The nationally third-ranked Drury Lady Panthers will resume their Bank of Bolivar "Highway 13 Cat Fight" rivalry with Southwest Baptist when the teams square off in their annual non-conference battle in a 5:30 p.m. tipoff Tuesday night at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
Coach
Molly Miller's Lady Panthers are 2-0 after picking up wins in Lakewood, Colo., last weekend in the Colorado Christian Tournament. Drury defeated the host school 84-76 on Friday before thumping nationally eighth-ranked Colorado Mesa 81-56 on Saturday afternoon.
Southwest Baptist is 0-1 after dropping a 76-74 decision last Friday at home to Ouachita Baptist, despite putting five Lady Bearcats in double-figures. Dilonna Johnson had 14 points and Brook Duncan added 12 points and seven rebounds for SBU, which also defeated Webster 104-43 and lost to Missouri State 89-74 in preseason exhibition games.
Drury leads the all-time series with SBU 5-1, and captured last season's matchup in Bolivar 77-76 in a game that saw the officials go to a courtside monitor to review a final bucket by the Lady Bearcats at the buzzer that was eventually waved off. Â Duncan had 23 points and 12 rebounds and Johnson added 16 points to lead SBU in last year's meeting.
Junior point guard
Annie Armstrong has led the Lady Panthers through their first two games, averaging 21.0 points and 6.5 rebounds with just one turnover in 68 minutes of play. She's also hit all 17 of her free-throw tries. Senior post
Sanayika Shields is averaging 10.0 points and 12.5 rebounds and sophomore guard
Paige Wilson is adding 10.5 points per contest.Â
The Lady Panthers won 60-55 at The O' in 2012 and lost 57-49 in the inaugural season of the new arena (2010).
Tuesday's game will be televised live by Mediacom Connections 22 of Springfield. It can also be viewed in a free, live webcast at www.drurypanthers.com/watch.
Â