ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Lewis' women's basketball fell behind early and were never able to recover in its 71-58 loss at Missouri-St. Louis on Thursday night at Chuck Smith Court inside the Mark Twain Building in St. Louis, Mo. The Flyers fall to 17-10, 14-5 while the Tritons improve to 15-13, 10-9 GLVC.

UMSL scored the first eight points and while holding Lewis scoreless for the first three minutes of the contest. Rachel Hinders (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) got the Flyers on the board with back-to-back baskets to cut the lead in half. The Tritons responded with three straight three's to take its largest lead of the half at 17-4 with 2:34 remaining.

Lewis scored seven of the final 11 points of the quarter to cut the deficit to 10 points.

The Flyers outscored UMSL 10-6 over the first seven minutes to cut the deficit to 27-21 after a layup on the break by Katie Gardner (Franklin, Wis./Pius XI). Danielle Berry and Hinders traded three's to keep the deficit at six with less than two minutes to play in the half.

The Tritons finished the half strong scoring five of the final six points of the half to take a 35-25 lead into the locker at the half.

UMSL scored the first four points of the third quarter to extend its lead to 14 with 8:28 to play in the quarter. Lewis went on a 14-2 run over the next four-plus minutes to get within 41-39 on a pair of free throws by Hinders. Hinders had four points in the run while Grace Hilber (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) and Kaitlyn Williams (Homer Glen, Ill./Joliet Catholic) added three points apiece. Morgan Glatczak (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) and Carly Graverson (Franklin, Wis./Franklin) chipped in with two points apiece.

That would be the closest the Flyers got though as the Tritons closed the quarter on an 11-3 run to regain its 10-point lead.

Lewis got as close as seven points at 62-55 on a three from Williams with 2:07 to play but UMSL was able to close it out by scoring nine straight points to take its largest lead of the game at 71-55 with 0:27 remaining. Williams converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 0:11 left for the final margin.

Hinders and Williams led the Flyers with 21 and 15 points respectively. Lewis was held to 40 percent shooting in the contest, was 7-for-23 from three and shot 90 percent at the foul line. It was outrebounded 39-to-26 in the contest.

Laura Szorenyi led all scorers with 25 points and she was joined in double figures by Berry with 18 points while Kiara Stewart added 10 points. The Tritons shot 44 percent from the field, was 9-of-21 from three and shot 86 percent at the foul line.

The Flyers conclude the regular season on Saturday taking on Lindenwood at 1 p.m. at Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo.