SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Lewis University's women's basketball team lead for nearly the entire game but came up short in a 76-75 loss at Illinois Springfield on Thursday evening in Springfield, Ill. The Flyers fall to 5-11, 3-5 GLVC while the Prairie Stars improve to 10-6, 5-5 GLVC.

Lewis shot 61 percent from the field on 8-of-15 shooting and led by as many as nine in the opening quarter. Kathryn Schmidt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) led the Flyers with five points in the frame while Taylor Gugliuzza (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) added four and Grace Hilber (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie), Lily Courier (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township), Amelia Motz (Canton, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary), Shawnton Brown (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Central) and Stephanie Hart (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) had two points apiece.

Tara Gugliuzza (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) hit a three early in the second quarter to extend the Lewis lead to 11 but the Prairie Stars countered with an 11-2 run in a span of three minutes to cut the deficit to two points. The Flyers answered that run with a 12-2 one of their own to take their largest lead of the game at 40-28 on a layup from Brown with 0:40 remaining. UIS cut the lead to nine at the half on a three-pointer from the top of the key by Liz Uhl.

The Flyers shot 53 percent (17-for-32) from the field in the opening half but were just 3-of-11 from the three-point line and did hit all three of their free throw attempts. Schmidt led all scorers with 10 points in the half while Courier added seven and Hilber and Brown had six points apiece.

The Prairie Stars shot 44 percent (13-for-29) including 2-of-6 from three and shot 75 percent at the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes. Lauren Ladowski and Malea Jackson led UIS with eight points each and Uhl dropped home seven points.

The Prairie Stars opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run to cut Lewis' lead to three less than two minutes into the third quarter. The Flyers responded with a 12-4 run to push its lead back to double digits after a three-pointer from Hilber with 3:36 left in the stanza but UIS outscored Lewis 14-4 the rest of the quarter to make it 56-55 heading into the final frame.

The Flyers pushed their lead to six early in the fourth but were unable to hold off the Prairie Stars as they went on an 11-3 run over the next 3:30 to take its first lead of the contest on a three-pointer from Ladowski with 2:25 remaining. Lewis had a chance to tie the game on the ensuing possession as Schmidt was fouled on a putback attempt after an offensive rebound but missed both free throws.

UIS extended its lead to four on Ally Gietzel's driving layup with 1:39 to go. Tay. Gugliuzza hit a layup with 1:14 left to make it a two-point contest and then after a stop she was fouled by Ellie Mitchell and hit 1-of-2 at the foul line to cut the lead to 74-73 with 0:42 remaining.

The Flyers played good defense on the next trip down as Hart blocked Gietzel's jumper and Schmidt came away with the rebound and dribbled it into the front court and called timeout. Tay. Gugliuzza missed a layup but Schmidt was there for the offensive rebound and put it in to put Lewis back in front 75-74 with 1.8 remaining.

The Prairie Stars called their final timeout to advance the ball into the front court and out of the timeout Hart was called for a foul on Gietzel and she went to the line to hit both free throws with no time elapsing.

The Flyers had one more chance as a long pass was deflected out of bounds near midcourt giving Lewis one final chance with 0.9 left but Tay. Gugliuzza's three-point attempt from the top of the key fell short as time expired.

Tay. Gugliuzza led the Flyers with 15 points and she was joined in double figures by Schmidt with 14 points while Courier added 12 and Hilber finished with 11. Lewis shot 47.5 percent (29-for-61) in the contest but were just 5-of-22 from three and shot only 67 percent at the foul line. It outrebounded UIS by a 37-33 margin.

The Prairie Stars shot 45 percent (25-for-56) from the floor, were 6-of-12 from three and shot 83 percent at the foul line. Ladowski led all scorers with 20 points while Gietzel added 19, Jackson had 15 and Mitchell finished with 12 points.

The Flyers begin a three-game homestand next Thursday (Feb. 3) hosting Truman State at 5:30 p.m.