Dec. 1, 2003

Rensselaer, Ind. - Young and old mingled together to produce an 81-68 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory for the Lewis University's women's basketball team.

A freshman and a sophomore paved the way for the Flyers (3-3, 1-1 GLVC) and a pair of seniors played supporting roles as Lewis handed Saint Joseph's (1-4, 0-2 GLVC) its second straight conference setback.

Freshman Darcee Schmidt (Machesney Park, Ill./Harlem) (top left) recorded her first career double double scoring 22 points and snaring 11 rebounds. 15 of Schmidt's points came in the second half as the Flyers were able to hold off a furious Saint Joseph's charge.

Lewis devastated the Pumas over the first 7:26 of the game outscoring them 26-8. SJC plays a pressing defense that speeds up the tempo of the game. It was a strategy that Lewis exploited extraordinarily well.

Saint Joseph's was able to trim the 18-point lead to 10 by the half and eventually cut it to four 61-57 following a 3-pointer by Heather Allen with 8:20 left in the game. However, Lewis senior Tracy Buchholz (Grand Ledge, Mich./Grand Ledge) answered with a 3-pointer that pushed the lead back to seven. The Pumas were never able to get closer than five points after that.

"We've had trouble turning the ball over too much in our first few games, so coming into the game I was worried about their full court pressure," said Lewis head coach Lynn Plett. "We were able to handle it very well early on and it led them to switch from a press to a half-court zone defense."

Sophomore Shante Glenn (Chicago, Ill./Lourdes) had the biggest hand in Lewis' success against Saint Joseph's pressure. Glenn consistently pushed the ball past the defense and helped the Flyers into numerous layups. If she wasn't creating for others, she abused the defense herself en route to scoring 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting. She also had seven rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.

"This was the best game Shante has played in her two years here," said Plett. "We thought she would be able to dribble past their press and she was. She played within herself and the influence of her play not only scoring, but setting up others, was really evident tonight. Her speed created a tremendous matchup problem for Saint Joseph's."

Buchholz finished with 13 points in 14 minutes of playing time and connected on three 3-pointers. Fellow senior Bryanne Callahan (Seneca, Ill./Seneca) recorded 12 points and three rebounds despite being limited to 16 minutes due to foul trouble.

Freshman Mary Moskal (Cherry Valley, Ill./Rockford Boylan) produced another solid all-around game netting six points with eight rebounds and seven assists.

Allen paced the Pumas with 19 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Lewis hosts Northern Kentucky and Bellarmine this week in its first league games at home. The Flyers play NKU at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, December 4 and Bellarmine at 1 p.m. on Saturday, December 6.

11/29/03