ROLLA - No. 4 Drury received 18 points from
Annie Armstrong and 17 points from
Alice Heinzler and held off a strong Missouri S&T push down the stretch to claim a 69-58 victory over the Lady Miners Saturday afternoon in Great Lakes Valley Conference play at the Bullman Multipurpose Building.
Coach
Molly Miller's Lady Panthers improved to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in the GLVC with the victory, while S&T fell to 4-4 and 1-2.
Drury led 20-9 after one quarter and 42-32 at the half, then used yet another third-quarter surge to build some cushion. The Lady Panthers used an 11-2 spurt out of the gate in the period to outscore the Lady Miners 21-13 in the third, then held off a late S&T charge to remain perfect overall and in the league. The 8-0 start is Drury's second in the past three years (the 2013-14 team opened 10-0).Â
"That S&T team has got the pieces ... they fight and are well-coached, and they play hard all game, so it was a good test for us," Miller said. "Our goal was to come out in the first five minutes of the game really, really strong because we feel like on the road, if you can take away that five minutes from that team, it kind of dampers their hopes a little bit ... and that's what I think we did in the first quarter.
"I think we got really stagnant with our motion let, which is probably a blessing in disguise. We didn't have
Hannah Dressler today (concussion), and she's the one that's been setting screens for us, getting Annie and Alice open, and she's constantly moving and screening. So it shows when we don't have her on the floor. Us getting stagnant was because of a lack of motion, so it shows our other (inside players) what Hannah brings to the offense, and helps them learn where they can improve."
Armstrong, who came into the contest shooting 58 percent from 3-point range (second in NCAA-II), made 4 of 5 tries from behind the arc for the game as the nation's leading 3-point shooting team went 8-for-19 (42 percent). Drury, also leading NCAA-II in FG percentage coming into the game, shot just 41 percent (25 of 61). The Lady Panthers were 11-of-12 at the free-throw line (92 percent).
Heinzler made all four of her free throws and added six rebounds and six steals - a season high for a Lady Panther - while picking up three assists to no turnovers in her 36 minutes of playing time.
Raetchel Gray had 14 points and Bria Pierce added 13 points to lead the Lady Miners, who claimed a 34-32 rebounding advantage for the game.Â
Drury is back in action at home for the final time before the holidays, hosting No. 19 Arkansas Tech at 11 a.m. Tuesday at The O' for the second annual Hiland Dairy Kids Day game. Some 1,600 elementary students from 15 area schools will be in attendance to cheer on the Lady Panthers in their final game before heading to Florida for games against Tampa and Florida Tech next weekend (Saturday-Sunday) in Melbourne, Fla.
