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ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - A season which began with so much promise has instead turned into a difficult journey, and Northern Kentucky University has reached the symbolic crossroads in its attempt to defend its Great Lakes Valley Conference championship. NKU is in a tough situation after suffering a 75-64 loss against a red-hot Lewis team Saturday afternoon. The 18th-ranked Norse, chosen as preseason favorites in the GLVC East poll after capturing last year's championship, dropped to 1-4 in the conference, 7-5 overall. NKU lost its fourth straight GLVC game dating back to a 65-64 setback to Southern Illinois at Edwardsville on Dec. 2. With GLVC home games coming up against Missouri-Rolla and Missouri-St. Louis this week, NKU needs to locate the magic of last season in a hurry. Norse head coach Nancy Winstel said no one is ready to panic about the 1-4 GLVC start, and there were positives to be found in the Lewis game. "We did some good things in this game, but we just came up a little short at the end," Winstel said. "We worked very hard at getting the ball inside, but we just didn't finish. We drew fouls, but we didn't shoot it from the line particularly well. "Lewis is playing really well right now, and you can't give a good team like that multiple chances. We are going to build from this one today." Lewis used its 1-2 offensive punch of Darcee Schmidt and Mary Moskal to down NKU on Saturday, as those two players combined for 55 points and 16 rebounds. Schmidt gunned in 32 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the field, and she added eight rebounds. Moskal, last season's GLVC Player of the Year, finished with 23 points and eight rebounds. "Those two were tough to stop, but I thought we had (Lewis) where we wanted them," Winstel said. "They just made some plays, and we didn't. But we competed hard, and I found out some good things about our players today." Lewis (12-2, 5-1 GLVC) shot 55.6 percent from the field in the first half to take a 43-33 lead at the break. The Flyers held a 12-point advantage midway through the second half, but NKU used a 14-4 run to pull within 59-57 with 8:31 remaining in the game. "We missed a layup that would have tied it up," Winstel said. "We had some opportunities and just did not capitalize." Lewis - which had beaten Grand Valley State and Bellarmine in the past week - responded to the NKU run. Schmidt made two free throws to extend Lewis' lead to 61-57, and Jennifer Green followed with a 3-point field goal to give the Flyers a 64-57 advantage. Karyn Creager and Angela Healy each scored 13 points to lead NKU. Creager's school-record streak of made free throws ended at 34 straight when she missed the second of two attempts at the line in the second half. As a team, NKU was 18-for-26 at the line. Karmen Graham finished with 12 points and is two shy of joining the NKU 1,000-point club. Katie Butler added 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench for NKU. Brittany Winner dished out a team-leading six assists for the Norse, and Cassie Brannen scored seven points off the bench. "Hopefully we will build on this and correct some of the other things," Winstel said.
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