(St. Charles, Mo. – Nov. 11) – Despite a season-high 18 points from senior forward Emily Best (Wood River, Ill./East Alton-Wood River), the McKendree women's basketball team fell to 0-3 on the season Tuesday night after a 77-59 loss at Lindenwood University.

McKendree will travel to Olathe, Kan., to play in the MidAmerica Nazarene University Tournament Friday and Saturday.

Best (Wood River, Ill./East Alton/Wood River) led McKendree with 18 points and junior guard Haley Klingelhoefer (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) (Mascoutah, Ill./Mascoutah) had 10 points. Best's effort Tuesday night puts her 19 points away from 1,000 career points at McKendree. Lindenwood's Natalie Hooss led all players with 21 points and 10 rebounds to record a double-double. Cassie Williams scored 19 points for the Lions.

Lindenwood rushed out to a 7-0 lead before a layup by Ashley Agee (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) (Moberly, Mo./Moberly) put the Bearcats on the board. After a Lindenwood three-pointer, back-to-back buckets by junior Amanda Schuring (Gilberts, Ill./H.D. Jacobs) (Gilberts, Ill./H.D. Jacobs) and senior Julie Garrison (Centralia, Ill./Centralia) (Centralia, Ill./Centralia) brought McKendree's deficit to four with 14:39 remaining in the first half. The Bearcats took a one-point lead on a free throw by Agee and led by as many as seven after a three-pointer by Agee at the 4:30 mark. The Lions got the lead back on a three by Crystal Castillo with 2:30 left in the first half and led 32-26 at the break.

The Lions came out on fire in the second half and pushed their lead out to 16 with 9:09 left in the game. McKendree battled back to come within eight after a three by sophomore Katie Fullerton (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) (Coulterville, Ill./Coulterville) with 3:26 to go, but Lindenwood pushed the lead back out to 18 on a bucket with 17-seconds left to give the Bearcats their third loss of the season.

-McK-