Drury's nationally eighth-ranked Lady Panthers will close out the regular season on Thursday night when they entertain Missouri S&T in a 5:30 p.m. Great Lakes Valley Conference tipoff at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
It's "Senior Night" for Drury, with the team to recognize seniors
Sanayika Shields and
Shelby White in pre-game festivities starting at approximately 5:25 p.m. before the Lady Panthers (22-3, 16-1 in the GLVC) take on the Lady Miners (6-19, 2-15). Fans are invited to attend a brief "meet and greet" with the seniors a few minutes after the conclusion of the game in the Plaster Gallery banquet room.
In addition to Senior Night, tonight is the second of two nights this season where Drury will be raising money for Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) Awareness. All proceeds from the sale of the Andy's Frozen Custard cups at the Snack Attack stand in The O' will go to the American Heart Association for CHD research ane awareness. Donations above and beyond the $2 price of the Andy's treats are accepted and encouraged.
Drury, which climbed three spots to No. 8 in this week's USA TODAY Sports/WBCA Top 25 National Poll, has won 10 straight - longest current streak in the league - and 19 of its last 20 games, while S&T has lost its last four games and 14 of 16. The Lady Panthers defeated the Lady Miners 80-58 in Rolla on December 4.
Briana Jones had 13 points to lead a balanced attack for Drury, which forced 27 S&T turnovers.
The Lady Panthers are third again this week in the official NCAA-II Midwest Regional rankings released on Wednesday afternoon, trailing Lewis and Michigan Tech, which flip-flopped 1-2 positions. Wayne State is fourth and Wisconsin-Parkside fifth this week. The top eight teams in the final regional rankings, released on Sunday evening, March 8, will qualify for the NCAA-II tourney and the Midwest Regional.
Coach
Molly Miller's Lady Panthers come into Thursday's S&T game off a sweep of William Jewell (88-62) and Rockhurst (71-68) last weekend at The O', while S&T lost to both in Rolla, falling 53-58 to Rockhurst and 73-58 to Jewell.
Janie Arand, a 5-9 freshman, averages 8.8 points and 5-9 sophomore Elsie Greenwood adds 7.7 points to lead the Lady Miners, who score just 60.5 points per game while allowing 68.2 on average for coach Alan Eads' squad.
Annie Armstrong averages 13.8 points, Shields adds 12.6 points and 8.7 rebounds and
Addy Roller contributes 10.8 points per game for the Lady Panthers,Â
Drury leads the all-time series with S&T 18-3, with four consecutive victories by the Lady Panthers.
Thursday's game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM (streamed live at www.jock987.com), and can be viewed on a free, live webcast at www.drurypanthers.com/watch. It also will be televised by Mediacom Connections 22.
GAME NOTES*The Lady Panthers have returned to leading the nation in team free-throw percentage at .808. Armstrong (74 of 77 FTs, .961) continues to rank as the top free-throw percentage shooter in NCAA-II and is 15th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.24). Drury also ranks 10th in fewest turnovers per game (12.8).
*Providing an idea of just how rich the Lady Panthers' tradition is, this year's 22-3 start is the sixth-best record after 25 games in the program's history. The 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 Lady Panthers were all 24-1 and last year's team (2013-14) and the 2007-08 squad (Coach
Molly Miller's senior season at DU) were both 23-2.
*Shields enters her final regular season home game with 804 points (14th on the all-time DU charts) and 567 rebounds (fifth) in 108 games over her four-year career with the Lady Panthers. Her 217 rebounds this season are the seventh-most in a single season in the program's history, and her 60 career blocked shots are tied for second with
Amber Dvorak (all coming in the 2013-14 season), trailing only the 89 by Jill Curry from 2000-04.
*In 105 games, White has 489 points, 360 rebounds and 129 steals entering her final regular season home game of a four-year DU career.
*The Lady Panthers will open GLVC Championship tourney play on Friday, March 6 at Family Arena in St. Charles at a time and against an opponent to be determined. For more information, visit the league's post-season tourney website page
by clicking this link.Â
