ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's women's basketball team concludes its three-game homestand on Thursday hosting Southern Indiana in a matchup between the top two teams in the GLVC's East Division beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena.
The Flyers (8-4, 8-4 GLVC) opened their homestand last Thursday with a 63-62 loss to Illinois Springfield but rebounded on Saturday with a 73-64 win over Indianapolis. Lewis overcame a seven-point first half deficit in its win over the Greyhounds and was led by senior
Kaitlyn Williams (Homer Glen, Ill./Joliet Catholic) with a season-high 16 points.
The Flyers are 3-3 at home this season entering Thursday's contest and are averaging 70.3 points per game while allowing 70.8 per contest. Freshman
Kathryn Schmidt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) leads the team in scoring in home games with an average of 15.2 per outing while freshman
Taylor Gugliuzza (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) and junior
Stephanie Hart (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) are averaging 9.8 per contest.
Thursday will be Southern Indiana's first game since Jan. 3 as the Screaming Eagles had to pause team activities for the last two weeks due to COVID. USI is 6-1 overall and in the conference after picking up an 83-78 win at Truman State in its last outing.
The Screaming Eagles are led in scoring by senior Emma DeHart with an average of 16.9 points per contest while Addy Blackwell is contributing 9.3 per outing and Ashley Hunter is chipping in with 8.6 per game.
Thursday's contest marks the 76th meeting all-time between Lewis and USI with the Flyers holding a 40-35 advantage in the series. The Screaming Eagles snapped Lewis' four-game winning streak in the series with a 63-52 win at Screaming Eagle Arena earlier this season. Freshman
Jenna Badali (Oak Lawn, Ill./Mother McAuley) led the Flyers with 18 points in that contest.
Lewis is ranked fourth in the latest GLVC Point Rating System with a rating of 3.71. The top eight teams in the final point rating rankings will qualify for the GLVC Tournament which will begin on March 2nd with the top four teams hosting a quarterfinal contest. The semifinals and championship contest will be hosted by the highest remaining seed the weekend of March 6-7.
