ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The No. 5 seed Lewis University women's basketball team advanced to the Great Lakes Valley Conference quarterfinals with a 74-62 win over No. 12 seed Maryville Monday (Feb. 28) in an opening round matchup at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers (14-14) now face No. 4 seed Truman State Friday at noon at First Community Arena in Edwardsville.

Maryville (13-14) jumped out to an 8-3 lead midway through the first quarter. The Flyers came back to tie the game at 9-9 behind four points from Shawnton Brown (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Central). The Saints scored with 14 seconds left in the quarter to lead 13-11 after one.

A 10-2 run in the second quarter built the Saints' lead to 26-17 with 4:40 left in the half before Kathryn Schmidt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) stopped the run with a three-pointer. A pair of jumpers by Lily Courier (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township) and a three-pointer by Grace Hilber (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) finished off a 12-4 run for the Flyers that got them back to within a point at 30-29 with 2:02 left in the half.

After a Maryville basket, Hilber drilled another three-pointer to even the score at 32-32. Maryville scored the final four points of the half to lead 36-32 at the break.

Courier opened the second half with a three-pointer to get the Flyers back within one. Then later in the quarter she gave Lewis the lead with a layup, 40-39. A layup by Schmidt and a pair of baskets by Brown built the Lewis lead to 46-42 with 3:03 left in the third quarter.

Free throws by Taylor Gugliuzza (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) and Amelia Motz (Canton, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary) pushed the lead to 51-44 before the Saints cut the lead to 53-50 at the end of the third quarter. It was a 16-5 run for the Flyers over 6:38 of the period.

The Flyers used a 9-1 run early in the fourth quarter to build a 64-53 advantage with 6:01 left in the game as Courier had four points during the run.

The lead grew to 12 points with 4:01 remaining on a Courier layup before six straight points by the Saints made it 68-62 with 2:21 left. Those would be the final points for the Saints as a Gugliuzza layup was followed by four free throws from Motz to finish the game.

Courier tallied 18 points and two blocks for Lewis, while Brown scored 14 points, Schmidt had 13 points and seven rebounds and Hilber and Motz scored 12 points each. The Flyers shot 48.3 percent (28-of-58) from the floor, while Maryville was 32.3 percent (21-of-65) from the floor. The Flyers outrebounded the Saints 41-35. Lewis forced Maryville into 19 turnovers, while committing just 13.

The Flyers lost both earlier meetings with Truman State this year, 74-61 at home and 83-75 in Kirksville, Mo.