Thursday's matchup at The O' between the No. 12 Drury Lady Panthers and Southern Indiana, at a glance ...
*THE MATCHUP:Â Nationally 12th-ranked Drury (16-3, 9-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) will play host to Southern Indiana (10-9, 3-8) in a 5:45 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 before being joined at 6 p.m. in a simulcast by JOCK 98.7 FM (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
*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS:Â Drury continued its hot run, pushing its winning streak to six straight with wins over GLVC West contenders Quincy (76-65) and Truman State (72-59) last weekend at The O'. Heather Harman had 14 points and a career-high seven assists off the bench in the latter, which was highlighted by Drury's 43-26 dominance on the boards - just the fifth time this season the Lady Panthers have outrebounded an opponent. Senior guard Annie Armstrong grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds to lead DU. Freshman post Adrienne Horn had 11 points off the bench for her third consecutive double-digit scoring effort. Armstrong leads the way for the Lady Panthers with her 15.0 points per game, while junior guard Alice Heinzler adds 13.1 points. Junior forward/center Hannah Dressler pulls down a team-leading 6.4 rebounds per contest.
*SCOUTING SOUTHERN INDIANA:Â Coach Rick Stein's Screaming Eagles have had one of the more bizarre runs in the league to date, following an eight-game winning streak with their current eight-game losing streak, which includes a 67-64 overtime home setback to Saint Joseph's on Saturday. USI features a young squad, with no seniors in their top eight players and three sophomores and two freshmen in the mix, but returning players no doubt will be motivated by last year's loss to the Lady Panthers in the GLVC Championship post-season tourney finals in St. Charles, where USI blew an 18-point lead with 13 minutes to play as Drury roared back to claim its third league title. Hannah Wascher, a 5-11 junior, averages 14.1 points and 8.4 rebounds to lead Southern Indiana, while Tanner Marcum, a 5-8 junior, adds 12.3 points and Kaydie Grooms, a 5-10 sophomore, contributes 10.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.*THE SERIES:Â Drury leads the all-time series with Southern Indiana 12-3, with the Lady Panthers' four straight victories including a 64-54 triumph last season at The O'.
*MILLER TIME: The 16-3 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 42-7 in two seasons as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes a 21-1 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 973 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 11 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 1,214 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 conclude its four-game homestand by playing host to No. 25 Bellarmine in a 1 p.m. tipoff on Saturday as part of the fifth annual "Overflow The O'" festivities. Tickets are $5 (kids 12 and under are free) and can be purchased by calling (417) 873-6389.
