Box Score
Lewis 3-0 || Upper Iowa 1-2
Recap
The Peacocks rallied from a seventeen-point defecit in the second half to pull within four points late in the game. Lewis University, the 18th-ranked team in the country, held on in the closing minutes though and handed Upper Iowa a 73-68 loss.
The Flyers of Lewis controlled the first three-quarter of the contest leading 58-41 with 10:37 to play, but Upper Iowa dominated the final ten minutes pushing the ball into the paint and limiting their guests to one shot on offense. UIU clawed their way back thanks to a 10-0 run that was fueled by six points from junior Whitney Kieffer, who was presented with the game ball from Friday night's game prior to the tip to honor her surpassing the 1,000-point mark in her career.
The Peacock run cut the lead to just seven points, 58-51, but Lewis was able to extend their lead back to double-digits, 64-53, with 6:26 on the clock. Five straight points by UIU, brought the gap right back to two possessions, 64-58, on a layup from Carly Pagel.
With 1:20 showing on the clock, Kieffer was fouled and sent to the line where she knocked down a pair of free throws to cut the margin to four, 71-67. Lewis's post, Lauren Mead scored 2 of her game-high 22 in transition and Upper Iowa trailed again by six with less than a minute to play.
Laura TerHark made the difference five, 73-68, with 56 seconds to play with a free throw, but neither team would score again as UIU's final attempt was blocked by the Flyers.
The Peacocks had a great start to the game with leading 9-5 just over four minutes into the half, but over the next 26 minutes, the Flyers outscored their hosts by 21. Lauren Buck's work on the boards, she finished with a game-high 15 boards, kept the Peacocks going in the first half.
UIU Stats
Kieffer… 21 points, 6 rebounds | Buck… 8 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists | Sam Thrapp... 15 points | Pagel… 13 points
Sounding Off
Head Coach Carol Russell after the game…
On the game… "I thought our kids gave a ton of effort and really competed hard today. In the second half, we started to figure out how to play them defensively and that really helped us. Offensively, we switched to a high on-ball, pick-and-roll and they struggled with that. Their post also got into some foul trouble, which gave us an opening for our attack. Our kids are starting to realize our strengths and how to play to them. That helped us make a push late, but they got the stops when they needed to in order to get the win."
On the UIU standouts... "It was nice to see Carly Pagel get going today. We have a lot of depth at the post position and we took advantage of that tonight by throwing some different looks at them. Lauren Buck also had a solid game. We need her to have success like that for us to be successful as a team. It was nice to see her come out and have a good game at home."
On the adjustments needed before William Jewell... "We just have to put two periods together and play a forty-minute game. We can put a stretch or two together where we are playing really well, but now we have to find that consistency for the entire length of a game."
Next Up
The Peacocks will travel to William Jewell College on Nov. 23 for their final non-conference game of the season.
