MELBOURNE, Fla. - Tampa built a huge first-half lead with some hot shooting and fended off a strong, early charge from the Lady Panthers in the third period to knock off No. 4 Drury 72-61 in Saturday's Florida Tech CarMax Holiday Classic at the Clemente Center.

Drury (9-1) watched Tampa (5-6) penetrate to the basket repeatedly in the opening half, as the Spartans made 72 percent of their shots (16 of 22) in building a 40-24 halftime advantage.

The Lady Panthers opened the third quarter with a furious rally, cutting the deficit to five (42-37) on the strength of a 13-2 run, but the Spartans countered with an 11-2 spurt to finish the period and lead 53-39 after three.From there, DU couldn't get the deficit below eight points, as Tampa made enough free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the victory and hand the Lady Panthers their first setback of the season.

"I thnk they took advantage of some early mismatches and spread us out ... they were just trying to get to the paint and get to the rim, and we sent them to the foul line when they did," Drury coach Molly Miller said. "We haven't shot 27 percent from 3-point range since I can remember, so it was a bad shooting night for us ... I think we rushed them a bit. We were out of rhythm a bit when we were shooting, and when that happens, we need to do a better job of getting the ball inside. We didn't do that tonight."

Addy Roller had 14 points and Brianna Jones added 12 points to lead the Lady Panthers, who got 11 points each from Alice Heinzler and Annie Armstrong, who went 0-for-4 from 3-point range as the Lady Panthers - the nation's leading 3-point shooting team entering the week - made just 5 of 18 tries from behind the arc (27 percent). The Lady Panthers shot 41 percent overall (22 of 54), while Tampa finished at 56 percent (23 of 41).

The Spartans were 22 of 31 at the free-throw line for the game, compared to Drury's 12 of 16.

Hannah Dressler grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Lady Panthers, who were beaten on the boards 32-25.

Elena de Alfredo led four Spartans in double-figures with 17 points, while Ellen Nurmi added 14 points, Juliana Cavallaro had 13 points and Angela Alvarez finished with 11 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Drury will take on host Florida Tech in an 11 a.m. tipoff (CST) Sunday to conclude its appearance in the meet. Florida Tech (8-2) defeated Fort Valley State 72-45 in Saturday's other game in the CarMax Holiday Classic.

"We have less than 15 hours before we turn around and play again, so we've got to leave that locker room with a mission, and that's to come out and get one tomorrow," Miller said. "We've got to fix some things, but we're going to move on to the next game, and it's going to be a big one. Florida Tech is a great team and an athletic team, and we struggle with athletic teams a little bit. So we'll have to be ready to go."