ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Lewis University women's basketball team began the GLVC Tournament with a 65-51 victory over Missouri-St. Louis Thursday (March 7). The Flyers never trailed in the game, holding a double-digit lead for the entire second half.
LEWIS LEADERS
Points: Jenna Badali (Oak Lawn, Ill./Mother McAuley) (20),
Taylor Gugliuzza (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way West) (12),
Grace Hilber (Sun Prairie, Wis./Sun Prairie) (9),
Cierra McNamee (Moline, Ill.) (9)
Rebounds: Kathryn Schmidt (Hampshire, Ill./Burlington Central) (8), Badali (7),
Gabrielle Hoover (Mishawaka, Ind./La Lumiere) (7)
Assists: Badali (5), Hilber (4)
Steals: Badali (1), McNamee (1)
Blocks: Schmidt (2)
RECORDS
(1) Lewis 21-8 (19-3 GLVC) | (8) UMSL 13-16 (11-11 GLVC)
SUMMARY
Lewis took an early 5-0 lead off of a layup by Badali and a three-point shot from Hilber. Later in the first, a 7-0 run by the Flyers including a deep ball from Badali brought the lead to 17-9.
Lily Courier (LaGrange, Ill./Lyons Township) scored the last points of the opening quarter with a layup to put Lewis ahead 19-11. The Flyers went 8/12 (.667) from the field in the first while holding UMSL to 4/15 (.267).
Gugliuzza opened the second quarter with a three-pointer to put Lewis up by 11. Cierra McNamee (Moline, Ill.) later converted a three-point play to set the score at 27-15 Flyers.
The Tritons scored the next four points but Lewis pushed the lead back to 12 on a layup by Badali that made it 33-21. At halftime, the Flyers led 37-27, had a 17-11 advantage in rebounds over UMSL and held the conference's scoring leader, the Tritons' Jalysa Stokes, scoreless in the first half.
Lewis came charging out of the locker room with a 12-2 run to open the third quarter, holding UMSL to 1/9 from the field and having five different players score during the stretch. The Tritons had a 9-3 push in response to get within 14, 52-38.
The Flyers then scored the final five points of the quarter, capped off by a three-point bucket from Schmidt, to make it 57-38 heading to the final frame.
UMSL started the fourth quarter with a 7-3 push looking to make a comeback but could not get closer than 14 points the rest of the way. Badali scored 20 points for the third time this season and has recorded three of her top five scoring games this year against the Tritons.
UP NEXT
Lewis women's basketball will be back for the GLVC Tournament Semifinals on Saturday (March 9) against the winner of Maryville and Illinois-Springfield at noon CT.
