Women's Basketball 3/4/2016 11:24:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

Lady Panthers Set To Duel With Knights In GLVC Tourney Semis Saturday In St. Charles

Women's Basketball 3/4/2016 11:24:00 AM Scott Puryear, Associate AD For Marketing & Communications

Lady Panthers Set To Duel With Knights In GLVC Tourney Semis Saturday In St. Charles

Addy Roller

Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship post-season tourney semifinals matchup between #10 Drury and Bellarmine, at a glance ...

*THE MATCHUP: Nationally 10th-ranked Drury (24-3) will face No. 24 Bellarmine (22-3) at noon on Saturday in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship post-season tournament, being played at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo. Drury is the defending champion and No. 2 seed in the tourney, while Bellarmine comes in as the No. 3 seed.

*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 on the GLVC Sports Network at www.glvcsports.com/watch. All 14 games, men's and women's, of the GLVC tourney will be streamed and available for free.

GLVC Championship Central | Live Video | Live Stats | Live Audio

*IN THE OTHER SEMIFINAL: Top seed Lewis and No. 4 seed Quincy will meet at 2:30 p.m. Lewis squeaked past No. 8 seed Indianapolis 69-63, while fourth-seed Quincy downed No. 5 seed Truman State 62-49 in Thursday's quarterfinals. The Drury-Bellarmine winner will face the Lewis-Quincy winner at 1 p.m. Sunday for the GLVC Championship and the automatic NCAA-II tourney bid that goes to the winner.

*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers continued their incredible roll, picking up their 14th consecutive victory with an 87-55 thrashing of seventh-seed Rockhurst in Thursday's quarterfinals. Drury scored the game's first 17 points and never looked back, leading 28-9 after one period and 51-15 at the halftime break. The Lady Panthers placed five players in double-figures for the fourth straight game and fifth time in their last seven games, led by Annie Armstrong's 16 points to go with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals. Drury, the nation's leading 3-point FG shooting team at .440, made 13 of 27 tries from behind the arc in beating the Hawks for the 31st consecutive time. Drury outrebounded Rockhurst 40-28, led by eight boards from Hannah Dressler and seven each from Armstrong and Briana Jones. Armstrong, a two-time All-GLVC First Team selection, averages 15.2 points to lead the Lady Panthers, who have not lost since dropping a 54-48 decision at Wisconsin-Parkside on January 9. Drury defeated Bellarmine 84-66 at The O' on February 6 in front of 2,505 fans on "Overflow The O'" day, with Armstrong's 19 points (and nine rebounds) leading five Lady Panthers in double-figures as DU held the Knights to 34-percent shooting (22 of 64), including 2 of 11 from 3-point range.

*SCOUTING BELLARMINE: Fourth-year head coach Chancellor Dugan's Knights defeated sixth-seed Saint Joseph's (and former DU coach Steve Harold) 59-52 in Thursday's quarterfinals behind 17 points and 10 rebounds from 6-0 junior Sarah Galvin as Bellarmine won despite shooting just 30 percent (20 of 66) from the field and 31 percent (5 of 16) from 3-point range against the Pumas. Galvin, a First Team All-GLVC choice, averages 17.6 points (fifth in the GLVC) and 7.9 rebounds (third in the GLVC) as the main cog for the Knights, who've won six straight since the loss to Drury at The O' and are having their best season in school history. Galvin had 28 points and 14 rebounds in the first meeting with the Lady Panthers, who pulled out of a first quarter tie by outscoring Bellarmine 28-14 in the second period and went to the victory. Drury and Bellarmine rank 1-2 in scoring in the league at 76.9 and 75.6 points per game, respectively. And while Drury leads the nation in 3-point FG percentage, the Knights are No. 1 in the GLVC in 3-point FG percentage defense at .255, just ahead of the Lady Panthers (.284). Bellarmine also paces the GLVC with its 39.2 rebounds per game, also leading the league in assists (16.84), steals (10.32) and average turnover margin (plus 3.52). Another big contrast there ... Drury paces the GLVC in assist/turnover ratio at 1.16, and its backcourt of Armstrong, Addy Roller and Alice Heinzler combined for 14 assists and no turnovers against Rockhurst.

*THE SERIES: Drury leads the all-time series with Bellarmine 10-1 with eight consecutive victories, dating back to the Knights' 86-78 home win over Drury on January 3, 2008.

