The Lindenwood women's basketball team picked up a road-win against Northwest Missouri in a 65-53 victory in Maryville, Mo. on Thursday night.
 
Kallie Bildner continued to prove herself as a dominate player in the MIAA as she tallied 29 points with 10 rebounds against the Bearcats.  Bildner shot 85.7 percent from the field on 12-of-14 shooting to help the Lady Lions shoot 45.8 percent as a team.  Lindenwood held the leading scorer in the conference to just nine points on eight attempts.  The Lady Lions outscored the Bearcats 46-28 in the paint and grabbed 42 rebounds to just 26 for Northwest Missouri.  Jerricah Butler had eight points with five rebounds put hounded the Bearcats on the defensive end to help keep Northwest Missouri to 12 points under its season average.
 
The Lady Lions opened play with two fast layups by Butler and Sara Ross to put Lindenwood up 4-0.  Lindenwood fed Bildner on back-to-back possessions to give the Lady Lions an 8-4 advantage less than three minutes into the game.  The Bearcats pulled within one after a three-point play, but a layup by CeCe Rapp and a three-pointer by Megan Foster gave the Lady Lions a 17-11 lead with 3:34 to go in the first quarter.
 
Bre Zanders made a nice pass to a cutting Foster and then hit a mid-range jumper in the final seconds to give Lindenwood a 21-15 lead after the first quarter of play.  Lindenwood shot 50 percent in the opening frame while the Bearcats shot 58 percent from the field.  Northwest Missouri turned the ball over six times as opposed to just one for the Lady Lions.  Both team generated the majority of their points in the paint while Lindenwood held a one-rebound advantage.
 
The leading scorer in the MIAA, Meyer, hit a long three-pointer to pull the Bearcats within one possession, but the Lady Lions continued to attack the paint by getting the ball to Bildner.  Lindenwood took a 29-21 lead after a jumper by Alex Haley and the Bearcats pulled within five after a long three-pointer at the 3:11 mark of the second quarter.
 
Bildner made one free-throw with three seconds to go in the half to give Lindenwood a 32-26 lead after 20 minutes of play.  Northwest Missouri scored nine of its 11 points in the second quarter from behind the arc.  The Lady Lions shot 47 percent from the field in the first half and outrebounded the Bearcats 22-14.  Lindenwood posted 24 points in the paint, but turned the ball over seven times in the second quarter alone while Bildner led the team with 13 points in the opening half.
 
Foster opened the second half by throwing a dart to Bildner in the paint for the quick layup less than 10 second into the third quarter.  Bildner scored again at the 9:06 mark in the third quarter to put Lindenwood up 36-28.  The Lady Lions struggled to pull away as the Bearcats leaned heavily on the three-point shot to stay within striking distance.  Lindsay Medlen made her presence known by dishing out an assist to Rapp and then scored on a fast break on the next possession to put Lindenwood ahead 44-35 with 4:09 to go in the third quarter.
 
Ross knocked down a free-throw and forced a steal immediately after which led to a layup by Butler and a 12-point lead for Lindenwood.  The Bearcats knocked down back-to-back free-throws to pull within 10 points at the 1:16 mark of the third frame.  Lindenwood held a 50-40 lead after the third quarter with the help of a field goal percentage of 51 percent and making 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.
 
The Lindenwood offensive production slowed down in the early going of the fourth quarter as Medlen scored the only points for the Lady Lions in the first four minutes.  The Bearcats and Lady Lions traded buckets for the next minute and Lindenwood held a 57-46 advantage at the halfway point of the final quarter.  Bildner continued to dominate the paint as her 27th point of the night put Lindenwood up by 14 points.  Lindenwood closed out the game with a 65-53 win over the Bearcats on Thursday night.
 
Head Coach Tony Francis was happy with the result and noted that there is still more work to be done.
 
"I liked the ladies' focus tonight against a team that is very dangerous," said Francis.  "The ladies approached this game with the maturity that this staff has been looking for."  Francis ended, "We need to enjoy this tonight and get back to business tomorrow."
 
Lindenwood improves to 12-14 on the year and 7-11 in the MIAA while the Bearcats fall to 8-17 on the season and 3-15 in league play.  The Lady Lions close out the regular season with a 2 p.m. meeting in St. Joseph, Mo. on Saturday against Missouri Western.