ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's basketball (5-5, 1-0 OVC) defended home court by picking up their first Ohio Valley Conference win of the season over Tennessee Tech (7-4, 1-1 OVC) by a final score of 67-54. It marked the first time since joining the OVC that the Lions have won their OVC opener.

Ellie Brueggemann was the leading scorer for the Lions after dropping 14 points. Despite shooting 2-6 from the floor, Brueggemann went 9-10 at the foul line to lead Lindenwood. As a team, the Lions went 20-23 from the foul line.

Mya Skoff made her first start of the season and did not disappoint. She had 12 points on 4-10 shooting and went a perfect 4-4 at the foul line. She also added five rebounds, including four offensive rebounds, and had a team-high three steals. Gracy Wernli also scored 12 points while shooting 4-8 from the field.

Brooke Coffey and Mykayla Cunningham each had 11 points in the win. Coffey shot 5-9 from the field while Cunningham went a perfect 5-5 from the floor while grabbing five rebounds. Lindenwood shot 44.9% from the field and was even on the glass with the Golden Eagles with 33 rebounds each.

The Lions turned Tennessee Tech over 15 times including nine steals and had six blocked shots including three from Justis Odom. Odom had a team-high seven rebounds while adding seven rebounds. LU also assisted on 12 field-goals including four assists from Brueggemann.

Tennessee Tech started out the first quarter on a 8-2 run, but the Lions clawed their way back to cut the lead to one. The Golden Eagles scored their first 12 points in the paint. Coffey tied the game at 15 at the end of the first quarter with a layup. LU shot 6-13 from the field in the first 10 minutes and were led by Cunningham with four early points.
 
Lindenwood found themselves down 15-17 early in the second quarter. The Lions started shooting 2-9 from the field in the second, but found a way to tie the game at 19 with a Coffey layup off the steal by Skoff. LU opened up a five-point lead after back-to-back buckets by Wernli and Cunningham.
 
The Lions went into the locker room leading 29-23 after shooting 40.7% from the floor in the first 20 minutes. TTU was held to 3-12 in the second quarter and were forced into 10 first half turnovers. Both teams were active in the paint in the paint with the Golden Eagles scoring 20 of their 23 first half points in the paint while LU had 16.

Lindenwood jumped out on a 13-6 run to begin the second half after a Coffey layup inside to put the Lions up 42-29 midway through the third quarter. Skoff would stretch out the lead to a game-high 16 points at the end of the third quarter with a layup off a turnover as LU led 54-38 going into the fourth.

The fourth quarter saw Tennessee Tech out-score the Lions 16-13, but it was too little too late as the Lions were able to prevail during their OVC opener by a final score of 67-54. LU shot 5-10 from the field in the fourth while TTU shot 4-14.

Lindenwood will be back in action on Saturday, Dec. 21st for a matchup against Western Illinois starting at 1:00 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.