ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis women's basketball team struggled to find the mark from the field for much of the afternoon on Thursday as it dropped its Great Lakes Valley Conference quarterfinal contest to top seeded Lewis 65-51 at Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Mo.

The Flyers (21-8) jumped out to an early six-point lead but the Tritons, seeded eighth, used a 7-1 run to pull within 10-9 after two free throws from Mara Rieder near the midway point of the opening quarter.

Lewis outscored UMSL 9-2 over the final five minutes of the frame to take an eight-point lead into the second quarter.

The Flyers extended their lead to double digits by scoring eight of the first 12 points of the second quarter but the Tritons got to within eight after a driving layup by Audrey Martinez-Stewart with 4:05 left in the half.

Lewis stretched its lead to 11 but UMSL cut it to 10 at the half after a free throw from Brooke Woodyard.

The Flyers shot an impressive 65 percent (15-for-23) from the floor in the first 20 minutes of play including 3-of-6 from three and 67 percent at the foul line. Jenna Badali led Lewis with 11 points in the half.

The Tritons were held to just 38 percent (11-for-29) from the floor in the stanza but was 2-of-6 from three and shot 50 percent at the foul line. Martinez-Stewart led UMSL with nine points while Amaya Blake added eight.

Lewis opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run to extend its lead to 20. The Tritons countered scoring nine of the next 12 points to pull within 14 after a jumper from Jalysa Stokes but the Flyers scored the final five points of the frame to take a 19-point lead into the final frame.

Both teams struggled to shoot the ball in the final 10 minutes as Lewis shot 25 percent from the field while UMSL shot 31 percent from the floor. The Tritons wouldn't get closer than 14 points the rest of the contest.

UMSL ended the game connecting on 33 percent (21-for-63) of its attempts from the floor but was 2-of-10 from three and shot 64 percent at the charity stripe. Martinez-Stewart led the Tritons with 12 points in the contest while Blake and Rieder added 10 points each.

Lewis finished the game shooting 53 percent (25-for-47) from the floor including 6-of-15 from three and shot 64 percent at the foul line. Badali finished with a game-high 20 points while Taylor Gugliuzza finished with 12 points.

UMSL finishes its season with a record of 13-16.