MARYVILLE, Mo. - Bre Coleman posted her fifth double-double of the season, but Northwest Missouri scored five late free throws to edge the Lincoln women's basketball team, 61-60, on Thursday evening (Feb. 1).

Coleman led the Blue Tigers in points (19), rebounds (14) and steals (four) and also dished a pair of assists in 33 minutes of work. Citlali Lopez contributed seven points and a team-high four assists while Tyler Brown-Henderson came off the bench to tally seven points and seven boards.

Lincoln (3-18, 0-13 MIAA) trailed by nine at halftime, but out-scored Northwest Missouri (3-17, 2-10 MIAA) by eight in the third quarter to cut the deficit down to 46-45 entering the final period. The Bearcats rebuilt their lead to nine by opening the quarter on a 10-2 run, but a Lajanea Kimbrough sprung LU to one final comeback.

Kimbrough, who finished her day with seven points, five boards and a pair of steals, followed that basket with a layup, and Citlali Lopez made a three to cut the Bearcat lead down to two. Lincoln then forced steals on each of Northwest Missouri's next two possessions and scored four points off those takeaways to take a 58-56 lead.

A pair of free throws by NWMSU tied the game at 58, and another free throw with just under two minutes remaining swung the advantage back to the Bearcats. Lincoln attempted five shots the rest of the way, but could only convert on a Coleman layup with just under three seconds on the clock as Northwest Missouri held on for the win.

Kailey Foster chipped in six points, Faith Brintle added four and Amber Braxton provided two. Davenport Brantley tallied six points, Charnai Anderson closed out the scoring with a layup and Alecia Kaelke came off the bench in the second half to grab four rebounds.

The Blue Tigers out-rebounded Northwest Missouri, 42-39, and forced NWMSU into 19 turnovers while tallying nine steals. Lincoln also shot the ball slightly better than the Bearcats, making 37-percent of its shots while NWMSU made 36-percent. LU out-scored NWMSU in the paint, 44-16, and had 23 points of turnovers compared to 13 by the Bearcats.

The main difference was in three-point shooting, as Lincoln made just two buckets from long distance all game. Northwest Missouri shot .286 from three-point range, but made eight treys through the course of the game.

Lincoln will continue a three-game road swing on Saturday (Feb. 3) when the Blue Tigers visit St. Joseph, Mo. to play Missouri Western at 2:00 p.m. CST.