*MILLER TIME: The 24-3 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 50-7 in two seasons - best after 57 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 they are currently riding a streak of 25 consecutive victories, a new DU program record). 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.

*BALANCING ACT: Drury's tremendous depth and balance has truly shown through during the 14-game winning streak and lately in particular. The Lady Panthers have placed five players in double-figures in four consecutive games and five of their last seven games. And, remarkably, of their nine available players, all nine have reached double-figures individually in at least five games each this season. Eight of the nine have led the team in scoring in at least one game this season, with only their hottest current shooter - junior guard Paige Wilson - having failed to do so. Wilson had 17 points against Bellarmine three weeks ago and has made an incredible 16 of her last 19 3-point attempts (84 [percent), and 26 of her last 36 shots overall (72 percent), covering the past nine games. Drury has had at least three scorers reach double-figures in each game of the 14-game win streak.

*QUICKIES: Thursday's win over Rockhurst improved Drury to 4-0 at the Family Arena. Miller's Lady Panthers swept through Indianapolis, Wisconsin-Parkside and Southern Indiana there en route to the program's third GLVC title (2008, '10, '15). ... Junior forward/center Hannah Dressler has nine double-digit rebounding efforts this season, including a career-best 14 rebounds in the win over S&T last Thursday. ... Freshman post Adrienne Horn has registered double-digit scoring efforts in nine of her last 11 games, all off the bench. She's averaging 12.0 points in that stretch. ... Senior guard Addy Roller had a career-high 11 assists and no turnovers in the win over S&T last Thursday and has reeled off 26 assists to just two turnovers over her last four games. ... Roller has committed just 14 turnovers in her last 14 games. ... and now has put up 38 assists to just six turnovers over her last seven games. She leads the GLVC in assist/turnover ratio at 2.33, well ahead of second-place Brittany Morris of Saint Joseph's (1.85). ... After registering a season-best 27 assists against S&T and then 26 against Rockhurst yesterday, the Lady Panthers have put up 15 or more assists in nine straight games and 12 of their last 13. ... Drury also has held 12 consecutive opponents to 40 percent or lower shooting from the field. .. After outrebounding their opponent in just five of their first 23 games, the Lady Panthers have done so in their last four. ... The Lady Panthers moved into the USA TODAY/WBCA poll Top 10 this week for the first time since sitting at No. 7 before losses at Lewis and Parkside in early January. Drury has been ranked as high as No. 4 this season. ... The Lady Panthers are now 15-7 all-time in GLVC tourney games, and 4-0 under Miller. ... Armstrong was named a unanimous All-GLVC First Team selection on Wednesday, while Heinzler joined her on the First Team and Dressler was a Third Team choice. It's the second straight year for Armstrong to be named to the all-conference first unit. ... Drury's current 14-game winning streak is its longest since last year's team won 14 straight right through the GLVC title game, a run ended by a first-round NCAA-II tourney loss to Wayne State.

*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: Armstrong now has 1,102 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 12th place on the DU all-time scoring charts.. Armstrong needs 13 points to pass Allison Regier (1,114 from 2003-06) for 11th place, and 80 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 1,343 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 222 of 237 free-throw tries (93 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 83 of 89 this season. Armstrong has made 152 3-pointers in her DU career, and with her four on Thursday, surpassed Kara Rutledge (150 from 2002-06) for eighth place on the all-time DU charts. She needs five to pass Regier (156 from 2003-06) and five to move past Magen Brunson (157 from 2000-04) and into sixth place.

*UP NEXT: Drury will learn it's NCAA-II tourney destination and seeding on Sunday night, when pairings are released in a live webcast at ncaa.com. The Lady Panthers have been ranked third in the three previous NCAA-II Midwest Region rankings, behind Ashland of the GLIAC and Lewis. The top eight teams in the final regional rankings, determined after Sunday's conference tourney results are finalized, will advance to the NCAA-II tourney.

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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

#22 Briana Jones: F; 6' 0"; Junior; Forward

#23 Addy Roller: G; 5' 8"; Senior; Guard

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

#22 Briana Jones
: 6' 0"; Junior; Forward
: F

#23 Addy Roller
: 5' 8"; Senior; Guard
: G

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

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