Chase Stewart| Lindenlink Contributor

The Lindenwood Lions women’s basketball team suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Lady Bearcats of Southwest Baptist University on senior day, Feb. 16 by a score of 68-62.

The Lady Lions came out firing on all cylinders in the first half, making four of their first five shots of the afternoon. The two teams exchanged leads 12 times in the first half, as neither team was able to surmount a lead larger than three points.

 The intensity of the first half of play translated into the second half initially for the Lady Lions. They pushed their lead to four after free throws by Sarah Schnieders and a lay-up by Jenny Rocha.

 SBU answered the Lady Lions’ surge when Brook Duncan connected on back-to-back three-pointers with 7:11 remaining in the contest. The Lady Bearcats took the lead and never looked back.

 The Lady Lions were able to cut the lead to two points with 2:36 remaining, but SBU would not let them cut the lead any further.

Despite outshooting the Lady Bearcats from the field, 50 percent to just over 46 percent, the Lady Lions were unable to come up with a win. The difference may have been in the rebounding department, as the Lady Lions were outrebounded 32-22.

In her final game at Hyland Arena, senior forward Sarah Schnieders led the way in scoring for the Lady Lions with 15 points while junior guard Marissa Lehnig added 14 of her own points. Fellow senior forward Sonya Milford added four points and led the team in rebounds with five.

Schnieders and Milford are the only two members of the Lady Lions’ team that will not be returning following this season. Schnieders is near the top of every one of the team’s statistical categories.

“Sarah has done some great things for this program both on and off the court. The growth that I’ve seen from Sarah over the past few years is incredible, and our basketball team is going to miss her leadership deeply,” said Head Coach Tony Francis.

Schnieders has been a key piece of the Lady Lions’ team for the past 3 seasons, being near the top of every statistical category every single season and averaging double-digit point totals every season as well.

Schnieders came to LU straight out of high school, while Sonya Milford, from Wellington, New Zealand, joined the Lady Lions’ program in 2011-2012 after spending two seasons at Mineral Area College.

Milford has been a steady contributor for the Lady Lions over the past two seasons in both the points and rebounding categories.

The Lady Lions will wrap up their 2012-2013 season with two games on the road. The team will take on Lincoln University on Feb. 27, and conclude the season against the University of Nebraska at Kearney on March 1.