EVANSVILLE, IN. — The Lindenwood Lions women’s basketball team is headed back to the Ohio Valley Conference championship game for the second consecutive season..
Behind a strong second-half defensive effort and four players scoring in double figures, Lindenwood (25-6, 16-4 OVC) defeated the Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles (21-10, 14-6 OVC) 82-79 in the OVC Tournament semifinals Friday afternoon at the Ford Center.
Ellie Brueggemann led the Lions with 22 points, knocking down six 3-pointers to tie her season high. Aleshia Jones added 21 points and a season-high six steals as Lindenwood advanced to its second consecutive OVC championship game.
“I’m really proud of our kids,” Lindenwood head coach Amy Eagan said. “For Southern Indiana to come out and shoot like that, I don’t know if I’ve ever played against a team that’s been that hot in the first quarter. But we stayed poised, stayed confident, and kept believing in what we were doing.”
Southern Indiana’s hot start
Southern Indiana opened the game on a blistering shooting pace, hitting nine of its first 11 3-point attempts and shooting 66 percent from the field in the first half. The Screaming Eagles led 33-23 after the first quarter as Ali Saunders fueled the early surge.
Despite the hot start, Lindenwood kept pace offensively. Jones scored six of the Lions’ first 13 points as the teams battled early before Southern Indiana used a 12-2 run midway through the first quarter to extend the lead.
Lindenwood responded in the second quarter behind Brueggemann and Brooke Coffey, who combined for three early 3-pointers to trim the deficit.
Brueggemann and Valerie Norwood added additional 3-pointers later in the quarter as the Lions closed the gap to four points at halftime, trailing 50-46.
Brueggemann scored 12 first-half points while shooting 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, and Jones added 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting to keep Lindenwood within striking distance.
“Our offense has been sustainable,” Eagan said. “We just had to stay the course and keep doing what we do.”
Defensive adjustment turns the game
Lindenwood’s defense began to take control after halftime.
Southern Indiana briefly pushed its lead to nine points early in the third quarter before Coffey stopped the momentum with a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 58-52.
Later in the quarter, Brueggemann drilled her sixth 3-pointer of the game, followed by two free throws from Gracie Kelsey that trimmed the margin to four. The Eagles still held a 65-60 advantage heading into the final period.
The Lions responded with their biggest run of the game in the fourth quarter.
Jones scored four quick points as Lindenwood opened the period on a 9-2 run to take a 69-67 lead with 5:30 remaining. After Southern Indiana briefly regained the lead on a 3-pointer, Jones answered with one of her own to ignite a 10-4 run that put the Lions ahead by five with under two minutes left.
“Just keep defending, stop and score,” Eagan said of the message late in the game. “Be who we are. I’ve got a bunch of winners sitting beside me, and they weren’t going to let it go easily.”
Brueggemann and Coffey converted three of Lindenwood’s final four free throws in the closing seconds to seal the victory.
Key contributions across the roster
Jones finished with 21 points and six steals while also making several key defensive plays during the Lions’ fourth-quarter run.
“I think preparation is a big part of it,” Jones said of her defensive success. “Watching their tendencies and reading their eyes. My teammates also did a great job applying ball pressure so I could read the passes.”
Brueggemann’s 22 points came on 7-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.
“When I see the first one go in, I just keep shooting,” Brueggemann said. “My teammates did a great job getting downhill and drawing defenders so I could get open looks.”
Coffey contributed 15 points and led the Lions with nine rebounds, while Mya Skoff added 10 points. Lindenwood also controlled the glass, outrebounding Southern Indiana 32-26 and generating 17 second-chance points.
Eagan credited the team’s collective rebounding effort as a key difference.
“I thought we did an exceptional job rebounding tonight,” Eagan said. “That and our defense were really the two things that carried us through.”
Another shot at history
Southern Indiana finished with 79 points behind a game-high 30 from Saunders, but the Eagles cooled off significantly after their blazing first quarter, shooting just 2-for-11 from 3-point range the rest of the game.
With the win, Lindenwood advances to face the top-seeded Western Illinois Leathernecks in the OVC Tournament championship game.
The Lions reached the conference title game last season as well but fell in overtime to the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles.
A victory this time would mark a historic milestone for the program, securing Lindenwood’s first-ever berth in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament since transitioning to Division I.
