March 9, 2007

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - No. 8 Lewis has dominated opponents at home all season, going a perfect 11-0 and winning by an average of 12.5 points per game. Saturday evening's NCAA Division II tournament first-round home game against Bellarmine was no exception.

Darcee Schmidt led all players with 26 points and Mary Moskal added 22 as the top-seeded Flyers routed the eighth-seeded Knights 82-62.

Lewis (28-3) extended its win streak to nine games, defeating Bellarmine (19-11) for a fourth time this season. The NCAA tournament win was the second in program history for Lewis, which won its first tournament game on the road last season.

Trailing 10-8 with 15:32 to go in the first, Kelly Dianis drained a 3-pointer from the corner and Lewis went on to score the game's next 12 points behind baskets from four different players. The 15-0 run gave Lewis a 13-point lead and Bellarmine was never able to recover.

The Knights finally got back on the board at 9:32 of the first but were limited to only two more field goals the rest of the half. Lewis shot 57.1 percent from the floor in the half and went on to build a 21-point halftime lead behind 8-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.

Lewis never saw its lead drop to less than 15 points the entire second half.

Schmidt was 10-of-17 from the field, hitting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. She matched Moskal with a game-high nine rebounds and had three blocks. Moskal went 5-of-7 from the floor and was 11-of-12 at the free throw line.

Dianis scored 10 points, connecting on both 3-pointers she took. Jennifer Green and Kaci Baird both totaled eight points, and Brittney Diener had four points and three boards. Erin Cox also scored four points, and she pulled down four rebounds.

Ashley Lewallen and Dana Beaven paced the Knights with 19 and 15 points, respectively.

The Flyers finished the game 54.9 percent from the floor, holding Bellarmine to 34.6 percent shooting. Lewis made 10 baskets from 3-point range, while the Knights were 4-of-12 from downtown. Lewis held a 35-28 advantage on the glass.

The Flyers will face either Southern Illinois Edwardsville or Drury in a regional semifinal on Saturday at 7:30 pm.