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ST. CHARLES, Mo. – No. 2 Lewis women's basketball saw their hopes for a Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship end on Saturday (March 6) night in a 71-66 loss to Southern Indiana in the GLVC Tournament Semifinals at Family Arena.

Early on it looked like the Flyers might run away with the game, taking an 18-3 lead nine minutes in thanks to a 14-0 run. But Southern Indiana responded by scoring the next 14 points as Lewis missed seven consecutive shots. By halftime Lewis had recovered and led 30-21.

Southern Indiana broke the doors open to start the second half by scoring 10 straight points and taking their first lead of the game at the 17:27 mark on a 3-pointer by Kaydie Grooms. It was the first of 11 lead changes in the second half.

Junior Jamie Johnson (South Holland, Ill./Marian Catholic) converted a 3-point play with 5:29 remaining to put Lewis up 61-58. It would be the Flyers' final lead of the game. Southern Indiana took leads of 63-61 and 65-63 but each time the Flyers had an answer to tie the score. That was until Southern Indiana's Mary O'Keefe hit a jumper with 2:06 remaining to give the Screaming Eagles a 67-65 lead. Two misses from the field for Lewis and then two free throws by Grooms gave Southern Indiana a 69-65 lead with 1:05 left. Junior Mariyah Brawner-Henley (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) made one-of-two free throws with 50 seconds left to make it a 3-point game. Lewis earned a stop on the other end but Johnson's 3-pointer at the top of the arc 13 seconds remaining was no good. Two Southern Indiana free throws followed to seal the game.

Southern Indiana shot 42.4 percent (25-of-59) while limiting Lewis to their second worst shooting performance of the season at 35.0 percent (21-of-60).

Junior Jess Reinhart (Normal, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic) finished with a team-high 14 points. Brawner-Henley added 13 points. Johnson totaled 12 and senior Kristin Itschner (Metamora, Ill./Peoria Notre Dame) added 10 points.
 
"I think you got to give Southern Indiana credit," Lewis head coach Lisa Carlsen said. "They did a really nice job, especially in the second half, of taking us out of our rhythm and taking us out of what we were trying to do on the offensive end. They did a great job on the glass and we didn't rebound near as well as we did the in the first and that probably ended up being the difference."

Lewis was out-rebounded 22-12 in the second half.

Southern Indiana improves to 25-5. Lewis falls to 28-2. The Flyers entered the week No. 1 in the Midwest Region rankings. Lewis will find out if they will hold on to that spot when the NCAA Division II Tournament field is announced on Sunday (March 8) at 9 p.m. CT on www.NCAA.com.