Lewis Athletics
Luke Rinne, Director of Athletic Communications
ROMEOVILLE – Lewis University’s women’s basketball team has been selected to finish second in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division according to the 2020-21 GLVC Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll. The poll is voted on by the league’s head coaches.
In response to adjustments needed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the GLVC regular season will feature three divisions and a 22-game schedule, where every team plays every divisional opponent twice – home and away – four random non-divisional opponents twice – home and away – and every other non-divisional opponent once. The top-eight teams with the most points derived from the GLVC Point Rating System at the end of the regular season will earn a berth to the GLVC Basketball Championship Tournament March 2, 6-7 on campus sites of the higher seeded teams.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic fans will not permitted at any GLVC contest through games of Jan. 3.
Lewis earned 57 points and five first place votes. Southern Indiana was picked to finish first in the division receiving 10 first place votes and 66 points. Indianapolis was tabbed to finish third garnering 46 points while McKendree snuck into fourth position with 26 points ahead of Illinois Springfield (25) rounding out the division in fifth.
The Flyers return seven players off of last year’s team that finished last year with a record of 19-12 overall and 14-6 in the GLVC. Lewis finished as runner-up in the conference tournament and earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth consecutive year.
GLVC coaches predicted that Truman State (65 points/nine first-place votes) would win the Central Division; followed by Lindenwood (56 points/four first-place votes), Maryville University (46 points/two first-place votes), the University of Missouri-St. Louis (35 points) and Quincy (18 points).
Drury (70 points/14 first-place votes) was the unanimous choice to win the West Division, while Southwest Baptist (44 points), William Jewell (41 points/one first-place vote), Rockhurst University (39 points) and Missouri S&T (26 points) rounded out the GLVC West Division predicitions.
Lewis opens its 22-game GLVC-only schedule November 27 when it hosts Truman State in a 1 p.m. tip-off at Neil Carey Arena. All of Lewis’ games this season will be carried live on the GLVC Sports Network, while 1340 WJOL will carry the game on the airwaves.