EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's women's basketball team punched its ticket to the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship game with a 76-65 victory over Bellarmine at First Community Arena at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Ill., on Saturday afternoon.

The Flyers, seeded third, improve to 19-11 on the season while the Knights, seeded seventh, end their season with a record of 18-11.

Lewis opened the game on a 7-2 run behind five points from Dajae Black (Chicago, Ill./Marist) but Bellarmine ran off eight of the next nine points to take a 10-8 lead on a layup by Alisha Owens.
The Knights extended their lead to 17-12 after a jumper by Owens but the Flyers got a basket from Rachel Hinders (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) in the final minute of the quarter to cut the deficit to three by the end of the quarter.

The two sides punched and counterpunched the entire second quarter. Lewis tied it early in the quarter but Bellarmine responded to take a 26-23 lead after an old fashioned three-point play from Mallory Schwartz. The Flyers ran off four in a row on two free throws from Hinders and jumper from Grace Hilber (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) to regain the lead.

However, the Knights scored four of the final five points of the quarter to take a 30-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Lewis scored the first five points of the third quarter to take a 33-30 lead on a three-pointer from Morgan Glatczak (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago). Bellarmine tied the game a little over a minute later on a three-pointer from Tasia Jefferies.

Carly Graverson (Franklin, Wis./Franklin) put the Flyers ahead for good converting an old fashioned three-point play with less than five minutes remaining in the quarter. The Knights cut the lead to one after a layup by Allison Van Dyke on the next possession but that would be the closest, they got the rest of the game.

Lewis seized control of the contest with a 9-2 run to extend its lead to eight on a jumper in the paint by Hilber after an offensive rebound from Katie Gardner (Franklin, Wis./Pius XI). The Flyers were able to extend their lead to nine by the end of the quarter.

Lewis extended is lead to double digits early in the final quarter as it opened the stanza by scoring six of the first eight points. Bellarmine cut the margin to single digits with less than three minutes to play in the contest, but the Flyers were able to close it out scoring nine of the final 15 points of the contest to preserve the win.

Lewis shot over 52 percent (23-for-44) from the floor, 67 percent in the second half, it was 6-of-18 from three and shot 73 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded the Knights 37-to-29 and had 17 assists on 23 made field goals.

Hinders led all scorers with 23 points in the contest and was joined in double figures by Gardner with 13 points while Graverson finished with 11 points. Glatczak had a game-high 11 rebounds.

The Flyer defense held Bellarmine to just 34 percent shooting for the contest and held them to just 4-for-20 shooting from beyond the arc. The Knights did shoot over 86 percent at the foul line. Jeffries and Bria Torrens led Bellarmine in scoring with 13 and 10 points respectively.

Lewis will play top seeded and top ranked Drury for the GLVC Championship on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at First Community Arena at the Vadalabene Center.