Jan. 15, 2004

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Senior Tracy Buchholz scored a career-high 29 points and lifted Lewis to a 79-71 victory over conference rival Saint Joseph's.

Buchholz displayed confidence on the offensive end and that translated to the best scoring output of her career. She finished 9-of-18 from the field and 6-of-14 from 3-point range. With Saint Joseph's making pushes to close the second half gap, Buchholz produced points via 3-pointers, jumpers or free throws that helped the Flyers keep their lead near or above 10 points four times.

"Tracy has been playing with a lot of confidence and with that she's been raising our level of play," said Lewis head coach Lynn Plett. "Not only did she play well tonight, but she played intelligently. She did a nice job when Saint Joseph's overplayed her of stepping in and knocking down a jump shot."

The Flyers (9-6, 6-2 Great Lakes Valley Conference) were locked in a dogfight in the first half as they battled to gain a 30-27 lead at the break. Lewis pulled away in the second half by shooting 66.7 percent (18-of-27) from the field in the half.

"We were frustrated in the first half," said Plett. "Saint Joe's plays a unique defense and we were playing cautious, not trying to make mistakes. The difference was in the second half when we were able to get the lead to 10 points. We accomplished that by getting the ball up the floor and running our offense more effectively."

The Flyers built a 13-point lead with 3:30 remaining and withstood a final charge from the Pumas (5-9, 2-6 GLVC) that narrowed the gap to six points with 10 seconds left. However, Lewis' Darcee Schmidt pumped in a pair of free throws to clinch the game.

Schmidt picked up two fouls in the first 2:23 of the game and sat the final 17:37 of the half. She made an instant impact when she returned to start the second half scoring the Flyers' first basket. Her 10 points and four rebounds all came in the second half.

Also contributing for the Flyers was freshman Mary Moskal. Moskal tallied 10 points two rebounds and six assists in addition to playing solid defense.

Heather Allen paced Saint Joseph's with 22 points and six rebounds. She was 8-of-17 from the floor and had four assists a block and a steal. Ashley Hughes added 10 points and five assists.

Lewis will battle No. 18 Indianapolis Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m. at Lewis' Neil Carey Arena.

1/15/04