Women's Basketball 1/20/2016 9:08:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

No. 19 Lady Panthers Visit Rockhurst Thursday For GLVC Matchup

Women's Basketball 1/20/2016 9:08:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

No. 19 Lady Panthers Visit Rockhurst Thursday For GLVC Matchup

Thursday's GLVC matchup between the No. 19 Drury Lady Panthers and Rockhurst Hawks in Kansas City, at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Nationally 19th-ranked Drury (12-3, 5-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) visit Rockhurst (10-5, 3-4) in a 5:15 p.m. tipoff at Mason-Halpin Fieldhouse in Kansas City.

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM (online at www.radiospringfield.com), with the broadcast beginning on KBFL 1060 AM at 5:30 before switching to JOCK at 6 p.m. A free live webcast can be viewed at rockhursthawks.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network (GLVCSN).

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: The Lady Panthers got their shooting groove back last weekend at The O', posting victories over Indianapolis (86-80) and Saint Joseph's (77-73) with shooting efforts of 49 and 50 percent from the field (after shooting season-lows of 22 and 30 percent in losses at Lewis and Parkside the previous weekend). Now it's back on the GLVC road, this time to KC to take on an improved Rockhurst squad that's 7-2 at home this season and has given the Lady Panthers fits at Mason-Halpin in their last two trips there, including an 84-79 overtime win for the Lady Panthers in February, 2014 and an 83-77 DU win there last January. Drury features the nation's No. 4 and No. 6 3-point FG percentage shooters (and 1-2 in the GLVC) in junior guard Alice Heinzler (.487) and senior guard Annie Armstrong (.479) as DU ranks fifth nationally as a team in 3-point shooting with its .404 percentage. Armstrong averages 15.4 points and Heinzler adds 12.7 points to lead the Lady Panthers, who get a team-leading 6.2 rebounds per game from junior forward Hannah Dressler. Armstrong averaged 21.0 points - including a season-high 25 in the win over Indianapolis - and went 14-for-14 at the free throw line in the two home wins last weekend. She is 50 of 53 at the stripe this season (.943), ranking third nationally in FT percentage (best in the GLVC). She scored eight of her team-high 17 points in the final two minutes to help DU pull out the late win over Saint Joseph's last Saturday.

*SCOUTING ROCKHURST: Coach Larry Park's Hawks will be looking to bounce back from a 68-49 loss at William Jewell on Monday, when Rockhurst shot a season-worst 29 percent (18 of 61) from the field, including 8 of 30 shooting from 3-point range (27 percent). Mary Dineen, a 5-6 junior, averages 17.5 points to lead Rockhurst, while Lauren Meyers, a 5-10 senior, adds 11.9 points and 4.9 rebounds. Rockhurst's results to this point include an exhibition win over D-I UMKC (58-52) and a close exhibition loss to D-I Oral Roberts (69-65), as well as a one-point loss (67-66) at GLVC West leader Quincy.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Rockhurst 29-1, with the lone loss coming in their first-ever meeting (72-69 in overtime in KC on January 27, 2001). As mentioned earlier, the Lady Panthers have had several close calls with the Hawks of late, including a 71-68 win at The O' late last season, with three of the last four meetings being decided by six points or less.

*MILLER TIME: The 12-3 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 38-7 in two seasons as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes a 19-1 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 7-1 in those situations.

*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: Armstrong now has 923 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 61 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 1,164 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 189 of 201 free-throw tries (94 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 50 of 53 this season. For her college career combined, Armstrong is 223 of 240 at the stripe (.929 percent).

*ON DECK FOR THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury will visit William Jewell on Saturday afternoon (1 p.m.) 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), part of a four-game home stand that also includes East powers Southern Indiana (February 4) and Bellarmine (February 6) the following weekend. For tickets, please call (417) 873-6389 ... kids 12-and-under always are free to regular season games at The O'.

Print Friendly Version

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

#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

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