Dec. 30, 2006

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - A dominating 30-point effort from Darcee Schmidt lifted the Lewis Flyers to a 63-52 upset win over No. 2 Grand Valley State, Saturday afternoon in a non-conference contest at Neil Carey Arena.

Lewis, winners of four straight games, improved to 10-2, while Grand Valley dropped to 11-2.

Schmidt's 30 points were just five shy of her career high set Dec. 9 at Southern Illinois Edwardsville. Schmidt went 12-of-19 from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and she pulled down a game-high nine rebounds.

Schmidt scored 17 in the first half, helping the Flyers overcome an early eight-point hole to take a three-point halftime lead.

Down 23-15 at the 8:47 mark, the Flyers put together 15-4 run to close out the half. Schmidt scored 13 of the 15 points, hitting five-of-seven from the floor with three 3-pointers during the rally.

Grand Valley managed to regain the lead in the opening minutes of the second half, but Schmidt again answered for Lewis. Trialing 35-31 at the 16:54 mark, Schmidt scored the game's next five points, hitting another 3-pointer and a layup. Lewis never trailed again.

Grand Valley tied the game two more times, the last coming at the 12:00 mark after a pair of free throws by Crystal Zick, who led the Lakers with 19 points in the game.

A 3-pointer by Lauresha Hawkins following the free throws put Lewis back up and sparked an 8-0 run, giving the Flyers their largest lead of the night up to that point.

The Lakers battled back to within three points with 7:55 to play, but Lewis answered with a 7-0 run to build a 55-45 lead with 5:50 left in the game. Schmidt put Lewis up by double digits for good by connecting on a pair of free throws with 2:08 to play.

Other leading scorers for the Flyers were Mary Moskal with 11 points and Jennifer Green and Jenna Mooberry with five points each.

Julia Braseth joined Zick in double figures for the Lakers by scoring 15.

The Flyers shot 45.5 percent for the game, compared to 38.8 by the Lakers. The difference-maker for the Flyers came at the 3-point line, where they connected on 8-of-23 while limiting the Lakers to 3-of-13.

Lewis went 5-of-8 at the free throw line, compared to 11-of-15 by the Lakers. Rebounds went 31-29 in favor of Grand Valley.

The Flyers return to action on Thursday, hosting Bellarmine at 5:30 pm.