ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Lewis Flyer women's basketball team rallied from a slow start to defeat William Jewell 65-51 on Saturday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena. The win was the ninth in a row for Lewis (16-4, 9-1 GLVC).

The Flyers shot only 27 percent in the opening quarter and trailed 16-8 after a layup by Natalie Closser with 1:04 left in the stanza. Jessica Kelliher (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) responded with a bucket right before the end of the quarter to cut the deficit to six points. Kelliher kept Lewis in the contest scoring eight points in the first 10 minutes.

The Flyers picked up the intensity on the defensive end in the second quarter holding the Cardinals (8-8, 5-4 GLVC) to just seven points in the quarter. Lewis gained its first lead of the contest with a 9-0 run over the final 3:11 of the half. Tierney Lockett (Richton Park, Ill./Rich South) hit a jumper with 1:45 left to make it 24-23 and then Rachel Hinders (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) scored the final five points of the half to send the Flyers into the intermission with a 29-23 lead.

Lewis shot 62 percent (8-for-13) from the floor in the second quarter to finish the half shooting 49 percent from the floor. Kelliher led all scorers with 10 points while Hinders dropped in nine and Lockett added eight. The Flyers forced 14 turnovers and turned those into 18 points.

Kelliher scored the first seven points of the third quarter for Lewis as it extended its lead to 13 points three minutes into the third quarter. The Cardinals trimmed the deficit to nine points on a couple of occasions in the third quarter but the Flyers answered both times to keep the lead at double digits heading into the final quarter.

William Jewell opened the final quarter scoring 11 of the first 16 points to cut the lead to 54-46 with 6:01 to play but once again Lewis answered the run by scoring eight of the next nine points to grab its biggest lead of the day at 62-47 after a layup from Kelliher. The Cardinals wouldn't get closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

Kelliher led all scorers with 26 points, 16 in the second half, and finished with her third straight double-double grabbing 10 rebounds. Lockett dropped in 12 and Hinders added 11. The Flyers finished the game shooting 42 percent (21-for-50) from the field but shot only 14 percent from three and 64 percent at the foul line. Lewis forced 22 turnovers by William Jewell and had a 27-9 advantage in points off turnovers.

Closser led the Cardinals with 11 points off the bench while Rhyann Fisher added eight and Lindsey McCoy and Adriana Rodriguez had seven points each. McCoy had a game-high 12 rebounds. William Jewell shot 39 percent (20-for-52) from the floor, was 5-of-20 from three and shot 67 percent at the foul line.

The Flyers return to action next Saturday afternoon traveling to Quincy, Ill., to take on the Hawks at 1 p.m.