EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – An early three-point onslaught by the #5-seeded Lewis Flyers kept the #4 Truman Bulldogs having to play catchup in the second half and in the end it was Lewis with the 83-75 victory in the quarterfinal round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament on Friday.
 
The Flyers (15-14) hit six threes in the first quarter and added four more in the second as they took a 51-40 lead into the locker room. Truman (18-11) tried to keep pace in the half as they made five triples, all in the first quarter and shot just under 50% from the field.
 
The Bulldogs crept to within seven at 74-67 in the fourth quarter and had five straight empty possessions that would have brought the 'Dogs closer. 
 
Kathryn Schmidt broke the Lewis drought with her fifth three-pointer of the day with 5:24 to play to extend the lead back out to 10. 
 
Hannah Belanger responded with a three-pointer and later Emma Bulman's driving lay-up with 3:01 to go made it a five-point game at 77-72. 
 
Ellie Weltha converted on one of two free throws with 1:29 to play to bring Truman to within four at 79-75. However, a late shot clock find by Amelia Motz underneath to Lily Courier gave Lewis a hoop and dashed the Bulldogs season.
 
Weltha scored a career-high 29 points and added 17 rebounds for her 15^th double-double of the season. She climbed over 300 rebounds for the season (307) to move into fifth place in Truman season individual rebounds. 
 
Belanger added 28 points on five triples and finishes her season in the top 10 in career scoring with 1,244 points. 
 
The Bulldogs shot 48% as a team and were 10-of-27 from three.
 
Lewis got 24 from Grace Hilber and 21 from Schmidt. The two combine for 10 of the team's 14 three-pointers, which was the most against Truman this season and most since Maryville hit 18 against the Bulldogs in 2014. 
 
The Flyers move on to face top-seed Southern Indiana in the quarterfinals on Saturday.