EDWARDSVILLE, Ill.—The Bellarmine Women's basketball team saw its season end in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament semifinals as the Lewis Flyers got hot in the second half and defeated the Knights 76-65 at the Vadalabene Center on the campus of Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.
 
The Knights opened the game with a solid first half performance and went the locker room with a 30-28 lead.  However, the Flyers came out and shot 66.7 percent in the second half to pull away. The third period was particularly pivotal as the Knights made just four of 14 field goals, and Lewis seized the opportunity, outscoring BU 23-12 in the quarter.
 
"We played a great first half," said Bellarmine Coach Chancellor Dugan.  "I thought we did everything we wanted to do. Overall, I still think we settled for too many threes. We needed to get the ball on the inside a little more and pull their bigs out. I thought we could go around them when we pulled them out."
 
Lewis ended the game shooting 52.3 percent from the field and owned a 37-29 rebounding advantage.  The Knights managed just 34.4 percent shooting, including a 4-for-20 performance from the 3-point line. Bellarmine was able to overcome the poor shooting and stay competitive by taking care of the ball, committing just nine turnovers in the game.
 
Rachel Hinders of Lewis led all scorers with 23 points, and she also hauled in game-high 10 rebounds.
 
The Knights got 13 points from Tasia Jeffries with Breia Torrens adding 10. 
 
The Flyers improve to 19-11 and move on to tomorrow's championship game against the winner of the Drury-Lindenwood contest.
 
Bellarmine finishes the season 18-11 as today's game marks the final appearance for seniors Mallory Schwartz, Ally Mayhaus, Allison Van Dyke, Katie Downey, Taylor Hunter and Mikayla Berry, who had to sit out today's game after re-injuring her shoulder in yesterday's win.
 
"I just want to thank these seniors for four great years," Dugan said. "They did a great job for us. They set this program up for where it is today.  Any time you don't win a national championship, your last game is going to be a loss, and I just want these seniors to know how much I care about them and love them."
 
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