By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

Without senior forward Paula Smith in its lineup, the Lindbergh High girls’ basketball team is flying like a plane without a navigator.

The Flyers (11-9, 3-1 Suburban West) have struggled with a 2-2 record since their second-leading scorer went down with an ankle injury last month. Lindbergh has lost two straight, including a disappointing 49-43 loss to University City last Thursday in the third-place game of the Lindbergh Varsity Tournament.

Lindbergh shot just 25 percent from the field and missed all five attempts from three-point range against University City. Lindbergh also was 15 of 24 from the free-throw line, or 62 percent.

Smith has the second highest field-goal and free-throw percentages on the team.

“We haven’t shot from the field very well,” Lindbergh head coach Bill Thoele told the Call. “We’ve had good looks at the basket, but the shots just didn’t fall.”

Amy Hake led the Flyers with 19 points, eight steals, three rebounds and one assist in the loss to the Lions. The senior guard averages a team-leading 19.3 points a game.

“The thing about Amy is that even though she’s a guard, she’s very strong and can go to the hoop and draw the foul,” Thoele said. “She just keeps going at it 100 percent. We would be in bad shape without her.”

The Flyers will travel to Fox High School for a Suburban West Conference showdown at 7 p.m. Friday with the War-riors.

The Warriors are 12-7 overall under the leadership of senior center Erin McDermott, who averages 15.2 points and 13.1 rebounds a game this season.

“The first problem we’ll have is guarding McDermott in the middle,” Thoele said.

“She plays well both offensively and defensively and is a very aggressive rebounder. We’re going to need to put a lot of pressure on them,” Thoele added.