Jan. 15, 2011

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ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Lewis women's hoops rallied from a nine-point second half deficit to grab a lead against Indianapolis on Saturday night at Neil Carey Arena, however, the Greyhounds pulled made key free throws down the stretch to pull out a 68-60 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory over Lewis.

Indianapolis led 30-28 at halftime in a half that saw seven ties and eight lead changes. The largest lead in the stanza was four points by Indianapolis. Senior Carol Kruckman (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) scored Lewis' first eight points of the game.

"Carol's effort on both ends of the floor has been very consistent this year," head coach Lisa Carlsen said.

Indianapolis took early control in the second half with a 7-2 run out of the break. The Greyhounds held an advantage for the majority of the half until senior Kelly Monaco (Chicago, Ill./Resurection) capped a 10-0 Lewis run with a 3-pointer at 7:09 and give Lewis a 52-50 lead. On the ensuing possession Lewis played solid defense for 29 seconds before Cayla Keegan nailed a baseline jumper at the shot clock buzzer. The Greyhounds' Heather Gonser followed with a trey to give Indianapolis a three-point lead with less than five minutes remaining. Lewis cut the Greyhounds advantage to one with 2:51 remaining on a layup by junior Devon Carbaugh (Sterling, Ill./Sterling) at 57-56. However the Greyhounds pulled away down the stretch by scoring the next seven points, all by way of free throws.

Sophomore Labrenthia Murdock (Round Lake, Ill./Round Lake) added 12 points and five rebounds with three steals for Lewis.

While Indianapolis shot better than Lewis (40.0 percent to 34.4 percent), the difference in the game came at the free throw line. Indianapolis made 25-of-30 while Lewis made 10-of-16.

"They did a nice job of knocking down their free throws at the end but we had good looks down the stretch and we just didn't hit them," Carlsen said.

Indianapolis held a 26-18 edge in points in the paint.

"They did a decent job of taking the inside game away but our post players needed to be more aggressive tonight," Carlsen said.

Indianapolis improves to 9-6 (4-3 GLVC). Lewis falls to 7-8 (3-4 GLVC). Lewis returns to the court on Monday for a rare weekday afternoon start of 1 p.m. at Rockhurst. Lewis' next home game is on Thursday against Drury at 5:30 p.m. The game will be aired live on Lakeshore Public Television.