MONDAY'S SCORES
@Oral Roberts 99,
Lindenwood 79
@Southeast Missouri 70, Southern Illinois 58
ORAL ROBERTS 99, LINDENWOOD 79
TULSA, Okla. - Lindenwood women's basketball (4-2, 0-0 OVC) dropped a non-conference game at Oral Roberts University (5-1, 0-0 SL) by a final score of 99-79. The Lions were outscored 53-37 in the second half after trailing by only four at halftime.
Ellie Brueggemann scored a season-high 16 points on 5-10 shooting with four three pointers. Lindenwood as a team shot 49.1% from the floor including 32.0% from downtown. The Golden Eagles scored 99 points vs. LU while shooting 59.3% from the floor including 62.5% in the fourth quarter.
Gracy Wernli scored in double-digit for the fourth consecutive game in a row after dropping 11 points on 3-8 shooting. Alyssa Nielsen also scored 12 points off the bench including three triples. Gracie Kelsey in only her second game back scored 12 points in just nine minutes of action on 4-5 shooting.
Lindenwood was forced into 21 turnovers by Oral Roberts while the Golden Eagles had 15 turnovers. Brueggemann had a team-high four steals while also dishing out four assists. Lindenwood assisted on 17 of 28 shots. Mya Skoff added three assists while scoring seven points.
ORU scored 27 points off turnovers compared to just 13 by Lindenwood. The Golden Eagles also scored 42 points in the paint while adding 10 three-pointers. Lindenwood did have 40 bench points compared to 24 from ORU.
The Lions trailed by as many as 15 points in the first quarter as Oral Roberts took a 28-16 lead after the first 10 minutes. Taleyah Jones for ORU was a perfect 5-5 from the floor with 11 points in the first quarter. Wernli and Brueggemann scored five points each in the first quarter as Lindenwood shot 46.2% from the floor while Oral Roberts shot 78.6%.
With 5:50 left in the first half, Lindenwood found themselves down by 22 points after a three from Emily Robinson. After that point, Lindenwood would go on a 22-4 run to cut the lead to four points just before halftime at 46-42. Kelsey made a layup with one second left to put the Lions down four. She scored eight of her 12 points in the second quarter as the Lions shot 57.1% in the quarter.
Oral Roberts came out in the second half trading bows with the Lions. They would extend their lead going into the fourth as they led 71-62. During the final two minutes in the third, ORU finished on a 5-0 run. Three different Lions scored four points in the quarter. ORU shot 9-12 from the foul line in the third.
The game came to a close in the fourth quarter as Oral Roberts outscored the Lions 28-17 including a 12-0 advantage on points off turnovers. Lindenwood shot 6-15 from the field in the final quarter as ORU shot 62.5% including 6-6 at the foul line. The Lions dropped to 4-2 after the loss.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 70, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 58
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Briley Palmer picked up her first career win as Southeast Missouri's head coach when the Redhawks beat longtime rival Southern Illinois, 70-58, Monday night.
SEMO (1-4) led for all but 49 seconds in its home-opening win over SIU (1-4).
Kennedy Claybrooks narrowly missed a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Lexi McCully and Indiya Bowen followed with 18 and 14 points, respectively to lead the way.
Clinging to a 31-30 lead at halftime, the Redhawks outscored the Salukis, 39-28, in the final two quarters.
Ahead, 49-44, SEMO used a 12-0 run to pull away.
The Redhawks ignited their surge by scoring the final five points of the third quarter to grab a 54-44 double-digit advantage.
Claybrooks scored a layup and added a free throw, while Ainaya Williams contributed the other basket in the last 1:22 of the third quarter.
SEMO scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter and took its largest lead of the night when Claybrooks' second-chance layup put the Redhawks up by 17 (61-44) with 6:31 to go.
SIU managed to trim SEMO's lead to nine with 1:35 on the clock, but that was as close as it would get.
Claybrooks shot a near-perfect 7-of-8 from the field, knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and made 3-of-6 free throws. She also had a game-high four assists.
McCully finished at 7-of-13 from the floor, grabbed five rebounds and also buried two threes.
Bowen scored all of her points off the bench on 7-of-16 field goals.
Additionally, Williams had five of SEMO's season-high seven blocks.
For the game, SEMO shot 45.2 percent (28-of-62) from the field and made a season-best seven 3-pointers. The Redhawks outrebounded SIU, 36-33.
The Redhawks forced 20 turnovers and held a 38-26 advantage in the paint, as well.