ST. CHARLES, Mo. - Lindenwood women's basketball (8-6, 4-1 OVC) picked up their fourth Ohio Valley Conference win of the season against Tennessee State (4-11, 0-5 OVC) on Thursday night inside Hyland Arena by a final score of 68-54. The Lions are currently in a tie for second place in the OVC after tonight's results.

Ellie Brueggemann was the leading scorer for Lindenwood after scoring 14-points on 5-9 shooting including four triples. As a team, Lindenwood shot 7-16 (43.8%) from three-point range and 22-46 (47.8%) from the floor. Their field-goal percentage was their highest since shooting 49.1% against Oral Roberts (11/25).

Brooke Coffey picked up her second double-double of the season on Thursday after scoring 10-points and pulling down 11-rebounds in the win. Coffey went 3-5 from the floor, including two three-pointers, and went 2-2 at the line. Justis Odom also had 10 points in the win and dished out a team-high four assists.

Lindenwood's bench gave the Lions a spark against the Lady Tigers as they provided 22 points. Alyssa Nielsen led the group with nine points while going 5-6 at the foul line. She also added three rebounds. Mykayla Cunningham also added six points, three rebounds and four assists in the win.

The Lions turned Tennessee State over 20 times on Thursday resulting in 19 points. Tennessee State's defense also forced Lindenwood into a season-high 24 turnovers. LU managed to assist on 14 of their 22 made field-goals as well. The Lions also went 17-23 at the foul line in the win, including going 7-10 during the third quarter.

Starting the game off, Lindenwood shot a perfect 4-4 from the field as they led 10-5 with 6:54 remaining in the first quarter. The Lions would end the half on a 13-7 run leading 23-12 after one quarter of play. Brueggemann had a team-high eight points after 10 minutes while LU shot 61.5% from the field.

The second quarter saw both teams struggle from the floor as the Lions' out-scored the Lady Tigers 14-6 in the period. Tennessee State was held to 2-18 (11.1%) shooting in the second quarter while LU shot 4-12 (33.3%). Lindenwood went into the locker room leading 37-18 after shooting 12-25 from the field and 9-11 from the foul line. TSU shot only 4-17 from three in the first half.

Tennessee State jumped out on a 9-6 run to begin the second half with 4:20 left in the third. With 3:16 left, XaiOnna Whitfield made a three-pointer to cut the lead to 11, the closest it had been since early in the first quarter. The Lions ended the quarter on a 8-3 run to push their lead back to 16 points at 53-47. 

Early on in the fourth quarter, Lindenwood had stretched their lead out to 24 points twice including after a layup by Nielsen with 3:31 remaining, but TSU still put the pressure on the Lions with their full court press. The Lady Tigers forced four turnovers under two minutes to play to cut the lead to 14, but it was not enough as the Lions improved to 8-6 on the season and 4-1 in OVC competition.

The Lions will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 11th at 1:00 p.m. CT when they take on the Skyhawks of UT Martin inside Hyland Arena. For more information go to lindenwoodlions.com.