BOX SCORE
ST. LOUIS – The Lewis women’s basketball team punched a ticket to the GLVC Championship game and a shot at an automatic qualifying berth to the NCAA Tournament with a 64-56 win over No. 2 seed Wisconsin-Parkside on Saturday night at Moloney Arena. The Flyers have now defeated the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 seeds in the GLVC Tournament and will be the first squad seeded ninth at the outset of the event to compete for a title.
With the Flyers leading 51-47 late in the contest, Kady Currin canned a jumper at the free throw line with 1:48 to play to cap a 7-0 run allowing Lewis to seize control of the contest. The senior point guard finished with 12 points in the game.
Lewis (14-15), which had lost twice to UW-Parkside during the regular season, closed out the contest at the free throw line where they finished 17-of-24 for the ballgame. The Flyers limited the Rangers to just four free throws in the contest (1-4).
Devon Carbaugh led the Flyers with a game-high 13 points and helped the Flyers earn a 26-24 advantage on inside scoring and a 20-10 edge off the bench.
Senior Jenny Turpel added 11 points for the Flyers who flexed their defensive muscle by limiting the Rangers to 23 percent from the three-point line.
Lewis committed just eight turnovers in the ballgame and had a 34-31 edge on the glass.
Lewis closed the first half with an 11-5 run over the last 4:58 to take a 28-23 advantage at the break, matching their largest lead of the half, and an advantage they would not surrender the rest of the way. Carbaugh keyed the stretch with a pair of buckets in the paint and Currin capped the run with a pair of free throws following a contact technical foul on UW-Parkside’s Brittany Beyer.
Carbaugh led the Flyers into intermission with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
The first half featured six lead changes as each team managed a pair of mini-spurts. UW-Parkside went on a 10-2 run to build a 10-6 advantage before Lewis wrestled the lead with a 9-0 run behind seven points from Carbaugh.
UW-Parkside regained the lead at the 6:04 mark of the half at 18-17 behind an 8-2 run as Brittany Beyer and Brittany Hogen each scored four points. The pair each had eight first half points and Hogen finished with a game-high 16 points.