Nov. 28, 2009

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The Flyers nearly erased an 11-point deficit in the final three minutes, however their rally fell short as Saginaw Valley State defeated Lewis 69-64 in a non-conference contest on Saturday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena.

Lewis trailed by nine with 2:19 remaining when senior Kelly Dianis (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) stepped to the free throw the line. She connected on the first but missed the second. Freshman Sam Rinehart (Marion, Iowa/Marion) grabbed the offensive board and went up strong for the put back. She made the basket and was fouled on the play. She made her free throw to cut the Cardinals' lead to five points.

Back-to-back Jenny Turpel (Johnsburg, Ill./Johnsburg) layups made it a 64-63 game with 1:19 remaining. Dianis took a charge following a timeout to give Lewis the ball with 48 seconds remaining. Turpel was looking for Rinehart open under the basket, but her pass was a split second too late and the Cardinals came away with a steal.

Saginaw Valley State's Brittany Burkhardt made a free throw and missed the second. Jasmine Kennedy grabbed the offensive board for the Cardinals and went up for the put back. Turpel rejected the attempt and the Flyers controlled the ball, down two points.

On the other end, a Cardinals' foul put Turpel at the line with 10 seconds left. She connected on the first but missed the second.

Following two made free throws by Saginaw Valley State, it was a 67-64 game and Lewis had one more chance to knot it up. However Kelly Monaco (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection)'s (Chicago, Ill./Resurrection) inbound pass was stolen by Aysha Boston.

Lewis led 30-23 at halftime but shot just 8-of-29 in the second half. The Flyers finished the game shooting 33.9 percent (19-of-56). Saginaw Valley State shot 48.9 percent (23-of-47).

"We need to establish an identity, be it a rebounding, defensive pressure or something," head coach Lisa Carlsen said. "Right now we aren't consistent enough in any one area over 40 minutes. Every good team has an identity and right now we don't have one."

Turpel finished with 22 points and seven rebounds. Monaco added 10. Rinehart finished with eight points, three assists and two steals off the bench.

Kelly Wesp led Saginaw Valley State with 20 points.

Saginaw Valley State improves to 2-1. Lewis falls to 0-3. The Flyers look for their first win of the season on Sunday, when they host Blackburn at 2 p.m.