Lindenwood Women and Men Split with Central Missouri

Richie Thompson hit 2 free throws with just 4.8 seconds left in the game to lift the Lindenwood Lions to an 83-82 victory over the Central Missouri Mules at the Hyland Arena.  The Lions had led for most of the 2nd half.  In fact, they had a 16-point lead with 11:47 to play.  However, the Mules fought back, and when Central’s Reggie Stallings hit a 3-pointer with 10.8 seconds to play, it gave them an 82-81 lead, before Thompson connected on his free throw shots.

In the 1st half, Central Missouri went on a 14-5 run late  to build a 40-34 lead, the biggest lead for either side in the 1st half.  However, Lindenwood score the half’s last 3 points.  The score at the break was Central Missouri 40 and Lindenwood 37.  

Early in the 2nd half, Lindenwood went on a 16-0 run over a 4-minute stretch to turn around the game.  It was Cody Sorenson’s bucket that put the Lions up 2:52 into the 2nd.  By the time their 16-unanswered points ended, the Lions led it 56-42 with 13:30 remaining. 

Following the game, Lions head coach Brad Soderberg said the victory was wonderful for his seniors, “This is a group of guys that their junior and senior year, they can’t play in postseason basketball because we’re moving from the NAIA to Division II,” Soderberg said, “That’s a major sacrifice that they’re making and this was kind of a treat for them.” 

The Lions have 7 games left, and only one of them is at home.  Soderberg said that’s not necessarily a bad thing, “Well the funny thing is we play, sometimes we play better on the road.  I don’t know why that is.  The other night, ya know we went to Southwest Baptist, we had an 18 point lead at half, played great basketball.” 

The Lions had 4 players score in double digits—Sorenson, a Francis Howell graduate, and Brett Thompson each had 14, while Aaron Ramirez had 12, and Alex Bazzell, a St. Charles West grad, had 10.  Bazzell is the leading scorer for the Lions on the season, averaging 16.9 points per game, which is 5th best in the MIAA.

The loss snapped a 9-game winning streak for Central Missouri, who entered the day at the top of the MIAA standings.  In addition, the Mules had won 4 straight on the road. 

Central Missouri fell to 15-4 overall and 9-2 in the MIAA.  Meanwhile, the Lions have won 5 of their last 6, they are 14-5 overall, 7-4 in the MIAA and 9-3 at home. 

Saturday’s meeting was the third between the two schools.  Central Missouri won the previous two.  The last time the two schools met was in 1982. 

In the women’s game, the 11th ranked Jennies of Central Missouri held off a late charge by the Lady Lions for an 83-75 victory in the teams’ first ever meeting. 

Junior guard Marissa Lehnig led the Lady Lions in scoring with 22 points, while Ft. Zumwalt South graduate Julie Hlinak had 16, and Sarah Schnieders, a St. Dominic graduate, had 10 points.

The win was the 4th in a row for the Jennies and their 12th victory in 13 games. 

The loss was the 6th straight for the Lady lions and dropped them to 4-15 overall, and 1-10 in the MIAA. 

Both the women’s and men’s teams for Lindenwood have 7 games remaining in the regular season—6 of those are on the road.  The next action for both teams is next Thursday night against Northeastern State in Oklahoma. 

The afternoon was called, “Sellout for Sterling,” in honor of Sterling Thomas, a freshman member of the Lindenwood football team.  Thomas suffered a severe spinal cord injury during an October game.  Some of the proceeds from the game will be donated to Thomas’s recovery effort. 

GAME NOTE:  Central Missouri men’s head coach is Kim Anderson who played for Mizzou and later was an assistant coach for the Tigers (1991-1999).  In addition, he was an assistant coach at Baylor University (1985-1991).  Anderson’s first season as the head coach of the Mules was the 2002-03 season.  This past Sunday, Anderson was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in Springfield.