Women's Basketball 1/15/2016 2:29:00 PM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

No. 16 Lady Panthers Brace For Showdown With Hot SJC Squad Saturday At The O'

Women's Basketball 1/15/2016 2:29:00 PM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

No. 16 Lady Panthers Brace For Showdown With Hot SJC Squad Saturday At The O'

Annie Armstrong

Saturday's GLVC matchup between the No. 16 Drury Lady Panthers and Saint Joseph's Pumas at The O', at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Nationally 16th-ranked Drury (11-3, 4-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) plays host to Saint Joseph's (11-4, 4-1) in a 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.

*PROMOTION: It's the annual "Educator Appreciation Day", with all area school administrators and their families admitted for free with ID. For tickets, call (417) 873-6389. Kids 12-and-under are always free at all DU regular-season contests.

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM (online at www.radiospringfield.com). A free live webcast can be viewed at www.drurypanthers.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN). The game also is being televised live, and for taped replay, by Mediacom Connections 22, featuring announcers Corey Riggs and Steven Gum (former Panthers standout/assistant coach).

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: A struggling Drury squad got well at home on Thursday, picking up a hard-fought, 86-80 victory over Indianapolis at The O' after dropping back-to-back GLVC games at No. 9 Lewis and Parkside last week. Senior guard Annie Armstrong, who was battling a personal, brief shooting slump, got untracked as well, going for a season-high 25 points - including an 8-for-8 showing at the free-throw line - to lead the Lady Panthers. It was a senior moment all the way around for DU, as senior forward Brook Duncan added 17 points and senior guard Addy Roller chipped in with a season-high 16 points, including a 40-footer just before the third quarter horn to give the Lady Panthers a momentum boost. Hannah Dressler grabbed 12 rebounds to lead DU to a 32-25 advantage on the boards against the Greyhounds, just the third time in 14 games Drury has won the rebounding battle against a foe.

*SCOUTING SAINT JOSEPH'S: It's a homecoming for Pumas coach Steve Harold and 6-1 redshirt standout Kalea Parks when Saint Joseph's invades The O'. Harold was the coach at Drury for six seasons, compiling a 129-52 mark with five NCAA-II tourney trips and two GLVC Championships to his resume', while Parks was the Freshman of the Year in the GLVC when the two were last together as Lady Panthers in 2012-13. Harold also coached current DU head coach Molly (Carter) Miller in his inaugural season, and her senior year (2007-08), at Drury. His Pumas have won six straight, including a 46-43 triumph at Missouri S&T on Thursday night. Parks averages 14.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, and SJC has been boosted particularly of late by the play of 5-8 senior guard Lauren Davis, who averaged 25.7 points over a three-game stretch prior to being held to six points (on 1-for-9 shooting) in the low-scoring battle in Rolla Thursday. Brittany Morris, a junior guard who leads the GLVC with her 6.2 assists per game, didn't play at S&T on Thursday due to injury. Courtney Kvachkoff, a 5-9 junior, leads the league with her 49 made 3-pointers.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Saint Joseph's 10-0, including a 74-53 victory in Rensselaer, Ind., last season. On Harold's first return trip to The O', the Lady Pnathers blitzed the Pumas 97-65 as Parks was sitting out due to her transfer status within the conference.

*MILLER TIME: The 11-3 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 37-7 in two seasons as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes an 18-1 record in games at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, where their only loss under Miller's watch 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: Armstrong now has 906 points in her three seasons with the Lady Panthers after the Springfield Kickapoo HS product transferred back home from Eckerd (Fla.) College, and has moved into 14th place on the all-time DU scoring charts, surpassing Sanayika Shields (886 points from 2011-15) with her 25-point effort against UIndy Thursday. Armstrong needs 78 points to move past Caitlin Shouse (983 from 2006-10) and into 13th place. Armstrong scored 241 points in her lone season at Eckerd, meaning she's scored 1,147 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 181 of 193 free-throw tries (94 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 44 of 47 this season. For her college career combined, Armstrong is 215 of 232 at the stripe (.927 percent).

*ON DECK FOR THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury will hit the road next week for GLVC matchups at Rockhurst on Thursday in Kansas City and William Jewell on Saturday afternoon in Liberty. The Lady Panthers will then return home for big GLVC West tests against league-leader Quincy (Thursday, January 28) and Truman State (Saturday, January 30).

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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

#23 Addy Roller: G; 5' 8"; Senior; Guard

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

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

#23 Addy Roller
: 5' 8"; Senior; Guard
: G

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