ST. LOUIS – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team faces a familiar foe in the GLVC Tournament on Thursday as it will take on top seeded Lewis at noon at Hyland Arena on the campus of Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Mo.
The Tritons are making their ninth trip to the GLVC Tournament in the last 12 seasons and 19th overall after finishing the regular season with an overall record of 13-15 including 11-11 in the GLVC. The Flyers (20-8, 19-3 GLVC) are making their 16th straight appearance in the conference tournament and their league-best 38th appearance overall. Lewis has appeared in the GLVC Tournament championship game three of the past four years.
All spectators attending in person will be required to pre-purchase tickets online at
GLVCsports.com/tickets. No cash will be accepted on site.
Thursday's contest marks the third meeting this season between UMSL and the Flyers with Lewis winning the first two meetings by a combined nine points. The Flyers won 70-66 in Romeoville on Jan. 20 and 61-56 last Saturday at the Mark Twain Building.
The Tritons punched their ticket to the GLVC Tournament by going 1-1 last week defeating UIndy 58-56 on
Jalysa Stokes' buzzer-beater before losing to Lewis on Saturday. UMSL's berth was secured with McKendree's win over the Greyhounds.
Stokes leads the Tritons and the GLVC in scoring this season at 17.8 points per contest but McKendree's Clare Breden is right on her heels at 17.7 per game and Drury's Reese Schaaf is at 17.5 per outing.
Amaya Blake and
Alex Wolff are averaging 9.3 and 9.0 points per contest respectively while
Morgan Ramthun is at 8.5 points and is fifth in the GLVC in rebounding with 8.3 boards per contest.
Mara Rieder is averaging 8.2 points per game while
Audrey Martinez-Stewart is at 7.1 per outing.
Wolff led the team in scoring last week averaging 18 points in the two contests including a career-high 24 points on 9-of-15 shooting and went 6-for-6 at the foul line against Lewis. Ramthun added nine points and 10.5 rebounds per game.
The Flyers won the GLVC's regular season crown and finished with a point rating of 4.23 in the GLVC's Point Rating System. They have won nine straight games since last tasting defeat when it was beaten by Maryville 73-66 on Feb. 1.
Lewis has four players averaging double figures in scoring and are led by Grace Hilber with 16.6 per contest. Jenna Badali is contributing 13.1 per outing while Taylor Gugliuzza and Kathryn Schmidt are averaging 12.4 and 11.9 per game respectively. Schmidt is the top rebounder on the squad with 6.3 per contest and Badali leads the team with 117 assists and 48 steals.
Thursday's winner advances to Saturday's semifinal contest at noon and take on the winner of Friday's quarterfinal game between Maryville-Illinois Springfield at Hyland Arena.
