Women's Basketball 1/6/2016 6:10:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

#6 Lady Panthers, #9 Lewis To Clash Thursday In Battle Of GLVC, National Powers

Women's Basketball 1/6/2016 6:10:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

#6 Lady Panthers, #9 Lewis To Clash Thursday In Battle Of GLVC, National Powers

Adrienne Horn

Thursday's GLVC showdown between #6 Drury and #9 Lewis at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Nationally sixth-ranked Drury (10-1, 3-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) plays at No. 9 Lewis (12-1, 3-0) in a 5:30 p.m. tipoff Thursday at Neil Carey Arena in Romeoville, Ill.

*RADIO/TV/INTERNET: The game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM (online at www.radiospringfield.com). A free live webcast and live stats can be viewed at www.lewisflyers.com/watch as part of the GLVC Sports Network.

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury returns to game action for the first time since splitting a pair of contests in Melbourne, Fla., Dec. 19-20 as part of the Florida Tech Holiday Classic. Coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers fell for the first time this season when they lost 72-61 in the opener, but bounced back about 14 hours later to beat the host school 81-73 to salvage the split. Drury's 1-2 backcourt offensive punch of senior guard Annie Armstrong and junior guard Alice Heinzler led the way again, with Armstrong scoring 19 points and Heinzler adding 17 points in the win over Florida Tech. Armstrong averages 14.9 points and Heinzler 14.4 points as the only two DU players scoring in double-figures for a squat that ranks among the national leaders with its 78.8 points per game. Junior forward/center Hannah Dressler adds 9.4 points and a team-leading 5.3 rebounds for DU.

*SCOUTING LEWIS: The Lady Flyers have not missed a beat despite undergoing a coaching change at the top when Lisa Carlsen left to become head coach at D-I Northern Illinois and Lewis turned to Kristen Gillespie of NCAA Division III Benedictine (Ill.) as its new women's basketball boss. Gillespie was a four-year letterwinner as a player for Kay Yow at North Carolina State before getting her coaching start as an assistant at D-I Illinois-Chicago prior to four seasons at Benedictine, where she was 54-53. She inherited two of the nation's top players with the move to Lewis, although the Lady Flyers suffered a big blow when reigning GLVC Player of the Year and All-America senior guard Jamie Johnson went down with a season-ending knee injury in mid-December (after just six games, in which she was averaging 22.2 points per game). Mariyah Brawner-Henley, a 6-0 senior forward and a returning All-America and All-GLVC performer (as well as the 2013-14 GLVC Player of the Year), continues to pick up the slack, averaging 19.4 points and 11.2 rebounds per game and is tied for the national lead with 10 points-rebounds double-doubles (in 13 games) already this season. Lewis also has received a huge boost from 6-0 freshman Jessica Kelliher, who's averaging 18.2 points and 6.6 rebounds, including 21.0 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in the seven games since Johnson was lost to injury. Brawner-Henley and Kelliher have combined to average more than 41 points and just under 21 rebounds in the Lady Flyers' three GLVC victories to date. Lewis leads the nation with its .516 team FG percentage and .435 3-point FG percentage, and of more pressing concern to the Lady Panthers is the Lady Flyers' average rebounding margin of plus-9 per game over foes (39.3-30.8). Lewis finished 31-3 last year and advanced to the NCAA-II Elite Eight under Carlsen.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Lewis 9-6, including a 75-72 victory on February 12th of last season in Romeoville, when Lewis was 23-0 and the No. 1-ranked team in the country entering the contest.

*GOOD GOLLY, MISS MOLLY: The 10-1 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 36-5 in two seasons as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes a 17-1 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. Drury has won 24 of its last 26 games under Miller, whose 36-5 record after 41 games is the best in Lady Panthers' coaching history.

*SHOOT IT, ANNIE: Despite going just 3-for-10 from behind the arc on the two-game Florida trip, Armstrong leads the nation in 3-point FG percentage at .547 (29 of 53) and is second nationally in FT percentage at .967 (29 of 30) after leading the latter category at .956 a year ago (she would have led the nation in 3-point FG percentage at .500 last season, but fell just short in the NCAA's requirement for attempts-per-game average). Over her three-year career as a Lady Panther, Drury is 14-0 when Armstrong makes three or more 3-pointers in a game. She set a new school record with eight made treys in a win over Trevecca Nazarene on November 28 in the Thanksgiving Classic at The O', only to see it tied about a half-hour later in the same game by teammate Heinzler. Armstrong is 63 of 138 (.457) from 3-point range over the last two seasons and 97 of 223 (.435) for her DU career; the team record for career 3-point percentage is .447, held by current DU assistant coach Katie Pritchard.

*QUICK STARTS: The Lady Panthers have started 10-1 for the sixth time in the program's 16-year history and second time in the past three seasons, as the 2013-14 squad - which eventually made it to the NCAA-II Elite Eight - also started 10-1. Drury opened 10-1 for four consecutive seasons (2002-03 through 2005-06) under former coach Nyla Milleson.

*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: Armstrong now has 856 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 15th place on the all-time DU scoring charts. Armstrong needs 31 points to surpass Sanayika Shields (886 points from 2011-15) for 14th place. Armstrong scored 241 points in her lone season at Eckerd, meaning she's scored 1,097 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 166 of 176 free-throw tries (.943 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 29-of-30 this season. For her college career combined, Armstrong is 200 of 215 at the stripe (93 percent).

*QUICKIES: Drury held Lewis to 41-percent shooting (28 of 68) in last year's victory, which handed the Flyers their first loss of the season after 23 wins to open it. ... Brawner-Henley went for 17 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocked shots in the loss, which snapped a 34-game home winning streak for Lewis. ... The Lady Flyers are 6-0 att home since that loss, making DU the only team to beat them at Neil Carey Arena in their last 41 games there. ... Heinzler and Sanayika Shields led DU with 18 points and Paige Wilson scored a career-high 17 points in 36 minutes for the Lady Panthers, while Armstrong was held to three points on 1-of-5 shooting. ... The Lady Panthers have outrebounded their opponent in just 2 of 11 games, but have forced their opponent into more turnovers in 9 of 11 games and had as many or more steals than their foe in 10 of 11 contests. ... Drury has been whistled for 20 or more fouls in four of its last five games. ...

*ON DECK FOR THE LADY PANTHERS: The Lady Panthers will continue their two-game GLVC road swing Saturday at Wisconsin-Parkside (Kenosha, Wis.) in a 5 p.m. tipoff to be televised nationally by the American Sports Network. The game will be televised locally on KOZL in the Springfield market. Drury returns to the O'Reilly Family Event Center for home GLVC doubleheaders against Indianapolis (Thursday, January 14) and Saint Joseph's (Saturday, January 16). The latter is 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.

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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

#20 Paige Wilson: G; 5' 8"; 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

#20 Paige Wilson
: 5' 8"; Junior; Guard
: G