Saturday's GLVC West clash between No. 18 Drury Lady Panthers and Truman State, at a glance ...
*THE MATCHUP:Â Nationally 18th-ranked Drury (15-3, 8-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play host to Truman State (14-6, 8-2) in a 1 p.m. tipoff at the O'Reilly Family Event Center (capacity: 2,850).
*RADIO/TV/INTERNET:Â The game can be heard on KBFL 1060 AM (online at www.radiospringfield.com). Â A free live webcast can be viewed at www.drurypanthers.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network.Â
*PROMOTIONS: It's the second annual 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.
*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS:Â Drury picked up a key GLVC West victory on Thursday when coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers defeated #16 Quincy 76-65 at The O', pushing Drury's record to 20-1 in home games under Miller (12-0 in GLVC games). Annie Armstrong scored 23 points to lead three Lady Panthers in double-figures and added seven rebounds as Drury pulled out to a double-digit lead in the second half and consistently fought off any charge attempts by the Hawks. Freshman post Adrienne Horn added 11 points and two blocked shots in 21 minutes off the bench, and Addy Roller had 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in three tries to make her 6-for-7 from long range over her last two games. Armstrong averages 15.5 points to lead Drury, while junior guard Alice Heinzler adds 13.2 points. Junior forward/center Hannah Dressler paces DU on the boards with her 6.5 rebounds per game.
*SCOUTING TRUMAN:Â Coach Amy Eagan's Bulldogs lead the GLVC in scoring defense, allowing just 54 points per game, which will provide a great challenge for a Drury team that ranks second in the league in scoring (75.8 ppg). Drury is second in the GLVC in FG percentage at .463; the Bulldogs allow opponents to shoot just .348, also second in the league. Michalina Tomczak, a 6-3 senior, averages 11.1 points and 6.1 rebounds to lead a balanced Truman attack. The Bulldogs are the only other team to have defeated Quincy (17-2); Truman knocked off the Hawks 65-62 on December 14th in Kirksville.*THE SERIES:Â Drury leads the all-time series with Truman 9-0, including a 74-60 victory at The O' last season.
*MILLER TIME: The 15-3 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 41-7 in two seasons as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes a 20-1 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. Â
*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: Armstrong now has 967 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' two weeks ago. Armstrong needs 17 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 1,208 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 197 of 210 free-throw tries (94 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 58 of 62 this season. For her college career combined, Armstrong is 231 of 249 at the stripe (93 percent).
*ON DECK FOR THE LADY PANTHERS:Â Â Drury will continue its four-game homestand next weekend when the Lady Panthers play host to Southern Indiana on Thursday and Bellarmine on Saturday, the latter representing the fifth annual "Overflow The O'" promotion ($5 tickets).
