Eagle Women Return to OVC Play at Lindenwood New Year's Day

GAME NOTES | SCHEDULE PAGE (Links to Live Audio, Live Video, Live Stats)
 
Morehead, Ky. – The Morehead State women's basketball team gets back to Ohio Valley Conference play as they travel to St. Charles, Mo., for a New Year's Day tilt at Lindenwood. The game can be heard on the Eagle Sports Network with Tom Lewis on the call. It can also be seen on ESPN+. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET.
 
Morehead State is coming off a 115-36 win over Kentucky Christian Sunday in Johnson Arena. Sophomore Josefine Enander led five Eagles in double-figures with a career-high 23 points.  Violet McNece also set a career-high, joining Laura Toffali with 16 points. Kate Dike added 14 and Marie Sepp tossed in 13 as the Eagles dominated in their final non-conference game of the season.
 
Lindenwood wrapped up non-conference play Monday at home when the Lions downed Ottawa University (Kan.) 71-36 in Hyland Arena. Alyssa Nielsen led the Lions with 14 points. Lindenwood played 13 players in the game and most of their key players saw less than 25 minutes of action.
 
RECORDS/STREAK
 
Morehead State            5-8, 0-2 OVC/ W 1
Lindenwood                   9-4, 1-1 OVC/ W 2
 
SERIES

Record vs. LU:               3-2
Last Meeting:                L, 68-61 (2/13/2025) in St. Charles
First Meeting:                W, 72-66 (1/21/2023) in St. Charles
Record in Morehead:    2-1
Record in St. Charles:   1-1
Neutral Sites:                 0-0
 
NOTABLE

• Morehead State hoisted a season-high 43 three-point attempts Sunday against Kentucky Christian. The Eagles made 18 three-balls, coming up one short of tying the program record for made threes in a game. The record was set in MSU's 103-55 win over Berea on December 18, 2013.
• Morehead State leads the Ohio Valley Conference averaging 28.7 three-point attempts per game. That ranks 17th in the country in NCAA Division I. The Eagles are hitting 28.7 percent from beyond the arc, which ranks 10^th in the OVC.
• Morehead State is averaging 8.2 three-point shots made per game, which leads the OVC. Lindenwood is right behind MSU and second in the OVC averaging nearly 8.1 made treys per game. Violet McNece leads MSU averaging two treys per game (T-6^th in OVC). Anja Ekstrom averages 1.8 three-pointers per game (12^th in OVC).
• MSU ranks 7^th in the conference averaging 67.7 points per game. Western Illinois leads the OVC scoring at an 82.5 points per game clip. Lindenwood ranks 2^nd in the OVC scoring at a 74.6 points per game clip.
• The Eagles have run hot and cold at the free throw line so far this season. Sunday against Kentucky Christian, MSU went 19-24 (79%) at the line. In the Eagles' conference opener against Little Rock on December 16, they hit 20 of 24 attempts (83%) from the line, matching their season high. Morehead State is hitting 67.4% from the line to-date this season, which ranks 9^th in the OVC.
• Two Eagles are perfect from the free throw line this season: Anja Ekstrom (6-6) and Josefine Enander (4-4).
• Enander had a breakout game Sunday against Kentucky Christian, scoring a career-high 23 points. The sophomore hit seven of her eight three-point attempts and went 8-13 from the field. She also set career highs with five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
• The Eagles have been out-rebounded in all but four games so far this season. Three of those games, MSU won the battle on the glass: at Bellarmine on November 7 (+11 margin), at Louisiana on December 7 (+14 margin) and versus Kentucky Christian on December 28 (+15 margin). In MSU's win over Marshall on November 30, rebounds were even.
• Kate Dike leads MSU averaging 13.6 points (T-10^th in OVC) and 6.4 rebounds per game (T-9^th in OVC). Dike has scored in double figures in her last seven games, averaging 17 points per game in that span.
• Dike leads Morehead State hitting 40% (14-35) from three-point range. Last season she did not attempt a single trey.
• Laura Toffali is second on the club averaging 13.1 points per game (16^th in the OVC) and 4.9 rebounds per game (20^th in OVC).  The Italian ranks second in the OVC averaging three steals per game. She has tallied 39 thefts this season. Sunday against Kentucky Christian, she had nine steals, believed to be the program record. She had back-to-back games (Nov. 22 vs. USC-Upstate and Nov. 26 vs Eastern Kentucky) where she racked up five thefts.
• Toffali hit 78% from the free throw line last season under Coach Feldhaus at Missouri Western. After a slow start at the line this season, she has warmed up the last two games, hitting 16-20 from the charity stripe and raising her free throw percentage to 64.6%.
• Marie Sepp leads the Ohio Valley Conference averaging 5.4 assists per game. That ranks 30^th in the country in Division I. The Eagles rank 2nd in the OVC averaging 14.7 assists per game.
• Sepp posted the Eagles' first triple-double in a decade in Morehead State's loss to Murray State on December 3. The senior from Estonia posted 12 points, 10 rebounds and set a new career-high with 13 assists.

 
 SCOUTING THE LIONS
 

• Lindenwood heads into the second week of conference play at 1-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Lions opened their OVC schedule with a 74-65 loss to Western Illinois on December 18 in St. Charles. They rebounded with an 87-55 win at Eastern Illinois on December 21.
• Lindenwood is second in the OVC averaging 74.3 points per game.
• The Lions are led by Aleshia Jones who is averaging 13.3 points per game, ranking 11^th in the OVC. Ellie Brueggeman is averaging 12.8 points per game (15^th in the OVC) and Brooke Coffey ranks 16^th in the OVC scoring 12.6 points per game.
• Coffey tops the OVC hitting 54% from the floor and Jones ranks second in the league with a 52% accuracy from the field.
• Brueggeman leads the OVC hitting 2.6 three-pointers per game. Her 46% accuracy from behind the arc also tops the conference and ranks 22^nd in the country in NCAA Division I.