Nov 21, 2003

ALLENDALE, Mich. - A group of freshmen delivered one of the biggest victories for the Lewis women's basketball team in recent years with a 60-57 upset of No. 24-ranked Grand Valley State on the Lakers' home floor.

Freshmen Brittney Diener (Fond du Lac, Wis./Fond du Lac) and Mary Moskal (Cherry Valley, Ill./Rockford Boylan) converted four free throws in the final minute of the game to give Lewis (1-1) the victory. Diener sank a pair of charity tosses with 1:05 remaining to push Lewis in the lead for good at 58-57. Moskal helped clinch the game with a pair of free throws with three seconds left and closed the night with a team-high 13 points. All 13 of Moskal's points came in the second half after she sat the final 17 minutes of the first half with two early fouls.

"You always want you players to hit their free throws in the clutch and it was great to see two freshman come through in a pressure situation," said Lewis head coach Lynn Plett.

Fellow freshmen Erin Cox (Lena, Ill./Lena-Winslow) and Darcee Schmidt (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) played equally critical roles. Cox tied Moskal for team-high scoring honors with 13 points while also grabbing six rebounds. Schmidt took just three shots and scored six points with six rebounds, but her play on the defensive end proved crucial to the win. In the second half, Schmidt effectively shut down Grand Valley's star post Julie Zeeff.

"Darcee did an excellent job on a really good post player tonight," said Plett. "She worked extremely hard at getting in good position defensively and it paid off."

Schmidt limited Zeeff to 1-of-8 shooting in the second half after the 6-2 center was 4-of-8 with 11 points and three rebounds in the first half.

"Overall we had an exceptional defensive night," said Plett. "We did a great job of not getting out of position, especially in the second half. I felt one of the biggest keys for the night were the defensive stops we got in a three minute span from the six-minute mark until three minutes left in the second half."

During the three-minute stretch Plett mentioned, Lewis surrendered a one-point lead with 5:43 left, but held strong and never fell behind by more than two points in the next three minutes, despite scoring just two field goals and turning the ball over four times in that span.

The first four minutes of the game failed to foreshadow the type of game that was to follow. Grand Valley leapt out to an 11-0 lead at the 16:06 mark of the first half and led 29-13 with 9:42 left in the half, but the Flyers were able to claw back and trim the deficit to five by the break.

"When we were able to get it to five points by halftime, it gave us confidence going into the second half," said Plett.

Lewis will wrap up its play in the Sleep Inn Classic hosted by Grand Valley Saturday, November 22 when the Flyers will face another tough Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference foe. Lewis meets Michigan Tech, who beat Hillsdale Friday 56-55, at 5:30 p.m.

11/21/03