KANSAS CITY - No. 14 Drury used an 18-0 run midway through the second half to charge back for an 83-77 victory over Rockhurst in their Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup Thursday night at Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse.
The Lady Panthers, in picking up their ninth straight victory, moved to 12-2 overall and 6-0 in the GLVC. They needed the big run - including a stretch of 8 minutes, 30 seconds (from the 11:32 mark to 3:02) where Rockhurst went without a point - to shake the Hawks.
Rockhurst (7-7, 1-5), held a seven-point advantage when Becca Strobbe made a jumper at that 11:32 mark to put the Hawks ahead 59-52 before Drury's 18-0 run sent the Lady Panthers to their 28th consecutive victory in the series.
"It was our goal to get three stops in a row ... that was our main emphasis in the second half, and I thought we put strings together where we got those stops," first-year Drury coach
Molly Miller said. "Then we just chipped away ... I was really proud of our girls for not faltering and sticking with it. We didn't get tight when we got down, and we just kept chipping away until we got the win.
"That's a Rockhurst team we knew we had to take seriously and respect. They're a good ballclub."
Sanayika Shields led four Lady Panthers in double-figures with 20 points and added a game-high 10 rebounds and four steals in her 31 minutes of playing time.
Addy Roller added 17 points,
Annie Armstrong had 15 points, six rebounds and four assists and
Shelby White had 10 points and three steals for Drury, which led 45-38 at the half.
The Lady Panthers, one of the nation's top free-throw shooting teams, struggled through an uncharacteristically poor night at the line, making just 28 of 40 free throws (70 percent).Â
Drury shot 56 percent in the opening half (15 of 27) before making just 10 of 28 tries in the second half to finish at 46 percent (25 of 55). Rockhurst shot 48 percent from the field (28 of 59), including 12 3-pointers (in 27 tries).Â
Mary Dineen had 25 points - including 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range - to lead Rockhurst. Jill Myers added 16 points and Lauren Meyers had 12 points for the Hawks.
"Defensively, we want to hold teams under 40 percent from the field," Miller said. "So when you let teams shoot almost 50 percent, that's going to make for a long ballgame."
The Hawks claimed a final 36-33 rebounding advantage, but committed 15 turnovers to just seven by the Lady Panthers.
Drury continues its two-week, GLVC road swing at William Jewell on Saturday with a 1 p.m. tipoff in Liberty.