Three days after their remarkable run to the 2011 Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship, the Lewis women's basketball team is back on the road. The Flyers left Wednesday morning for Houghton, Mich., site of the NCAA Midwest Regional. Lewis (15-15) is the No. 8 seed and will play No. 1 seed and host Michigan Tech (26-2) at 5 p.m. CT on Friday evening.
As the eighth seed the Flyers have the odds against them. However the Flyers know all about beating the odds. Lewis defeated four higher seeds in the GLVC Tournament to earn a berth in the NCAA Regional. Consider these facts: Lewis' four wins to win the GLVC championship is their longest winning streak of the season. The Flyers trailed by nine points with three minutes remaining and five with 44 seconds left in their opening round win over S&T. Before the GLVC expanded their tournament field to 12 last season, Lewis wouldn't have been in the tournament as the No. 9 seed.
While the odds seemed long, their run wasn't completely out of nowhere. Lewis was picked for second in the GLVC North in the preseason poll, ahead of eventual North champion Quincy. Lewis advanced to the GLVC Semifinals each of the previous two seasons and held late leads in both semifinal games before losing to the eventual conference champions. So the pedigree was there for a postseason run. It was just a matter of it coming together.
Part of the reason it came together was due to the return of starting forward junior Lory Shaw from injury late in the regular season. By the time the tournament came around she ready to return to full time minutes.
However Lewis' run wasn't based on just the return of one player. It was a complete team effort. Senior point guard Kady Currin played all 165 minutes in the tournament to earn all-tournament team honors. Senior Jenny Turpel earned all-tournament and tournament MVP honors. Her play was highlighted by a 25 point performance in the GLVC Championship against Indianapolis. She scored 15 points in the second half including a key basket with 36 seconds remaining to give Lewis a four point lead. Senior Kelly Monaco made the game-tying 3-pointer against Missouri S&T with 18 seconds left. She then drained four 3-pointers in Lewis' win over Drury. Sophomore Labrenthia Murdock scored a career-high 23 points against Missouri S&T. Sophomore Sam Rinehart had 11 points in the championship game, including a key basket after Indianapolis took the lead with six minutes remaining. Junior Devon Carbaugh, who also spent part of the season injured, had 11 points in the first half of the win over UW-Parkside. Junior Madeline Kish played a productive 18 minutes off the bench over the four games, making two 3-pointers, recording three assists and earning a steal.
Lewis will need a team effort to defeat Michigan Tech. The Huskies are 26-2 and won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Lucy Dernovsek leads the Huskies, averaging 12.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. She was named to the All-GLIAC First Team. It is the second consecutive season Michigan Tech is the No. 1 seed in the region.
Should the Flyers win they will face Grand Valley State or Drury in the second round on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT.
All games will be video streamed for free online. WJOL 1340 AM will broadcast all games. Links for the free video webcast and the WJOL broadcast can be found on LewisFlyers.com.
