ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's women's basketball team extended its win streak to eight on Thursday defeating Missouri-St. Louis 84-61 at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers, ranked 11th in this week's D2SIDA Media Poll and 16th in the WBCA Coaches Poll, improved to 21-2, 12-1 GLVC while the Tritons drop to 11-12 and 5-9 in league play.

The opening quarter was back-and-forth affair featuring seven ties and nine lead changes as each team shot blistering percentages from the field. UMSL shot 73.3 percent (11-for-15) in the first 10 minutes while Lewis hit 10-of-15 shots (66.7 percent) in the frame. The Tritons led by as many as five with less than two minutes to play in the frame but the Flyers closed the quarter on a 5-2 run to cut the lead to 26-24 at the quarter break.

Jessica Kelliher (Waukesha, Wis./Waukesha North) scored the first bucket of the second quarter to even the score but Laura Szorenyi answered with a three to give UMSL the lead right back. It would be its last lead of the game as Lewis scored 12 of the next 14 points to take a 38-31 lead. Kelliher led the charge scoring eight of those points.

The Tritons closed to within four on a three-pointer by Arielle Jackson with less than three minutes left in the stanza but the Flyers closed the half on a 6-2 run to take an eight-point lead into the locker room at the intermission.

After its hot start, UMSL cooled down in the second quarter shooting just 33 percent while Lewis shot 53 percent in the frame and nearly 60 percent for the half.

The Flyers opened the third quarter scoring five of the first seven points to extend their lead to double digits on a three-point play from Kelliher. The Tritons though hung around trailing by 9-11 points for most of the stanza. Lewis though was able to gain some separation outscoring UMSL 12-2 over the final 3:39 to take a 20-point lead into the final quarter.

The Flyers extended their lead to as many as 25 points in the final 10 minutes before the Tritons hit a late field goal for the final margin.

Lewis locked down the UMSL offense over the final three quarters holding them to just 27 percent shooting allowing it to shoot just 38.3 percent (23-for-60) for the contest. Szorenyi and Kiara Stewart led the Tritons with 13 points apiece while Alex LaPorta added 12.

Kelliher finished with a game-high 34 points. It was her fifth time scoring at least 30 in a game this season and 16th in her career. Her 15 made field goals also gives her 1,005 for her career which is seventh all-time in Division II history. Rachel Hinders (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) finished with 13 points while Tierney Lockett (Richton Park, Ill./Rich South) had eight and Gabby Green (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) and Morgan Glatczak (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) finished with six points each. The Flyers shot 54.1 percent (33-for-61) from the floor, was 4-of-9 from three and shot 78 percent at the foul line. They outrebounded UMSL 42-to-25 in the contest.

Lewis plays its final home game of the regular season on Saturday hosting Maryville at 1 p.m. The Flyers will honor their three seniors prior to the start of the contest. Saturday's game will also be 'Playing For Preemies' day with fans encouraged to wear purple to the game.