56-53 Northeastern State lead nearing the halfway point of the final frame.  Williams went to the paint and made a tough layup to pull within one and Haley drove the length of the floor to make a layup with 3:17 on the clock to give the Lady Lions a 57-56 lead.  The 11-0 run was ended after a deep three-point by the RiverHawks put the visitors back up by two.  Northeastern State took a 62-57 lead with 1:39 remaining to create a tough debt to overcome.
 
After the RiverHawks hit two free-throws, Butler was handed the ball and hit a deep three-pointer with 40 seconds left to pull within four points.  Northeastern State knocked down free-throws and put the game out of reach as the RiverHawks defeated the Lady Lions 71-64.
 
Lindenwood falls to 5-7 on the season and 1-4 in the MIAA while the RiverHawks move to 6-7 on the season and 2-3 in conference play.  The Lady Lions will host No. 20 Central Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. in Hyland Arena.