Box Score Kearney, Neb. – The Lindenwood Lions closed on a 23-4 run and got 45 bench points to beat Nebraska-Kearney, 85-68, Tuesday night in an MIAA Tournament first round game at the Health & Sports Center.

The ninth-seeded Lions (13-15) move on to face 9th-ranked Pittsburg State (24-4) Friday in Kansas City. The eighth-seeded Lopers end the year at 12-16.

To beat UNK for the first time in five meetings, the Lions had a 46-26 rebounding edge that included a 12-2 margin on the offensive glass. LWU, not known as a three point shooting team, also made 5 of 7 long range shots in the first half, highlighted by a 50-foot buzzer beater by freshmanreserve guard Lindsay Medlen.

"After Southwest Baptist, I felt like we were peeking and getting to where we needed to be at the right time. But we didn't get enough stops tonight and as they were converting late, we missed some shots and couldn't answer," said UNK head coach Carrie Eighmey.

Leading 18-10 early on, the Lopers fell behind by eight points in the second quarter and entered the locker room down 41-35 after Medlen's bomb. Scoring a season-high 23 points, Medlen's second and last triple of the night gave her team a 57-51 lead late in the third.

UNK closed the quarter on a 7-1 run that featured a fast break three-point play from junior guard Michalea Barry (Battle Creek). The momentum continued briefly in the fourth quarter as the the Lopers scored the first four points to lead 62-58.

Kearney was ahead 64-62 when the Lions roared, going on a 13-0 run in a four-minute span that put things out of reach. This spurt saw LWU go 6 of 9 from the field while the Lopers missed all five shots it took, as well as missing two free throws and committing a live ball turnover.

"I think some people were thinking you don't want to play Kearney," said Eighmey, referring to UNK's eight wins in its last 12 games. "Hand it to Lindenwood. They came in real loose and were having fun."

The Lions closed things out by making some free throws, finishing the night 21 of 31. They also went 29 of 60 (48%) from the field to score the most points UNK has allowed all season.

"Defensively, we didn't have that aggressive mentality. We were back on our heels most of the game," said Eighmey. "We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds. We didn't dictate much and were very reactive. We also had a hard time keeping them in front and defending without fouling."

Scoring 42 points in the paint and having 11 second chance points, the Lions were led by Medlen who made 7 of 14 (2 of 5 threes) shots in 29 minutes. She also had five rebounds and five assists.

Next, MIAA Freshman of the Year Kallie Bildner had a double double (16 points & 11 rebounds) and sophomore wing Sara Ross had a season-high 15 rebounds, seven points, three assists and three steals.

"They have a couple of big bodies inside and that's a bit of a mismatch for us. That kind of dictated how we had to guard," said Eighmey. "Part of our game plan was to make them take some threes and protect the paint. They hit some early ones and that stretched us out a little bit and made us guard the line."

Before fouling out, Barry tallied a team-high 22 points on 7 of 12 shooting while also supplying five defensive rebounds, three assists and no turnovers in 27 minutes.

Finally, four seniors unfortunately played their final games as Lopers tonight. They were Arizona senior point guard Alexa Hogberg (seven points & five assists), Dannebrog senior wing Courtney Aitken (nine points, three rebounds & three steals), South Dakota senior post Kelsey Fitzgerald (seven points & six rebounds) and Missouri senior post Nieka Wheeler (three points & five rebounds).