March 5, 2005

Box Score

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Indianapolis used a zone defense and big second-half efforts by Amy Wisser and Eileen Patton to defeat Lewis 63-56 Saturday night in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament at Roberts Municipal Stadium.

The loss snapped a nine-game winning streak for the Flyers (19-10), the tournament's No. 2 seed whose last defeat prior to Saturday was a 65-58 home loss to Indianapolis. In fact, the Greyhounds (21-8), the No. 6 tourney seed, have beaten Lewis three times this season.

The news is not all bad, however, as Lewis - ranked No. 5 in the Great Lakes Region -- awaits what should be a certain NCAA Division II Championship invitation, which would be the program's first since 1998. The 64-team field will be announced Sunday night.

"The season isn't over yet," Lewis head coach Lynn Plett said. "We put ourselves in position to say that with our run at the end of the season. Who knows, we may play Indianapolis again."

The Indy zone forced the Lewis offense into a dismal 30-percent shooting night (21-of-70), including just 25 percent (9-of-36) in the second half. The Flyers were 3-of-19 from 3-point range.

"That (playing a zone) is the way I would try to beat us," Plett said. "They mixed it up between a straight zone and a triangle-and-2, and we just weren't making shots. Then we got a little bit paranoid when we didn't score."

Plett, however, was happy for the most part with his team's defensive effort. The Flyers limited Indianapolis to just 39 percent (19-of-49) overall and 17 percent (2-of-12) from beyond the arc.

"Our perimeter players did a good job containing Indy's outside game, and we forced 22 turnovers," he said. "But Patton hurt us inside."

Patton scored nine of her 13 points in the second half while Wisser tallied 16 of her game-high 21 after intermission, including 11 free throws. She finished the night 13-of-16 at the stripe, part of Indy's 23-of-29 (79 percent) performance.

The Greyhounds led most of the first half, and a 7-0 run gave them a 21-14 lead at the 7:11 mark. But the Flyers closed the half with a 16-6 spurt, sparked by Shante Glenn (Chicago, Ill./Lourdes)'s seven points, and took a 30-27 edge into the locker room.

Indianapolis gained command midway through the second half with a 10-0 outburst that gave the Greyhounds a 54-40 cushion with 7:19 remaining.

The Flyers battled back, however, as five different players scored in a 16-6 run that sliced the Indy lead to 60-56 with 1:00 to play. But that was as close as Lewis would get, and the Greyhounds advanced to face top-seeded Quincy in a rematch of last year's championship game that Quincy won 57-45.

Darcee Schmidt topped the Lewis scoring chart with 16 points, Glenn scored 13 points and Mary Moskal added nine points and team highs of eight rebounds and five assists. Tameka Harris and Glenn collected four and three steals, respectively.

The Flyers had just eight turnovers and, although outrebounded 48-37, grabbed 14 offensive boards to just nine for Indy.

Wisser and Patton gathered a game-high nine rebounds apiece. Amanda Norris had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Amanda Davidson had seven assists.