ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's women's basketball team plays its final two road games of the regular season this weekend as it heads to southwest Missouri to take on Southwest Baptist on Thursday (Feb. 18) at 5 p.m., and fourth ranked Drury on Saturday (Feb. 20) at 1 p.m.
The Flyers are 10-7 overall and in the GLVC and are ranked fourth in the latest edition of the GLVC Point Rating System which determines the eight teams that will qualify for the GLVC Tournament. The top four seeds will host a quarterfinal game on Wednesday (March 3) with the highest remaining seed after the quarterfinal games hosting the semifinals and championships on March 6 and 7.
Lewis enters Thursday's contest at SBU having lost two of its last three games including a 95-77 loss against William Jewell in its last outing last Thursday.
Jenna Badali (Oak Lawn, Ill./Mother McAuley) led the Flyers with 15 points while
Kathryn Schmidt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) added 11 points and
Stephanie Hart (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) had nine in the contest.
Lewis is 7-2 on the road this season and has won six of its last seven contests away from Neil Carey Arena. In their nine road games, the Flyers are averaging 72.9 points per game while giving up 67.6 points per contest. Badali leads the team in scoring on the road this season with 13.3 points outing while Schmidt is adding 12.7 points per game and
Grace Hilber (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) is contributing 11.8 points per contest.
The Flyers are one of the top scoring offenses in the conference at 71.4 points per game but have given up 70.1 points per contest. Lewis leads the league in three-point field goal percentage defense holding opponents to 28.2 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The Flyers have the most total steals in the league this year with 188 and are second in steals per game with 11.06. Lewis is also third in turnover margin at +3.18 per game.
The Bearcats enter Thursday's game with a record of 4-11 overall and in the league and have dropped three straight. In its last outing, SBU lost at Indianapolis 77-66 last Saturday. Brylee Graddy led the way with 13 points off the bench while Sydney Bandy finished with 12 points.
The Bearcats are averaging 68.1 points per game while allowing 76.5 per contest. They're shooting 41.1 percent from the field (354-for-862), have connected on 103-of-317 (32.5 percent) of their attempts from beyond the arc and are shooting 77.6 percent at the foul line. They're being outrebounded by 3.2 rebounds per contest.
Kyleigh Vaught leads SBU in scoring with 14.9 points per game and is joined in double figures by Sydney Bandy and Regan Tibbits with 12.2 and 11.3 points per outing respectively. Tibbits leads the team in rebounding with 5.0 boards per contest.
Drury enters Saturday's contest with a record of 13-1 overall and in the GLVC and is ranked second in the GLVC Point Rating System with rating of 4.61. The Panthers have won three straight since having their 42 game winning streak snapped by Rockhurst on Feb. 2.
Drury is the top scoring team in the GLVC at 87.4 points per game and is fourth in the league allowing just 65.8 points per contest. It is also second in the league in field goal percentage and fourth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage.
Paige Robinson leads the Panthers and the GLVC in scoring with 22.1 points per game while Azia Lynch and Emily Parker are averaging 15.2 and 13.3 points per outing respectively. Lynch leads the team in rebounding with 6.0 boards per game while Robinson is second at 5.7 rebounds per contest. Robinson also has a team-high 67 assists.
