The William Jewell women's basketball team saw its three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday as they fell 65-54 to No. 8 Lewis. With the loss the Cardinals fall to 10-14 overall, 5-8 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Flyers move to 22-1, and 13-0 in the GLVC.

The final margin of 11 points was the largest lead of the day for Lewis as the Cardinals gave the nationally ranked team everything they could handle, staying within five points for majority of the game.

In the early moments it looked as though the Flyers were going to run away with the game from the start as they broke out to an 8-2 lead just minutes into the contest. From there Blair Klostermann took over scoring seven first quarter points to help pull Jewell within 13-17 at the end of the frame.

The second quarter belonged to the Cardinals, trailing by just one at the half, and finishing on an 8-2 run. A Katie Finn three-pointer tied the game at 20, before the Flyers scored seven consecutive. Senior Makenzie Johnson brought her team back with an offensive rebound put back and was fouled on the play and hit the free throw for the one point deficit at the break.

The Flyers again seemed to begin separating themselves in the third quarter as they grabbed their largest lead of the game to that point of ten at 50-40.

Jewell began to make things interesting in the final ten minutes. A Maddie Nelson three, followed by two free-throws, by way of a technical foul on Lewis, pulled the Cards back within four (52-48) with under 6:30 to play. Chris Keys completed the seven point swing with an offensive rebound put back with 6:10 remaining to cut the Lewis lead to two.

Two turnovers by the Cardinals proved costly as the Flyers' freshman star Jessica Kelliher and Alyssa Dengler both connected on layups to put LU back up nine. Free throws sealed the deal the down stretch as Jewell was forced to foul.

Despite holding Lewis ten points under their season scoring average, Jewell could not corral the duo of Kelliher and Mariah Brawner-Henley, the 2014 GLVC Player of the Year, as they two combined to score 39 and grab 15 rebounds.

The Cardinals shotjust 30 percent from the floor but remained within striking distance for much of the day as they forced the Flyers into eight first half turnovers and outrebounded Lewis 41-31, including pulling down 20 offensive boards.

Offensively, Nelson led the Cards with 15 points, to go along with seven rebounds, two steals, and two assists. Keys also posted a double-double of 13 points and ten rebounds, inculding five offensive boards.

The Cardinals will return home for the final full weekend of conference play in the Mabee Center on Thursday as they play host to Saint Joseph's at 5:30 p.m., followed by a matchup with Indianapolis on Saturday at 1:00. Jewell does have one final home contest on February 20 against Quincy University, a weekend that was split earlier in the season.