Evansville, Ind. - The Lindenwood Women's Basketball team (25-8, 16-4 OVC) fell in the OVC Championship game on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 71-65 to Western Illinois. Ellie Brueggemann scored a team-high 21 points in the contest to lead the Lions offensively, while Aleshia Jones scored 18 points and Gracie Kelsey scored 14 points on 3-4 shooting from the floor and 7-9 from the free throw line. 

In the first quarter, Western Illinois started the game on a 15-6 run over the first six minutes and the Leathernecks shot 75% from the floor in the first 10 minutes of play as they took a 20-11 lead into the second quarter. Alyssa Nielsen and Brueggemann each knocked down a three pointer in the first quarter, while Jones and Valerie Norwood each had two points as the Lions shot 28% from the field in the first quarter. In the second quarter, Jones connected on a jumper with 6:42 left to cut the Leatherneck deficit down to eight at 23-15, but WIU responded by using an 8-2 run to extend their lead to 31-17 with just over 4:30 to play. Brueggemann buried her second three pointer of the first half to cut the WIU lead down to 11 with 3:22 to play in the first half and Norwood scored on a layup with 31 seconds to go as the Lions trailed by 14 at the break. Both Jones and Brueggemann had six points in the first half to lead the Lions offensively. 

To start the third quarter, Jones recorded a steal that led to a fast break layup and Brueggemann nailed a three pointer on the next trip down the floor to cut the WIU lead to single digits by a score of 36-27 with less than a minute into the second half. Gracie Kelsey would bury a three pointer with 7:20 to go to cut the Leatherneck lead to eight at 40-32, and Brooke Coffey connected on a jumper with 6:14 to go to make it a 42-35 game. Later in the quarter, the Lions used a 10-4 run behind two three pointers from Brueggemann to trim the WIU lead to five at 50-45 with two minutes to play, and Kelsey scored the last four points for Lindenwood in the third quarter to enter the fourth quarter down by four at 54-50. 

The Lions would cut the WIU lead down to one with 5:31 to go in the contest after Jones connected on a layup to make it a 59-58 game, but WIU responded with an 8-1 run over the next four minutes and hung on to win the game by a final score of 71-65. Despite the loss, both Ellie Brueggemann and Aleshia Jones were named to the OVC All-Tournament team as Brueggemann averaged 21.5 points per game and Jones averaged 19.5 points per game over two games played to showcase their talents on the biggest stage of the season.