ASHLAND, OHIO – The Lewis Flyer women's basketball team trailed Southern Indiana 60-55 with 6:32 left in the contest but used a 17-4 over the remainder of the game to pull off the upset 72-64 over the third seeded Screaming Eagles (26-5) in the opening round of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional on Friday at Kates Gymnasium in Ashland, Ohio.

The win snapped the Flyers (24-7) two-game losing streak in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

"I thought it was a great sense of resiliency from our entire squad towards the end of the game," head coach Samantha Quigley Smith said. "I thought we were able to get some things in the second half of the fourth quarter that we weren't getting in the first half.

"We had great heart on the defensive end and made everything tough on them. It's how I thought we won our first game against them and to see that life in the NCAA Tournament is the best time to have it," she said.

"This was huge for us. This was our one goal was we wanted to make it further than we had in the past," Jessica Kelliher (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) said. "We've been disappointed the past two years, but I thought we came out with a lot of fire today. We played really hard and we were able to come out with the win."

Lewis got off to a slow start missing four of their first five shots and trailed 10-2 three minutes into the game. Gabby Green (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) got Lewis going scoring four straight points and Kelliher added a bucket to cut the deficit to 10-8. The Screaming Eagles stretched its lead back out to five and eventually led by six at the end of the opening quarter.

"I'm a scrappy defender and I feel like defense on our end really gets our energy going," Green said. "That's where it started happening for us then the bench got going and everything started falling into place."

Rachel Hinders (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) and Reilly Olmstead (Brownsburg, Ind./Brownsburg) each hit three's early in the second quarter to cut the deficit to four but USI countered by scoring six of the next nine points to extend the lead to 28-21 near the midway point of the frame. The Flyers ended the half on a 10-5 run to cut the Eagle lead to just two points at the half.

Lewis finished the first half shooting 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) from the floor but shot only 25 percent from three and was only 7-of-11 at the foul line. Kelliher had 10 points to lead all scorers while Hinders added eight and Green had six.

Kelliher scored the first five points of the third quarter to give the Flyers their first lead of the game on an old fashioned three-point play less than a minute into the second half. USI responded with a 10-4 run over the next five minutes to regain a five-point lead on layup from Grooms with 4:10 left in the quarter.

Tierney Lockett (Richton Park, Ill./Rich South) hit a big three on the wing in front of the Lewis bench and then Green tied the game with a layup. The two sides traded baskets and then Morgan Sherwood hit a three with 1:41 left in the stanza to give the Eagles a 50-47 lead. Kelliher hit a pair of free throws to make it a one-point margin heading into the final quarter.

Green hit a pair of a free throws to begin the fourth quarter to give the Flyers a 51-50 advantage but Southern Indiana responed with an 8-2 run to take a 58-53 lead on a layup from Morgan Dahlstrom with 7:35 to play. Kelliher answered on the other end with a layup but Dahlstrom answered right back with another layup.

Lewis rattled off seven straight points getting two points each from Kelliher, Green and Lockett to take a 62-60 with exactly four minutes to play. Grooms had a chance to tie the game for USI but missed 1-of-2 at the line with 2:15 remaining.

Dajae Black (Chicago, Ill./Marist) hit a layup on the other end to extend the lead to three and then after a turnover Green hit 1-of-2 at the line to push the margin to four. Grooms missed a layup and Green was fouled again with 0:57 left and hit 1-of-2.

Alex Davidson missed a jumper and Black came down with the rebound. Forced to foul, the Eagles fouled Rachel Hinders (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) who hit two free throws with 0:41 left to make it 68-61. Grooms hit a three from the top of the key on the ensuing possession but Lewis went 4-for-4 at the foul line in the final 0:36 to secure the win.

The Flyers shot 57 percent (13-for-23) from the floor in the second half and were 6-of-9 in the final quarter. They finished the game shooting 48 percent (24-for-50) from the field, was only 3-of-11 from three but shot 75 percent at the foul line. Kelliher finished with a game-high 27 points and added 14 rebounds for her 14^th double-double of the season. Green finished with 16 while Hinders added 11.

Grooms led four Screaming Eagles in double figures with 16 points. USI was held to just 5-of-17 (29 percent) shooting in the fourth quarter.

Lewis advances to the round of the 32 and will take on Drury on Saturday at 4 p.m. (CST) in Ashland, Ohio.