ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The Lewis University women's basketball team fell to McKendree 67-54 Friday (Dec. 18) in a Great Lakes Valley contest at Neil Carey Arena.

Both teams evened their records at 3-3 overall and in the conference.

McKendree jumped out to an early 6-0 advantage before a Taylor Gugliuzza (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) three-pointer got the Flyers on the scoreboard. The Bearcats took a 12-7 advantage before five straight Lewis points on a basket by Grace Hilber (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) and a three from Gugliuzza evened the score at 12-12 with 4:13 left in the first quarter. Lewis took its first lead of the game late in the quarter when Kathryn Schmidt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) made a pair of free throws to go ahead 17-16 and then Kaitlyn Williams (Homer Glen, Ill./Joliet Catholic) buried a three-pointer for the final points of the quarter, giving the Flyers a 20-16 advantage after one. 

The Bearcats scored the first six points once again in the second quarter before the two teams went back-and-forth for the remainder of the half. The score ended up tied at 33-33 at the half with Gugliuzza leading all scorers with 10 points. The Flyers shot 33.3 percent (11-of-33) from the floor, while McKendree was 12-of-30 (40 percent).

Lewis began to pull in front midway through the third quarter as a Lily Courier (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township) basket gave the Flyers a 47-42 lead with 4:19 left in the third. It was a stretch of nine straight points for Courier as she helped the Flyers take a 52-46 lead into the fourth quarter.

However, the fourth quarter belonged to the Bearcats as they outscored Lewis 21-2 with the lone Lewis basket coming with 44 seconds left in the game on a Gugliuzza second chance score.

Gugliuzza led the Flyers with 12 points, while Courier added 11. Lindsay Harrison (Yorkville, Ill./Yorkville) had eight rebounds, while Williams had three steals. Both teams had 39 rebounds in the game. Lewis had 20 turnovers to 13 from McKendree. The Flyers shot 19-of-60 (31.7 percent) from the floor, while McKendree was 24-of-57 (42.1). 

The Flyers return to action at 1 p.m. Jan. 3 at Rockhurst.