Women's Basketball 2/19/2016 2:34:00 PM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

No. 12 Lady Panthers Seek To Continue Hot Streak With Homecoming Test Against UMSL Saturday At The O'

Women's Basketball 2/19/2016 2:34:00 PM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

No. 12 Lady Panthers Seek To Continue Hot Streak With Homecoming Test Against UMSL Saturday At The O'

Alice Heinzler

Saturday's "Homecoming" matchup between the No. 12 Drury Lady Panthers and Missouri-St. Louis Tritons at the O'Reilly Center, at a glance ..

*THE MATCHUP: Nationally 12th-ranked Drury (21-3, 14-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play host to Missouri-St. Louis (10-14, 5-11) in a 1 p.m. Great Lakes Valley Conference tipoff on Saturday at the O'Reilly Family Event Center (capacity: 2,850).

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

*PROMOTIONS: It's "Homecoming" at Drury. As always, kids 12-and-under are admitted free for all home regular season DU sporting events.

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury has clinched at least a share of the GLVC West crown for a third straight year (and sixth in the last seven years) and will be gunning for the outright West title when the Lady Panthers take on UMSL Saturday at The O'. Coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers hold a two-game lead over both Quincy and Truman State in the West standings with two games to play, and with a win, will secure at least the No. 2 seed in the GLVC Championship post-season tournament to be played March 3-6 at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., where the Lady Panthers captured last year's league title. DU defeated Maryville 83-58 on Thursday to pick up its 11th straight victory - its longest winning streak since the Lady Panthers claimed 14 straight at the end of last season - and school record-setting 23rd consecutive home court victory, breaking the old mark of 22 straight set by Nyla Milleson's Lady Panther teams at Weiser Gym from 2003-05. Drury led 27-4 after one quarter on Thursday, thanks to a 17-0 run early in the period, and never looked back in defeating the Saints, pushing Coach Miller's mark to 12-0 in February games over her first two seasons on the bench. Freshman post Adrienne Horn came off the bench to match her career high with 17 points, while Hannah Dressler added a game-high 11 rebounds for the Lady Panthers, the nation's leading 3-point shooting team (.436) and one that helped that cause by going 12 for 24 from behind the 3-point line in Thursday's win. Annie Armstrong averages 15.0 points and Alice Heinzler adds 11.7 points per game to lead the Lady Panthers.

*SCOUTING UMSL: Coach Katie Vaughn's Tritons were 72-44 winners on Thursday at Missouri S&T in Rolla, their third win in their last five games after they'd dropped five straight prior. UMSL will feature one of the taller teams the Lady Panthers face, including four players standing 6-foot or taller among their top eight in the playing rotation. Kelly Kunkel, a 6-0 senior, is their ringleader, averaging 12.2 points and 5.5 rebounds, while 6-3 sophomore Jordan Fletcher adds 10.9 points and 5.7 rebounds. Shea O'Brien, a 5-7 junior, had 22 points off the bench to lead UMSL in Thursday's win at S&T. Kunkel had 18 points and seven rebounds in the Tritons' 74-65 home loss to the Lady Panthers on December 3, in which Drury shot 56 percent from the field (22 of 39) for the game.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with UMSL 21-1, and has won four straight since a 58-56 loss to the Tritons in St. Louis in January of 2013.

*MILLER TIME: The 21-3 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 47-7 in two seasons - best after 54 games in the program's history - as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes a 24-1 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 1,053 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 13th place on the all-time scoring charts. Armstrong needs four points to pass Ja'Nell Jones (1,056 from 2007-11) for 12th place on the list. Armstrong scored 241 points in her lone season at Eckerd, meaning she's scored 1,294 points in her four collegiate seasons of basketball. After making 34 of 39 free throws (.872 percent) at Eckerd as a freshman, Armstrong has made 216 of 231 free-throw tries (93 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 68 of 73 this season. For her college career combined, Armstrong is 250 of 270 at the stripe (.926 percent). Armstrong has made 143 3-pointers in her DU career, and needs eight to surpass Kara Rutledge (150 from 2002-06) for eighth place on the all-time DU charts.

*ON DECK FOR THE LADY PANTHERS: Drury will close out the regular season by playing host to Missouri S&T next Thursday (Feb. 25) for Senior Night.

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Players Mentioned

#25 Annie Armstrong: G; 5' 8"; Senior; Guard

#32 Hannah Dressler: F; 6' 1"; Junior; Forward

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

#33 Adrienne Horn: C/F; 6' 3"; Freshman; Center/Forward

Players Mentioned

#25 Annie Armstrong
: 5' 8"; Senior; Guard
: G

#32 Hannah Dressler
: 6' 1"; Junior; Forward
: F

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

#33 Adrienne Horn
: 6' 3"; Freshman; Center/Forward
: C/F