EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Lindenwood women's basketball (7-6, 3-1 OVC) earned a 73-59 victory over the Cougars of SIUE (2-11, 0-4) on Saturday in First Community Arena in Edwardsville, Ill. The Lions found offense at the foul line going 21-24, their second most made free throws in a game this season.

"Proud of our team effort today to bounce back and get a road win!" said head coach Amy Eagan. "Our kids showed a ton of grit and a refuse to lose mentality today. So many great things show on the stat sheet both offensively and defensively."

Gracy Wernli had a career-day shooting the ball after scoring a game-high 18 points on 6-12 shooting including draining three three-pointers. It marked the most points in a game in Wernli's career. She also pulled down five rebounds. After being out-rebounded in the first half, LU won the rebounding battle on Saturday 41-34 including 15 offensive rebounds, their second most this year.

Lindenwood had four total double-digit scorers against the Cougars including 14 from Mya Skoff. This marked Skoff's fourth time in her last five games she has scored in double-figures. Skoff shot 5-12 from the field while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists.

Brooke Coffey also managed to get into double-figures after knocking down two late free throws. Coffey had 11 points and went a perfect 4-4 at the foul line. She was one rebound away from her second double-double of the season. She also had a team-high five assists in the win. Mykayla Cunningham also had 12 points off the bench for Lindenwood.

The Lions assisted on 14 of their 23 made field-goals on Saturday. Lindenwood cleaned up on their turnovers against SIUE only giving up 11 while forcing 14. They scored 11 points of those turnovers while SIUE scored 16. Lindenwood won the paint battle outscoring SIUE 30-26 in the department.

The Lions started out the afternoon on a 9-0 run in the first quarter including an early five points from Wernli. SIUE went 0-3 to start the game with two turnovers in the first three minutes of the ball-game. Mya Skoff and Brooke Coffey hit back-to-back long three pointers to extend the lead to 19-4, but SIUE ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to cut into the lead. During the first 10 minutes of the game, LU shot 7-14 from the field including going 3-4 from deep. SIUE was held to 6-18 shooting during the first period.
 
After Mykayla Cunningham scored the opening basket of the second quarter, SIUE went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to two 23-21 with 7:39 remaining. Kendal George for SIUE would eventually give them the lead after a made layup with 4:00 minutes remaining in the half (27-29 SIUE).

Skoff added an and-one with 2:30 left to give the Lions to 32-31 advantage. Skoff added eight points in the first half. With under a minute remaining, SIUE tied the game with a Macy Silvey three-pointer, but Ellie Brueggemann was able to knock down a three to give the Lions to lead heading into the locker room.
 
LU shot 13-30 in the first half (43.3% FG) while making four of seven three-point attempts. They also went a perfect 7-7 from the foul line. SIUE made six threes in the first 20 minutes while also scoring eight points off turnovers. SIUE also out-rebounded the Lions in the first half 19-17.

It was a low scoring affair in the third quarter, but the Lions were able to maintain their lead. LU shot 4-12 in the quarter while scoring 10 points while SIUE went 4-16 while scoring nine. Wernli had back-to-back three pointers with 7:02 remaining in the third to give the Lions the 47-43 advantage heading into the fourth.

Lindenwood allowed the first bucket of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to two, but it was also Lindenwood after that point as the Lions went on an 11-0 run to extend their lead to 58-45 with 5:18 remaining. The Lions wasted clock while managing to make their free throws in the final frame going 14-17 in the quarter. Both teams ended the game shooting 23-59 (39.0% FG) from the floor as LU improved to 3-1 in OVC play.

The Lions will be back in action on Thursday, Jan. 9th inside Hyland Arena for a matchup against Tennessee State starting at 5:00 p.m. CT. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.