Alice Heinzler

Women's Basketball 12/1/2015 9:16:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

No. 6 Lady Panthers Open GLVC Play Thursday At UMSL

*THE MATCHUP: Drury (5-0), up two spots to No. 6 in this week's USA TODAY/WBCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, will play at Missouri-St. Louis (3-3) in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams at 5:30 p.m Thursday at the Mark Twain Building on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The game can be heard on KBFL 1060 AM until 6 p.m., at which time it will also air on JOCK 98.7 FM. It can be heard online (both stations) at www.radiospringfield.com. A free, live webcast will be available at www.umsltritons.com/watch

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury, No. 8 in last week's USA TODAY/WBCA Top 25 national poll, improved to 5-0 on the season with a pair of victories in its own Ramada Plaza Hotel/Oasis Convention Center Thanksgiving Classic last Friday and Saturday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center. The Lady Panthers downed Concordia of St. Paul 93-65 on Friday before blitzing Travecca Nazarene 102-64 on Saturday with a historic shooting effort that included school records of 17 made 3-pointers as a team (in 30 tries) and 8 3-pointers each from Annie Armstrong and Alice Heinzler. Armstrong was named tourney MVP, and was joined on the all-tourney team by Heinzler and junior post Hannah Dressler.

*SCOUTING UMSL: The Tritons (3-3) are coming off a 74-59 win over Findlay last Saturday after losing at former GLVC member Kentucky Wesleyan 74-68 three days earlier in Owensboro, Ky. Kelly Kunkel, a 6-0 senior, averages 13.3 points per game to lead three UMSL players scoring in double figures. Robneisha Lee, a 5-8 junior, adds 11.7 points and shares the team rebounding lead with Kunkel at 5.2 rebounds per game, while Sydney Bloch, a 5-7 junior, adds 11.0 points per game for fourth-year coach Katie Vaughn's squad.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series 20-1, including a 66-48 victory last season in St. Louis. The Lady Panthers' only loss to the Tritons was a 58-56 decision in St. Louis on January 26, 2013.

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Heinzler has assumed the team's scoring lead with her 15.4 points per game average, including a career-high 30 points against Trevecca on Saturday. Armstrong adds 14.8 points per game and senior post Brook Duncan - who sat out the Trevecca game due to injury - adds 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest.

*EQUAL TIME: Drury has played all 11 of its roster members between 9.8 and 26.2 minutes per game on average, as Miller has been able to keep her starters fresh with the utilization of a deep bench. All 11 players have scored at least a total of 15 points on the season through five games.

*MILLER TIME: The 5-0 start has pushed coach Molly Miller's record to 31-4 in two seasons as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes a 16-1 record in games at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, where their only loss was a 78-73 decision to Pittsburg State on the second day of the 2014 Thanksgiving Classic. That remains the only game in Miller's coaching career decided by five points or less that her team has lost; she's 6-1 in those situations.

*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: DU senior guard Annie Armstrong, with 74 points through three games this year, now has 766 in her three seasons with the Lady Panthers after the Springfield Kickapoo HS product transferred back home from Eckerd (Fla.) College. Armstrong, who led the nation in free-throw percentage (.956 last season), is closing in on No. 15 Becky Flippin (773 points from 2005-08) on the DU career charts, needing eight points to move into the Top 15.

*NICE SHOOTIN': Armstrong and Heinzler's eight 3-pointers each against Trevecca on Saturday broke the old mark of seven shared by former DU stars Bethanie Funderburk, Lindsay Ballweg (twice) and Katie Pritchard. Funderburk's was the most recent, coming on December 1, 2011 vs. UMSL. Armstrong broke it first, getting her eighth trey in the final seconds of the third quarter, before Heinzler came on with two treys in the fourth quarter to match it. Drury's 17 3-pointers as a team broke the old mark of 14 set three times by the Lady Panthers, most recently in that December 1, 2011 game vs. UMSL in which Funderburk tied the individual mark. The 30 3-point tries were one off the DU all-time record of 31 set twice, vs. Cal State-Monterrey Bay in 2003 and Panhandle State in 2004. Drury is shooting .544 from the field as a team, including an amazing .510 (51 of 100) from 3-point range, which leads the nation in D-II.

*LADY PANTHERS IN THE NATIONAL STATS: Drury ranks first in 3-point FG percentage (.510), third nationally in FG percentage (.544), seventh in scoring (86.2 ppg) and 3-pointers per game (10.2). Armstrong ranks fifth nationally in 3-point FG percentage at .633 (17 of 27) while Heinzler is 10th at .581 (18 of 31).

*HARD-HAT HANNAH: Junior forward/center Hannah Dressler, who picked up national acclaim last week with her line-drive, half-court shot at the end of the first period in the win over Central Missouri, was named to the Thanksgiving Classic all-tourney team for her typical blue-collar work inside. Dressler, who had a total of three rebounds over her first three games, picked up five against Concordia and a career-best 11 rebounds (in just 20 minutes) against Trevecca on Saturday.

*ON DECK FOR THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury will visit Maryville for a 1 p.m. GLVC matchup on Saturday in Chesterfield, Mo., before take a few days off for final exams next week. The Lady Panthers will resume play with a GLVC game at Missouri S&T on Saturday, December 12 (1 p.m.), then play host to Arkansas Tech at The O' on Tuesday, December 15 in an 11 a.m. start for the second annual Hiland Dairy Kids Day game. The Lady Panthers will leave the following day for Florida to close out the first semester schedule with games against Tampa and host Florida Tech on Dec. 19-20 in the Florida Tech Holiday Classic in Melbourne, Fla.

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Players Mentioned

#25 Annie Armstrong: G; 5' 8"; Senior; Guard

#32 Hannah Dressler: F; 6' 1"; Junior; Forward

#14 Alice Heinzler: G; 5' 7"; Junior; Guard

#34 Brook Duncan: F; 6' 0"; Senior; Forward

Players Mentioned

#25 Annie Armstrong
: 5' 8"; Senior; Guard
: G

#32 Hannah Dressler
: 6' 1"; Junior; Forward
: F

#14 Alice Heinzler
: 5' 7"; Junior; Guard
: G

#34 Brook Duncan
: 6' 0"; Senior; Forward
: F