ROMEOVILLE, Ill.—Despite a career-high 23 points from senior guard
Randa Harshbarger (Philo, Illinois), University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball could not overcome early offensive miscues and poor free throw shooting as host Lewis University pinned a 72-71 Great Lakes Valley Conference setback on the No. 9/14 Screaming Eagles in their regular-season finale Saturday afternoon.
The Eagles (24-3, 16-2 GLVC) committed nine first-quarter turnovers and went just 9-of-17 (.529) from the free throw line as they saw their season-long 13-game win streak come to an end.
USI fell behind by nine (24-15) early in the second quarter, but a three-pointer by junior forward
Kacy Eschweiler (St. Charles, Missouri) and a pair of trifectas by Harshbarger helped the Eagles pull even with the Flyers at 32-32 late in the first half.
Lewis (22-6, 15-3 GLVC) scored the final three points of the first half to take and 35-32 lead into the intermission and led by five early in the second half before a 10-0 USI surge put the Eagles up, 42-37, with six minutes to play in the third quarter.
The Flyers, however, used a 10-2 run to go back up by five and held a 53-50 lead heading into a fourth-quarter that featured two ties and four lead changes.
Harshbarger's three-pointer with just over eight minutes to play put USI in front 55-54; while her trey with 2:38 to play pulled the Eagles into a 62-62 tie.
With the score tied at 64-64, Lewis junior forward Jessica Kelliher scored on a layup to put the Flyers up by two with less than two minutes on the clock. Sophomore forward Rachel Hinders gave Lewis a 68-64 lead with less than a minute to go.
USI had a chance to cut the lead in half with 42 seconds to play, but senior guard/forward
Kaydie Grooms (Marshall, Illinois) missed a pair of free throws as the Flyers extended their advantage to five points with a free throw on the other end of the court.
Grooms, who had 16 points in the loss, trimmed Lewis' advantage to 70-68 with just under six seconds to go, but a pair of Lewis free throws with just under five seconds left secured the win for the Flyers.
In addition to Harshbarger and Grooms, USI got 14 points from Eschweiler, while senior forward
Morgan Dahlstrom (Grayslake, Illinois) contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
Kelliher had 28 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Flyers, while Hinders added 15 points.
USI officially learns its GLVC Tournament fate Saturday night following the conclusion of GLVC play. The Eagles figure to be the No. 2 seed and will play the No. 7 seed in the opening round Thursday at the Vadalabene Center in Edwardsville, Illinois.
Notes: USI shot 48.2 percent (27-56) from the field, but was just 4-13 (.308) in the first 10 minutes…the Eagles allowed a season-worst .509 shooting percentage and fell to 0-3 when being outshot this year…USI committed just four turnovers throughout the final 30 minutes of the game.
