ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis' women's basketball team outscored Indianapolis, 32-22, in the fourth quarter allowing the Flyers to pick up an 80-74 road win at Nicoson Hall in Indianapolis, Ind., on Thursday (Dec. 3) evening. Sophomore guard
Grace Hilber (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) finished with a career and game-high 21 points, 15 coming in the fourth quarter, while freshman guards
Jenna Badali (Oak Lawn, Ill./Mother McAuley) and
Taylor Gugliuzza (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) added 19 and 15 points respectively.
Lewis (2-1, 2-1 GLVC) trailed the Greyhounds (0-3, 0-3 GLVC) 52-48 heading into the final 10 minutes but heated up from the field in the final frame shooting 64.7 percent (11-for-17) from the floor and was 9-of-14 at the foul line.
The two sides traded baskets for the first two minutes of the final stanza as UIndy still led 56-52 after a layup by Lauren With. Badali then rattled off six straight for the Flyers allowing them to take their first lead of the quarter at 58-56.
With hit two free throws to tie the game for the Hounds with 5:32 left in the game. Hilber gave Lewis the lead for good on the ensuing possession hitting a jumper from just below the foul line. That jumper started a stretch in which she scored seven straight points. She added a jumper to extend the lead to four and then hit a three-pointer in transition to make the score 65-58 with 4:07 to play.
The Greyhounds cut the lead to four on two separate occasions but each time the Flyers had the answer. Lewis hit 4-of-6 free throws in the span of 0:15 in the final minute to build its largest lead of the game at 75-65 with 0:31 left.
UIndy made one last attempt cutting the margin to five with 0:03 remaining but junior guard
Stephanie Hart (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) hit 1-of-2 at the charity stripe to ice the game.
Hilber, Badali and Hart combined to score 29 of the Flyers 32 points in the final quarter. Badali had nine while Hart added five more.
Lewis finished the contest shooting 49 percent (29-for-59) from the field, was 7-of-19 (36.8 percent) from three and shot 65 percent (15-for-23) at the foul line. It forced the Greyhounds into 21 turnovers and turned those 21 turnovers into 15 points.
The Flyers continue their three-game road trip on Saturday as they travel to Evansville, Ind., to take on the Screaming Eagles of Southern Indiana at 1 p.m. at Screaming Eagles Arena. The Eagles defeated Illinois Springfield 63-49 on Thursday evening to improve to 3-0 on the season.
