By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

MACOMB, Ill. — Western Illinois women’s basketball team got a proper celebration and a chance to cut down the nets at Western Hall.

The Leathernecks had to share their Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title rather than win it outright, though, and that is going to be motivation for next weekend’s conference tournament.

The final seconds of Saturday’s 50-49 loss to Lindenwood had the shot the Leathernecks wanted that didn’t fall, the timeout they wanted but didn’t get, and the Lions leaving with their half of the crown.

“We’re going into next week knowing that this one stings,” guard Addi Brownfield said. “But there’s a lot of work left to be done.”

The Leathernecks (24-5 overall, 16-4 OVC) will be the top seed in the conference tournament in Evansville, Indiana. They will play at 1 p.m. Friday in the semifinals against either fourth seed Morehead State, fifth seed Little Rock, or eighth seed Southeast Missouri State. They will need just two wins to win the tournament and earn the conference’s automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re going in with a clean slate, a lot of confidence, and some revenge we want to get,” said forward Mia Nicastro, who led the Leathernecks with 27 points and 13 rebounds.

Western Illinois, which clinched at least a share of the title with Thursday’s win at SIUE, came into its final regular-season game with hopes of finishing an undefeated season at home. But Lindenwood (24-7, 16-4) kept the Leathernecks out of rhythm until a frantic fourth quarter.

Western Illinois trailed by 16 points to start the fourth quarter, but outscored the Lions 22-7 in the final 10 minutes.

“We just got out of sorts, you know, and then you’re just kind of trying too hard,” Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said. “Obviously it’s an emotional game, and it took probably getting down big to finally loosen us up and get us aggressive.”

“We weren’t just gonna lay down and just give this up easily,” said Nicastro, who scored 18 of her points in the fourth quarter.. “We weren’t going to go down without a fight. And I’m really proud of everyone for fighting back, showing that we can compete with this team.”

Gravina did some math in the huddle with his team after the third quarter to explain how easy it could be to come back.

“I said, ‘Hey, we can make a 7-0 run and get this back to nine with six minutes left,’” he said.

It was a 10-2 run, though, that got the Leathernecks to within 45-37 with 5:31 to play. Allie Meadows came up with a steal and drove to the basket and missed a layup, but Kaylen Reed was there for the offensive rebound and passed it back to Nicastro, who hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc.

It was the loudest the arena had been all day, an energy that would continue the rest of the game.

“This place was rocking,” Brownfield said.

Lindenwood quickly pushed the lead back to 49-40, but the Leathernecks would have one more run. They held the Lions to just one point over the final 4:05, and when Nicastro hit two free throws with 56 seconds left, Western Illinois was within 50-49.

Lindenwood had two shots to extend its lead on the next possession, but missed both. The Lions appeared to have the ball back after the second missed shot went out of bounds and was ruled to be off the Leathernecks, but a replay review showed the ball hit Lindenwood’s Brooke Coffey and the call was overturned.

Western Illinois had a chance to take the lead, but Mallory Shetley’s shot missed and was knocked out of bounds by the Lions. Gravina called a final timeout and drew up what he hoped would be the winning shot, a baseline turnaround by Nicastro.

“I thought that was kind of her shot,” Gravina said.

The play went as designed. Nicastro took the shot, but it missed.

“It was a good look,” she said. “Didn’t fall.”

The ball fell off the rim and was juggled by Brownfield, who finally gained control of it and signaled for a timeout toward official Jessamyn Bradley.​​ The horn sounded with Brownfield yelling, “I called a timeout.”

“She said I didn’t have possession (before time ran out),” Brownfield said.

“If that last shot would have went in, I mean, this place just would have exploded,” Gravina said. “I don’t think they could have kept people off the court. It would have been really fun, but that’s the way it goes.”

It was the end of a frustrating day for the Leathernecks, who were just 6 of 29 from the field in the second and third quarters.

“Props to them,” Nicastro said. “They are a really tough, difficult team. They don’t get rattled easily, and they just are always moving. They beat us in so many backdoor cuts and over-the-top plays.”

“First half, definitely frustrating,” said Brownfield, who had 10 points on 3-of-9 shooting. “Third quarter, definitely frustrating. Kind of felt like there’s like a lid on the basket. I mean, we were getting great looks, but just nothing was falling.”

“Obviously we got a little frustrated, flustered on offense,” Gravina said. “I know it looked like they were picking us apart offensively, but really, if you look at statistically, we were fine where we wanted to be defensively, as many points as they normally score. Offensively, we just played really bad. We were on our heels. Even a couple times we’d make a cut, kind of have a layup, we’d make three moves and then kick it out or shoot a turnaround jumper. Just kind of didn’t have our aggressiveness.”

It was all a lesson for the upcoming week, especially if the Leathernecks face Lindenwood in the championship game after splitting the two regular-season matchups.

“You know the saying,” Brownfield said. “’It’s hard to beat a team three times.’ So splitting with them, you know, at the end of the day, it’s good for us, knowing what we can work on, knowing what we can do better if we see them again in the tournament.”

Photo: Western Illinois coach JD Gravina talks to his team after the post-game celebration for winning a share of the Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title. (WIU Athletic Communications)