The Lindenwood women’s basketball team remains undefeated at home, narrowly squeaking out a win against the University of Evansville Aces on Nov. 18 in overtime fashion by a score of 71-69. The team is now 3-1 on the season.
After a down fourth quarter offensively by the Lions, Evansville tied the game forcing overtime. The deciding shot in the game was a one-point tip-in by Brooke Coffey with 43 seconds left in the overtime period. The Lions were able to add an additional point before the final buzzer as well, with Ellie Brueggemann successfully draining a free throw.
The Lions rode to victory on the backs of four separate players scoring double-digit point totals, led by both Justis Odom and Gracy Wernli, both scoring 14. Mya Skoff and Brueggemann also contributed 13 points each in the effort.
The first quarter of play saw both team’s defenses shining, as only 30 combined points were scored, with Lindenwood in front 17-13 when the first buzzer sounded. The first three minutes of the game only saw a handful of scores, with Coffey draining two consecutive free throws in the first two minutes, and Odom with a successful layup. Evansville’s Maggie Hartwig scored the opening point for the Aces in that time period as well, a three-point shot on a fastbreak. The remainder of the period would be dominated by Skoff, Odom, and Brueggemann offensively, with Odom and Brueggemann each adding two points more points to their early totals. Skoff would land a three-point shot shortly after the halfway mark in the period as well, and Wernli and Mykalya Cunningham each got into the early scoring action as well, with two points each.
The second period is when the Lions’ offense truly found their footing, draining 23 points in 10 minutes. The defense held the Aces to just 13, moving the score to 40-27 heading into halftime. The group of Skoff, Brueggemann, Odom, and Wernli combined for 17 of those 23 points, with Alyssa Nielsen adding a three-point shot, Coffey with two on a layup, and Cunningham one on a free throw. The duo of Wernli and Skoff each added five points in the quarter, with Odom throwing up four, and Brueggemann three. However, the end of the quarter saw a crucial turn for the Aces. Camryn Runner scored three consecutive times in the final 30 seconds, which was a certain level of foreshadowing for the game’s final half.
At the start of the third quarter, the Lions began to falter. The offense kept pace with the first two quarters of play, scoring 15 points. However, the defense failed to keep up, allowing 25 Aces points onto the board to close the game to just a three-point deficit going into the final quarter. Odom would score on a layup almost immediately as play resumed, and Wernli added five of her own on a three-pointer and a layup less than a minute later. After a fastbreak layup score from Brueggemann in the seventh minute, the Lions would endure a major scoring lull. They wouldn’t add any more points for three minutes of play and only mustered six more for the quarter. Odom was responsible for four of those six, with the other two coming on an Aalayah Wilson layup in the final minute of the third. On the other side of the ball, Runner was able to add 10 points, including two of her four three-point shots on the evening. She led Evansville with 30 points scored all told, accounting for nearly half of their team’s total.
The final quarter of play saw both teams enduring a further offensive desert, as only 17 points were scored. Lindenwood put up seven, while the Aces put up 10, just enough to tie the game. The deciding score was on a Tamesha Dozier tip-in with 19 seconds left in regulation. It was Runner, though, who played spoiler for the Lions the most, scoring six of the Aces 10 in the period, forcing overtime. For Lindenwood, Coffey scored on a layup in the first 30 seconds of the quarter and failed to do so again until Brueggemann put up five points on consecutive possessions in the final minute and a half of the fourth.
In overtime, the Aces won the faceoff but missed on an immediate three-point attempt. After Cunningham turned over the ball on the next possession, the Aces drew first blood, with Julia Palomo going up for a successful layup attempt. After yet another Cunningham turnover led to a Coffey defensive rebound, Skoff drained the Lions’ second successful three-pointer since the start of the fourth to give them a slim one-point lead. A Cunningham foul would lead to two consecutive free throws made by Runner, giving the Aces yet another one-point lead with two minutes to play. Coffey and Skoff were each fouled by Evansville in the next three Lions’ possessions, allowing three successful free throw attempts to put Lindenwood back out in front, by two points. Palomo would land a jump throw with just a minute left in overtime to tie the game, but it was Coffey’s tip-in after a missed three-point attempt by Brueggemann that settled the score, and the game. Brueggemann would add a free throw in the final seconds as redemption to finalize the score at 71-69.
The Lions now head out on a three-city road trip to face Kansas City, Oral Roberts University, and the University of Nebraska. The team returns home on Dec. 7 to play Alabama A&M University, to kick off a four-game homestand in the month of December.
