SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – In a battle of the two hottest teams in the GLVC the Lewis Flyers couldn't overcome  a season-high 29 turnovers in its 86-63 loss at fifth ranked Drury on Thursday evening in Springfield, Mo. Gabby Green (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) led the Flyers (20-6, 13-3 GLVC) with 19 points while Jessica Kelliher (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) added 16 points and Tierney Lockett (Richton Park, Ill./Rich South) finished with 13 points.

Lewis got off to a good start shooting the basketball making four of its first six shots to begin the game and led 10-7 at the midway point of the quarter. The Flyers though struggled to handle the Lady Panthers pressure defense turning the ball over five times in the opening quarter.

Drury ended the quarter on a 10-4 run getting five points from Brooke Stanfield and three from Heather Harman to take a 17-14 lead at the quarter break. The Lady Panthers carried that momentum into the second quarter scoring 16 of the first 18 points to extend their lead to 33-16.

Lewis struggled shooting the ball in the second quarter making just three of its eight shots and turned the ball over 10 times in the frame. The Flyers got as close as 34-21 after a three-pointer from Rachel Hinders (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) with 3:25 to go in the half but Drury ended the half on an 11-2 run to take a 42-23 lead into the locker room.

Lewis shot 45 percent (9-for-20) from the field in the first 20 minutes, was 2-of-6 from beyond the arc and shot 75 percent at the foul line. It was outrebounded 17-to-11 and outscored in points off turnovers 17-to-3.

Lucia Fernandez led all scorers with nine points in the half while Alice Heinzler and Hailey Diestelkamp had seven points each. After a slow start the Lady Panthers finished the half shooting 49 percent (16-for-33) from the floor, was 4-of-12 from downtown and shot 67 percent at the foul line.

The Flyers made a run early in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 18 but Drury would build the lead to as many as 24 in the quarter and would go on to outscored Lewis 25-20 in the frame to take a 24 point advantage into the final quarter.

The Flyers outscored the Lady Panthers 13-6 in the first half of the fourth quarter but were unable to get any closer as Drury countered with a 7-1 run to push the lead back to 23 and eventually won by that margin.

Lewis shot 49 percent (26-for-53) from the floor, but was 4-of-13 from three and shot less than 50 percent at the foul line. After being outrebounded in the first half, the Flyers outrebounded the Lady Panthers 24-14 in the second half to finish with a 35-31 rebounding advantage.

Drury had four players reach double figures in scoring led by Fernandez with 23 points. Heather Harman added 14 while Diestelkamp and Heinzler finished with 13 and 12 respectively. The Lady Panthers shot 47 percent (32-for-68) for the contest, was 6-of-25 from three and shot 80 percent at the foul line.

Lewis plays its final road game of the regular season on Saturday traveling to Rolla to take on Missouri S&T in a 1 p.m. contest.