Box Score

Bolivar, Mo. - The Southwest Baptist University women's basketball team used clutch free throw shooting down the stretch to defeat the Lady Lions of Lindenwood 69-62 on Thursday evening in Bolivar.

SBU was once again quick out of the gate, taking a 5-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game. The Bearcats would push their lead to nine (15-6) off of Morgan Lucy layup before Lindenwood started to battle back to take a point point advantage at 17-18. The Bearcats would continue to fight, quickly regaining the lead off of another Lucy layup. The Bearcats pushed their lead back to seven before going into the half up 31-28.

In the second half SBU jumped out to their first double-digit lead of the game off of an Ashlee Pitts three to put SBU up 40-30 with 15:33 to go in the game. However, Lindenwood continued to hang in the game by cutting the lead back to four before the Bearcats once again extended the lead to seven (50-43) with 9:10 left in the contest. The game continued to go back-and-forth before Lindenwood tied up the game (55-55) with 2:55 left. The Bearcats would close out the game on a 14-7 run to claim the 69-62 victory.

Jacqui Zelenka once again led the way for SBU with another double-double, giving the Bearcats a game high 17 points and 13 rebounds. Brook Duncan was 6 of 10 from the floor for 13 points while Chasity Prince added 10 points in the victory. As a team SBU shot 42.4% from the field, 26.7% from beyond the arc, and 75.0% from the free throw line.

"Every win is a big win," head coach Todd Voss stated after the victory. "We are really proud of our kids, and I am really proud of the way we fought down the stretch.  Lindenwood played a nice game and came back and tied it up at 55 and I thought we really answered down the stretch and made some big plays. It was a good win. We didn't play our best game of the year, but hopefully we can learn from this game and continue to improve."

The Bearcats quickly return to action on Saturday, February 2 when they host Truman State. Tip-off is set for 1:30 p.m. from the Meyer Sports Center in Bolivar.