LAKELAND, Fla. - Julia Jenike and Ashley Shell each had career-best performances as Florida Southern College women's basketball upset No. 25 Lindenwood, 94-90, on Thursday afternoon at Streamline Sale Arena at Jenkins Field House on the first day of the Terrace Hotel Classic. The Moccasins (6-5) stunned the Lions (5-1) by racing out to a 7-0 lead and then held off a furious late rally to hand Lindenwood its first loss of the season.

Jenike had a career-high 27 points, while Shell set a new career-high with 15, and the Mocs' bench outscored the Lions' reserves 26-0 as Florida Southern picked up its first win over a ranked opponent since knocking off then-No. 22 Eckerd on Jan. 14, 2017. The Mocs will have a chance to pull off another major upset when they face No. 1 Drury tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the final game of the calendar year. The Panthers defeated Eckerd, 97-57, in the first game on Thursday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• 1st Quarter | Florida Southern got off to a fantastic start as it Lindenwood without a point for the opening 4:34 of action to take a 7-0 lead and put the pressure on the Lions. The lead would swell to 13-2 on Mackenzie Steele's three-pointer with 3:22 left to go in the first period, and the Moccasins allowed just three more points the rest of the way to take a 16-5 lead at the end of the first. The Lions were held to just 2-of-13 from the floor in the first quarter, while the Mocs knocked down 4-of-7 from long range.
• 2nd Quarter | The second quarter would see Lindenwood claw its way back into contention by outscoring the Mocs 29-23, thanks in large part to a 13-of-16 mark at the charity stripe in the second period. In contrast, Florida Southern went to the free-throw line just eight times in the second quarter. Down 26-9 with 7:15 to play in the first half, the Lions scored seven-straight points to pull within 12 (26-14) over the next minute of play and finally pulled within single digits (36-27) when Kallie Bildner converted a three-point play at the 2:14 mark. Lindenwood outscored Southern 7-3 the rest of the way and trailed by just five points (39-34) at the half.
• 3rd Quarter | Devin Fuhring's three to open the second half pulled the Lions within a bucket (39-37) with 9:30 to go, but the Moccasins were able to stay in front and go back up by nine (49-40) on Jenike's layup with 6:48 remaining in the period. The Mocs pushed their lead back to double digits (58-47) on Steele's jumper with 4:18 on the clock, but Lindenwood made another late run and trailed by just six (68-62) heading into the fourth quarter.
• 4th Quarter | After seeing its lead sliced to just five points (70-65) early in the fourth, the Moccasins responded with six of the next eight points to go back up by nine (76-67) when Shell hit a layup at the 6:45 mark of the period. Lindenwood fought back to get within three (78-75) with 4:50 to play and was able to get the deficit all the way down to two (90-88) with less than a minute remaining, but Katerina Pazzaglia-Khomenko hit a clutch jumper with five seconds to go to give the Mocs a four-point lead (92-88) and Jenike nailed a pair of free throws with two ticks left after the Lions cut it to 92-90 to seal the win.
• Florida Southern shot 53.7 percent (36-of-67) from the floor and went 16-of-19 at the charity stripe. The Mocs pulled down 32 rebounds and dished out 20 assists while forcing Lindenwood into 23 turnovers. The Lions shot 49.2 percent (29-of-59) on the day and were 26-of-33 at the free-throw line. The biggest difference came in bench points, where Southern finished with a 26-0 advantage. Lindenwood's bench went a combined 0-of-5 from the floor, while the Moccasin reserves went 12-of-18 (66.6 percent).

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Florida Southern improved to 1-0 all-time against Lindenwood. Tomorrow's game against Drury also marks the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
• Moccasin head coach Betsy Harris inched closer to her 200th career victory by picking up the 189th win of her career. She is now 121-44 in six seasons at Florida Southern and was 68-27 in three seasons at Coastal Georgia. Harris is third in program history in wins, trailing only Norm Benn (250) and Diane Foli (170).
• The Mocs finished with 20 assists on 36 made shots. Florida Southern has recorded 20 or more assists four times this season and is unbeaten in all four of those contests.
• Jenike's previous career-best in scoring came in a 22-point performance in a win over Saint Leo on Dec. 4, while Shell's previous career-high was 12 points in a loss to Missouri Western on Nov. 30.

UP NEXT

• Florida Southern closes out the calendar year against No. 1 Drury at 2 p.m. on Friday. After the holiday break, the Mocs return to Sunshine State Conference action on the road at Florida Tech (Jan. 2) before hosting Nova Southeastern (Jan. 4).