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Romeoville, Ill. – The No. 23 Lewis University women's basketball team came back from a nine-point, halftime deficit to defeat Bellarmine 90-82 on Saturday (Jan. 25) at Neil Carey Arena.
 
With their ninth-straight home victory, the Flyers improve to 14-3 on the year and 8-1 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, as the Knights fall to 9-8 on the season and 5-4 in league action.
 
The Flyer offense was led by redshirt sophomore guard Jamie Johnson (South Holland, Ill./Marian Catholic), who shot 10-of-17 (58.8%) from the floor for 26 points and collected five rebounds and three assists. Junior forward Jess Reinhart (Normal, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic) jumped over the 1,000-point plateau for her career with 1,007 points as she collected her third double-double of the season with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore forward Mariyah Brawner-Henley (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) chipped in 10 points and 11 rebounds for her 16^th double-double of the year.
 
Junior guard Kristin Itschner (Metamora, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame) had 12 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals as classmate Nikki Nellen (New Berlin, Wis./Pius XI) tallied seven points and four assists.
 
The Flyers shot over 50% for the second-straight game, knocking down 32-of-61 (52.5%) shots from the field, while holding the Knights to 33-of-76 (43.4%). Lewis also won the battle on the boards, 42-35.
 
"It was a hard fought ball game tonight," Lewis head women's basketball coach Lisa Carlsen said. "Bellarmine did a good job, especially in the first half, taking it to us offensively."
 
"We had a hard time controlling their dribble penetration and didn't take care of the ball," Carlsen continued. "In the second half we did a much better job handling the ball and got some defensive stops and rebounds late in the game that were key."
 
After heading into the half down 53-44, the Flyers went on a 14-3 run to take a 58-56 lead as redshirt senior Lauren Mead (Wauconda, Ill./Wauconda) hit two free throws at the 15:07 mark. Johnson led the way during the Flyers run with eight points as Itschner and Reinhart both added a bucket.
 
The squads tied up the contest three more times, the last at 73-73 at 5:49 on a free throw by Nellen, before the Flyers were able to hold on to the lead. Bellarmine got within one at 76-75 at the 3:49 mark, after BU's Mackenzie Martinez hit two free throws but the Flyers quickly pushed their lead back to five at 80-75 with 2:33 left in the game on a Itschner layup. Over the next two and a half minutes the Flyers made 5-of-6 free throws, as Johnson and Brawner-Henley each chipped in a bucket, to finish the game up by eight, 90-82.
 
The Bellarmine offense was led by Sarah Galvin with 24 points, five steals and three rebounds while Mariah Gador had 14 points, three rebounds and three assists. Therese Montano and Martinez both chipped in 12 points for the Knights.
 
The Flyers head on the road for a Thursday (Jan. 30) battle for first-place in the GLVC East Division at the University of Indianapolis. Tip-off is set for 5:30 PM ET at Nicoson Hall.