Women's Basketball 1/27/2016 8:13:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

#18 Lady Panthers Host #16 Quincy In GLVC West Showdown Thursday At The O'

Women's Basketball 1/27/2016 8:13:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

#18 Lady Panthers Host #16 Quincy In GLVC West Showdown Thursday At The O'

Annie Armstrong

Thursday's GLVC West showdown at The O' between nationally 16th-ranked Quincy and the No. 18 Drury Lady Panthers, at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Nationally 18th-ranked Drury (14-3, 7-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play host to No. 16 Quincy (17-1, 8-1) in a 5:30 p.m. matchup at the O'Reilly Family Event Center (capacity 2,950).

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM (online at www.radiospringfield.com), with the broadcast to begin on KBFL 1060 AM before switching to JOCK for a simulcast at 6 p.m. A free live webcast can be viewed at www.drurypanthers.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network. It will also be televised live by Mediacom Connections 22, with replays airing at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

*PROMOTIONS: The Lady Panthers' coaching staff will be supporting the DU men's coaching staff by wearing tennis shoes with their attire as part of the American Cancer Society's "Suits and Sneakers" initiative to raise awareness nationally in conjunction with the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Proceeds from the sale of Andy's Frozen Custard cups ($3) will benefit ACS. Halftime festivities will include a hockey shootout for young fans with the new Drury Hockey team and coach Jody Flaro.

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury is coming off a dominant two-game swing to the Kansas City area last weekend, where the Lady Panthers rolled over both Rockhurst (82-64) and William Jewell (87-52) to push its winning streak to four games entering a stretch of playing seven of its final nine games at the O'Reilly Family Event Center. Drury is 7-0 at The O' this season, where it's won 34 of its last 36 games and carries an 18-game home winning streak into the Quincy contest. Senior guard Addy Roller went 4-for-4 from 3-point range and led five Lady Panthers in double-figures with 21 points in Saturday's win at William Jewell, in which DU broke open a tight game with a 28-13 advantage in the second quarter and rolled to the win over the Cardinals, who had defeated DU 80-64 on the same floor a year earlier. Annie Armstrong averages 15.1 points and Alice Heinzler adds 13.4 points per game to lead the Lady Panthers. Armstrong ranks second nationally in FT percentage (.949, 56 of 59) and sixth in 3-point percentage (.481, 38 of 79), while Heinzler is third nationally in 3-point FG percentage (.511, 48 of 94). Junior forward Hannah Dressler leads the Lady Panthers with her 6.8 rebounds per game, and has averaged 11.7 points and 9.7 rebounds over her past three contests.

*SCOUTING QUINCY: Coach Jeni Garber's Hawks come into The O' riding a nine-game winning streak, including home wins over Maryville (87-71) and UMSL (81-77 in overtime) last week at their Pepsi Arena, where they are 12-0 this season. Quincy's lone loss came in one of its six road contests, a 65-62 decision at Truman State on December 14th in which the Hawks made just 7 of 26 tries from 3-point range and shot 40 percent overall. Quincy leads the nation in 3-point FG percentage at .430, while Drury is third at .426. For Quincy, that includes 57 percent shooting from long range by Carly Beebe (16 of 28) and 52 percent by Nikia Edom (38 of 73). Maggie Cunningham, a 5-9 senior, leads a balanced attack with 12.7 points per game and is the only player in the GLVC averaging more than five rebounds (5.5) and five assists (5.1) per game.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Quincy 12-9, including a 74-55 win at The O' last season. Drury defeated the Hawks 78-58 at the O'Reilly Center two seasons ago in the Midwest Regional. The Lady Panthers are 8-3 all-time against Quincy in Springfield.

*MILLER TIME: The 14-3 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 40-7 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 948 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 at The O' last Thursday. Armstrong needs 36 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 1,189 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 195 of 207 free-throw tries (94 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 56 of 59 this season. For her college career combined, Armstrong is 229 of 246 at the stripe (.931 percent).

*ON DECK FOR THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury will play host to Truman State in a 1 p.m. tipoff Saturday at The O' on "Fieldhouse Sports Center Youth Sports Appreciation Day." Any youngsters who wear a team jersey or t-shirt from any youth sports team or program will have their parents admitted for free as well (12-and-under are always free for regular season games at The O'). There will be a post-game, team poster autograph signing party on the Panther Deck after both the Lady Panthers and Panther games, with the first 100 kids in line for each game to receive a Fieldhouse/Drury basketball drawstring backpack. Saturday also marks the annual Congenital Heart Defect Awareness game, with proceeds of the sale of the Andy's Frozen Custard cups ($3) to benefit CHD Awareness through the American Heart Association. For tickets, call (417) 873-6389.

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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

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

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

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