Lindenwood women’s basketball (4-4) lost a close one Saturday afternoon to Alabama A&M (5-3) 61-58. The loss was the first home loss for the Lions this season, and the team will have one more non-conference game left before Ohio Valley Conference play begins. Ellie Brueggemann led the Lions with 10 points, and had three rebounds and two assists, and was Lindenwood’s only player in double figures. This was also the third time this season the Lions have been held to under 60 points and are now 0-3 when scoring less than 60 points. Lindenwood shot 42.9% from the field against the Bulldogs including 5-16 from three-point range. However, the Lions struggles came from the charity stripe. Lindenwood only shot 11/23 (47.8%) from the foul line, their worst performance of the season. Gracie Kelsey fell just shy of her first double-double of the season finishing with nine points and nine rebounds. Mykayla Cunningham and Brooke Coffey also had nine points each in the loss. Cunningham added four boards and four assists to her line, and Coffey had four rebounds and three assists.
Lindenwood had their second most turnovers of the season with 19 against A&M. The Bulldogs were able to turn that into 17 points while Lindenwood had 10 points off turnovers on 21 turnovers by the Bulldogs. Lindenwood was also out-rebounded on Saturday 37-30 including allowing 13 offensive boards.
It was a fast start for Lindenwood who would find themselves up 7-2 early in the first quarter and ultimately find themselves up 19-16 at the end of the 1st. Cunningham and Kelsey led the Lions with four points each in the quarter.
Alabama A&M opened up the second quarter on a 6-0 and gained their first lead of the game at 21-19. Cunningham would hit two free throws, and Brueggemann would knock down a three to give the Lions back a 25-22 lead over the Bulldogs. Both teams would trade buckets before Mary McGrath would hit two free throws for Lindenwood to tie the game at 35-35 headed into the halftime break. Brueggemann and Gracy Wernli led the Lions with seven points each in the first half, and Cunningham chipped in with six.
Coming out of the halftime break it appeared the Lions were going to take firm control of this game as they opened the third period with a layup from Coffey and two layups from Justis Odom extending their lead to 41-35. However, it was then that the most critical sequence in the game occurred when Darian Burgin was sent to the line for two free throws. She would convert the first and then miss the second and the Bulldogs would grab the offensive rebound and tip in back in for two. Then Lindenwood would get called for a technical foul and the Bulldogs would convert both free throws and convert on another free throw and just like that the game was tied yet again at 41-41. A couple of three-pointers from the Bulldogs extended their lead as they found themselves up 50-47 headed to the fourth quarter.
Lindenwood would tie the game back up at 52 apiece following a Brueggemann three, but back-to-back layups from Alisha Wilson and Jaiyah Harris-Smith got the Bulldogs lead back to 57-53 and they wouldn’t look back. Lindenwood just couldn’t get anything going down the stretch as they had opportunities to tie the game only down 57-55 but turned the ball over on three straight possessions in the final minute without even attempting a shot and the Bulldogs converted their free throws and pulled out the 61-58 win on the road. Lindenwood had six turnovers in the fourth quarter and only attempted eight shots in the final quarter.
Lindenwood will be back in action on Dec. 14 against the University of Nebraska at Omaha before opening Ohio Valley Conference play on Dec. 19 against Tennessee Tech University.
