Monday night's NCAA-II Midwest Regional title game between #14 Drury Lady Panthers and Grand Valley State, at a glance ...
*THE MATCHUP:Â Nationally 14th-ranked Drury (26-4) will face Grand Valley State (24-9) for the NCAA-II Midwest Regional title in a 7 p.m. (EST) tipoff Monday at Kates Gymnasium on the campus of Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. The winner will move on to the Elite Eight at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D., and will play the Pittsburg State-Emporia State winner from the South Central Region at 8:30 p.m. CST on Tuesday, March 23rd, the last of four national quarterfinal games that day.
*PATH TO THE FINALS:Â Drury, the fourth seed in the regional, shocked top seed Ashland 86-60 on Saturday in the semifinals after beating fifth-seed Quincy 79-71 in the first round on Friday. Grand Valley State, the No. 7 seed, stunned No. 2-seed Lewis 72-70 on Friday, then disposed of sixth-seed Saginaw Valley State 63-56 in the semifinals Saturday night.
*NEW FORMAT AN OMEN FOR DU?:Â The NCAA-II women's national championship game, for the first time, will be a part of the women's D-I Final Four and a 35th anniversary NCAA women's basketball championship celebration, with the D-II title game to be played at 3 p.m. on Monday, April 4 at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, a day before the D-I championship contest. The NCAA D-III title tilt will tip off at 6 p.m. on April 4 at Banker's Life Fieldhouse. The Midwest Regional winner, along with seven other regional champions, will advance to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the Elite Eight and Final Four, with the two survivors moving on to Indianapolis for the title game. The NCAA used a similiar format for its men's tournament in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of that championship - the year that the Drury Panthers won their only NCAA-II title by winning Eight Eight and Final Four games in Louisville, Ky., before defeating Metro State at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Ga., a week later for the championship as part of the men's D-I Final Four weekend.
*WATCH PARTY: Drury fans are invited to attend a free watch party in the banquet room at The O', with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. CST for the 6 p.m. tipoff. Admission is free to those who enter through the banquet room (Plaster Gallery) doors facing the outdoor plaza; admission will be charged for another event being held in the arena at that time for those who enter through the main doors. Fans are encouraged to bring snacks for sharing.*RADIO/TV/INTERNET:Â 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.goashlandeagles.com, or by clicking the Live Video link below.
Midwest Regional Website | Live Audio | Live Video*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers opened eyes across the country in D-II with their 26-point victory over Ashland on Saturday, an Eagles team that came into the contest ranked third nationally with a 31-1 record and a 30-game home court winning streak at Kates Gym, and left with their worst defeat since losing by 30 to Ferris State during the 1999-2000 season. How did DU pull it off? With some red-hot shooting early to build a lead - and build confidence - while quieting a large Ashland home crowd, then weathering a run by the Eagles by countering with one of their own to push thelr lead to 10 (40-30) at the half. The second half was all Lady Panthers, as Drury outscored the Eagles 46-30 over the final two periods to complete the blowout victory. Junior guard Paige Wilson came off the bench to match her career high with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting, all from 3-point range, and all daggers for Ashland in the second half to prevent a run by the Eagles. Hannah Dressler added 16 points and came up huge on the boards with 10 rebounds against a tall and talented Ashland front line of 6-1 sophomores Andi Daugherty and Laina Snyder, who were held to a combined three offensive rebounds by the work of Dressler, freshman post Adrienne Horn and the active on the boards DU guards as Drury came away with a 33-27 final rebounding advantage. Heather Harman added 11 points and Alice Heinzler had 10 for the Lady Panthers, who had 23 assists in the game and turned it over just nine times. Drury made 11 3-pointers in 27 tries. Annie Armstrong averages 15.4 points to lead DU, while Heinzler adds 10.9 points and Dressler 7.5 points to go with a team-leading 7.4 rebounds. Armstrong had a string of 10 consecutive games scoring in double-figures snapped with her seven-point outing against Ashland ... and the Lady Panthers won by 26 without a routine night from their two-time All-GLVC First Team and All-Midwest Region selection.
