Women's Basketball 12/17/2015 11:14:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

#4 Lady Panthers To Face Tampa, Host Team In Florida Tech Classic Saturday-Sunday

Women's Basketball 12/17/2015 11:14:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

#4 Lady Panthers To Face Tampa, Host Team In Florida Tech Classic Saturday-Sunday

Paige Wilson

The unbeaten, fourth-ranked Lady Panthers' trip to Florida this weekend to take on Tampa and Florida Tech in the CarMax Holiday Classic, at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUPS: Nationally fourth-ranked Drury (9-0) plays Tampa (4-6) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and Florida Tech (7-2) at 11 a.m. Sunday in the CarMax Holiday Classic on the Florida Tech campus in Melbourne, Fla.

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM (online at www.radiospringfield.com). A free live webcast and live stats can be viewed at www.floridatechsports.com.

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury has headed to the Sunshine State to close out the 2015 portion of its schedule by participating in the CarMax Holiday Classic hosted by Florida Tech, which like Saturday opponent Tampa, is a member of the Sunshine State Conference (SSC). Coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers remained unbeaten with a come-from-behind, 71-64 victory over No. 18 Arkansas Tech before 2,014 fans on Tuesday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center. Drury trailed by as many as nine points against the Golden Suns before going on a 17-3 run that was part of outscoring Tech 21-7 in the fourth quarter for the win. Alice Heinzler had 16 points, Annie Armstrong added 14 points and Hannah Dressler - in her first game action since December 5 (concussion), had one of the most complete games of her career with 12 points, 10 rebounds and a career-high five steals as DU moved within one win of tying its best start to a season in the program's 16-year history. Armstrong averages 14.9 points, Heinzler adds 14.4 points and Dressler averages 9.8 points and a team-high 5.1 rebounds for the Lady Panthers.

*SCOUTING TAMPA: The Spartans (4-6) come in off a 73-61 loss to No. 24 Benedict last Saturday, one of two setbacks to ranked squads (they also fell to No. 13 Union 59-56 in Tampa on Nov. 14). Tampa averages 60.7 points per game and is allowing 59.3, while shooting 43 percent from the field and 34 percent from 3-point range. Juliana Cavallaro, a 5-9 senior guard, averages 13.9 points and 5.3 rebounds to lead the Spartans, who receive 11.5 points per game from Elena de Alfredo, a 5-8 junior guard and transfer from D-I Toledo, one of six Division I transfers on the Tampa roster for coach Tom Jessee, who's in his 13th season with the Spartans and has guided his team into the NCAA tourney field in seven of the past 10 seasons.

*SCOUTING FLORIDA TECH: The Panthers (7-2) enter the weekend on a four-game winning streak and will play Fort Valley State on Saturday before taking on the Lady Panthers. Tech's two losses have come to #3 Nova Southeastern (75-73) and Sioux Falls (66-43) in back-to-back games on Nov. 24 and Nov. 27. Shequana Harris, a 5-7 redshirt junior guard and transfer from D-I Providence, averages 18.7 points to lead the Panthers, who are shooting just 37 percent from the field and 32 percent from 3-point range. Tech averages 66 points and allows 61 points per game, and is outrebounding its opponents on average by a 42-35 count. Coach John Reynolds is in his 29th season at Tech, which started 15-0 last year and finished 20-7.

*THE SERIES: Drury is 0-1 all-time against Tampa and will be playing Florida Tech for the first time.

*GOOD GOLLY, MISS MOLLY: The 9-0 start has pushed coach Molly Miller's record to 35-4 in two seasons as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes a 17-1 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. Drury has won 23 of its last 24 games under Miller, whose 35-4 record after 39 games is the best in Lady Panthers' coaching history.

*BACK UP, ANNIE: Armstrong is shooting an amazing 61 percent now from 3-point range (26 of 43), ironically, compared to 50 percent (43 of 86) on all FG tries. But Drury just wants her to keep firing it from long range, period: Over her three-year career as a Lady Panther, Drury is 13-0 when Armstrong makes three or more 3-pointers in a game. She set a new school record with eight made treys in a win over Trevecca Nazarene on November 28 in the Thanksgiving Classic at The O', only to see it tied about a half-hour later in the same game by teammate Heinzler. Armstrong is 60 of 128 (.469) from 3-point range over the last two seasons and 94 of 213 (.442) for her DU career; the team record for career 3-point percentage is .447, held by current DU assistant coach Katie Pritchard.

*QUICK STARTS: The Lady Panthers have started 9-0 for the third time in the program's 16-year history. Other fast beginnings include a 9-0 start in 2004-05 and an 8-0 start in 2005-06 (both under coach Nyla Milleson, when Miller was a player at DU), as well as a school-record, 10-0 start in 2013-14 under coach Steve Huber (when Miller was a first-year assistant).

*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: Armstrong now has 826 points in her three seasons with the Lady Panthers after the Springfield Kickapoo HS product transferred back home from Eckerd (Fla.) College, and moved into 15th place on the all-time DU scoring charts with her efforts in St. Louis last weekend. Armstrong needs 61 points to surpass Sanayika Shields (886 points from 2011-15) for 14th place on the charts. Armstrong scored 241 points in her lone season at Eckerd, meaning she's scored 1,067 points in her four intercollegiate seasons of basketball. After making 34 of 39 free throws (.872 percent) at Eckerd as a freshman, Armstrong has made 159 of 168 free-throw tries (.945 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 22-for-22 this season. For her college career combined, Armstrong is 193 of 207 at the stripe (93 percent).

*WHERE WE DRAW THE LINE: The nation's top free-throw shooting team last season, the Lady Panthers are once again very accurate at the charity stripe, shooting 75 percent on free throws as a team. Armstrong, the nation's leading FT shooter last year at .956, has been perfect this season (22 for 22), while sophomore Heather Harman is at .944 (17 of 18) and Heinzler is 20 of 21 (.952) from the line. Armstrong has made her last 24 free throws and 48 of her last 49 attempts dating back to last season.

*ON DECK FOR THE LADY PANTHERS: The Lady Panthers will take the mandatory NCAA-II "Life In Balance" week-long break for the holidays after returning from Florida. Drury will resume action in the new year with a GLVC road trip to national power Lewis on January 7 and Wisconsin-Parkside on January 9, the latter to be televised nationally on the American Sports Network (ASN).

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Players Mentioned

#44 Sanayika Shields: C; 6' 1"; Senior; Center

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

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

#15 Heather Harman: G; 5' 9"; Sophomore; Guard

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

Players Mentioned

#44 Sanayika Shields
: 6' 1"; Senior; Center
: C

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

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

#15 Heather Harman
: 5' 9"; Sophomore; Guard
: G

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