*SCOUTING GRAND VALLEY STATE: The Lakers of first-year head coach Mike Williams have come on strong at the right time, winning six of their last seven games and bouncing back nicely from the one loss in that stretch, a 70-53 setback to Ashland last weekend in the GLIAC Championship game at Kates Gym. GVSU likes to fire it up from 3-point range, having attempted 809 treys in 33 games (an average of 24.5 per game); in contrast, Drury - the nation's leading 3-point FG shooting team at .436 - has attempted 628 3-pointers in 30 games (20.9 per game). Kayla Dawson, a 5-10 junior, averages 15.5 points to lead the Lakers, who get 11.2 points per game from 5-10 junior Bailey Cairnduff, a transfer from Division I Bowling Green. The Lakers have made 10 or more 3-pointers in a game 17 times this season, including 15 treys in a game three times. They've been outrebounded in four of their last five games, including an incredible 46-25 disparity against Lewis on Friday in a game that the Lakers won (GVSU committed just six turnovers in the contest and forced 15 by the Flyers). *THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Grand Valley State 4-2. The teams have met in the NCAA post-season twice, with Drury defeating the Lakers 67-60 in the first round of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional in Houghton, Mich., on March 11, 2011, and GVSU defeating Drury 91-76 in the Great Lakes Regional title game at Weiser Gym on March 13, 2006. Sophomore DU guard Molly Carter - now the Lady Panthers head coach - scored 13 points on 6-of-15 shooting in the latter game, in which GVSU current head coach MIke Williams was an assistant coach for the Lakers, who would go on to win the NCAA-II national championship that year. Until Friday's victory over Lewis, that also represented GVSU's last win in NCAA post-season play.
*MILLER TIME: The 26-4 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 52-8 in two seasons - best after 60 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 26-1 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 (and where they are currently riding a streak of 25 consecutive victories, a new DU program record).Â
*QUICKIES:Â Drury is in the Sweet 16 for the eighth time in the program's 16-year history. The Lady Panthers won regional title games in 2004, '07 and '14. ... Paige Wilson's 5-for-7 shooting night means the junior guard has now hit 23 of her last 30 attempts (78 percent) from 3-point range over her last 13 games. ... With Wilson leading the Lady Panthers in scoring Saturday with her 17 points, it means now that all nine available Lady Panthers have led the squad in scoring in at least one game this season. All nine have scored in double-figures individually in at least five games this season as well. ... Drury has placed at least three players in double-figures in 17 consecutive games. ... After limiting Ashland to 41-percent shooting Saturday, the Lady Panthers have held 15 of their last 16 opponents below 41 percent FG shooting. The only one to crack that string? Bellarmine, which hit 52 percent against the Lady Panthers in the GLVC Tourney semifinals, Drury's only loss in its last 17 games. Â ... Senior point guard Addy Roller has 49 assists to just 10 turnovers in her last eight games after leading the GLVC in assist/turnover ratio during the regular season. ... Who you going to foul in the DU backcourt? Armstrong is 31 of her last 32 (97 percent), Heinzler is 18 for her last 19 free-throw attempts (95 percent) and Roller has made 23 of her last 26 FT attempts (88 percent). ... After beating Ashland 33-27 on the boards, Drury is now 10-0 when it outrebounds its opponent this season. ... After making 11 treys for the second straight night in the regional, Drury has now made five or more 3-pointers in 18 consecutive games. The Lady Panthers have made 10 or more treys in 14 of their 30 games this season. ...Â
*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: Armstrong now has 1,154 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 11th place on the DU all-time scoring charts.. She needs 28 points to move past Melanie Oliver (1,181 from 2007-10) and crack the Top 10. Armstrong scored 241 points in her lone season at Eckerd, meaning she's scored 1,395 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 240 of 255 free-throw tries (93 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 101 of 108 this season. Armstrong has made 156 3-pointers in her DU career and is tied for seventh place with Allison Regier (156 from 2003-06) on the all-time DU list. She needs two to move past Magen Brunson (157 from 2000-04) and into sixth place.
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