A look at the #14 Drury Lady Panthers' matchup vs. #22 Quincy in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional in Ashland, Ohio ...
*THE MATCHUP:Â Nationally 14th-ranked Drury (24-4) will face No. 22 Quincy (25-5) at 7:30 p.m. (EST) in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional hosted by top seed Ashland at Its Kates Gym in Ashland, Ohio. Drury is the fourth seed and Quincy the fifth seed in the eight-team regional.
*OTHER FIRST-ROUND MIDWEST REGIONAL GAMES:Â Also on Friday, top seed and host Ashland (30-1), the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion, will face No. 8 seed and Great Midwest Athletic Conference champion Ursuline (25-3) at 5 p.m.; No. 3 seed and Great Lakes Valley Conference champion Bellarmine (24-3) will play sixth-seed Saginaw Valley State (21-8) at noon and No. 2 seed Lewis (28-2) will face No. 7 seed Grand Valley State (22-9) at 2:30 p.m. (all times EST). Semifinals are at 5 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, with Monday's title game set for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
*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.*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.
Midwest Regional Website | Live Audio | Live Video | Game Notes | DU Player Stats GBG | DU Box Scores GBGÂ *ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS:Â Coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers will look to regroup quickly after seeing their 14-game winning streak snapped with an 80-77 setback to Bellarmine last Saturday in the semifinals of the GLVC Championship post-season tourney in St. Charles (the Knights then defeated Quincy in the title game a day later for the league championship). DU dug itself a rare, early 15-point hole (22-7) in the first quarter, but climbed out of it quickly to regain the lead briefly in the second period before Bellarmine finished the half on a 9-0 run for a 44-36 lead at the break. Drury rallied once again and made it a nip-and-tuck game at the finish thanks to senior guard Annie Armstrong scoring nine of her team-high 27 points in the final three minutes to give the Lady Panthers a chance. Third in the Midwest region rankings in the all three previous released ratings, the Lady Panthers slipped one notch to the fourth seed for the regional and draw a familiar face in GLVC West rival and fifth seed Quincy in the opening round in Ashland, Ohio. The teams met once during the regular season, with Drury claiming a 76-65 victory over the Hawks at The O' on January 28. In that game, the Lady Panthers led 21-14 after a quarter and 41-32 at the half, leading by as many as 15 points in the third quarter before holding off a QU rally that cut the DU lead to five at one point in the final period. Armstrong had 23 points to lead Drury, while Adrienne Horn added 11 points and Addy Roller had 10. Erin Mennemeyer had 29 points and Kara Gerbus added 14 points and 10 rebounds for Quincy, which outrebounded the Lady Panthers 39-32, but shot just 39 percent for the game (23 of 58) - including a 4-for-14 showing from 3-point range - while DU shot 48 percent overall (27 of 56) despite making just 7 of 20 trey tries (35 percent). Armstrong, a two-time All-GLVC First Team selection, averages 15.6 points, while fellow First Team All-GLVC pick Alice Heinzler adds 11.1 points for DU.
*SCOUTING QUINCY:Â Lady Hawks head coach Jeni Garber will also look to bring her squad back from an emotional weekend in St. Charles that featured the highs of knocking off a Lewis team that went undefeated in the GLVC regular season (18-0) by a 59-54 score in the GLVC tourney semifinals - and snapping Lewis' 23-game winning streak - only to be followed a day later by an 89-78 loss to Bellarmine the next day in the league championship game. Quincy ranks fourth nationally in D-II in 3-point FG percentage (.400), a category Drury leads (.438). Maggie Cunningham, a 5-9 senior, and Anika Webster, a 5-10 sophomore, average 12.4 points each to lead the Lady Hawks, who had a six-game winning streak snapped with the Bellarmine loss Sunday. In that GLVC title game, the Lady Hawks trailed 24-14 after a period and were down 70-49 after three quarters before outscoring the Knights by 10 in the final period. Gerbus had 19 points and Webster added 18 to lead QU.*THE SERIES:Â Drury leads the all-time series with Quincy 13-9, with three consecutive Lady Panther victories. The teams have met three times in NCAA-II tourney play, with DU holding a 2-1 series edge.
*MILLER TIME: The 24-4 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 50-8 in two seasons - best after 58 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:. 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 in the regular season finale. Dressler is averaging 9.9 rebounds per game over her last eight games. Â ... Freshman post Adrienne Horn has registered double-digit scoring efforts in nine of her last 12 games, all off the bench. ... Senior guard Addy Roller has committed just 16 turnovers in her last 15 games and has 38 assists to just six turnovers in her last six games. She leads the GLVC and ranks 20th nationally with her 2.30 assist/turnover ratio. Â ... Drury had a string of holding 12 consecutive opponents to 40 percent or lower shooting from the field when Bellarmine shot 52 percent against the Lady Panthers last Saturday. ... The Lady Panthers had a string of four consecutive games with five players scoring in double-figures snapped when they had three reach double-digits against Bellarmine. That's the 15th straight game that DU has had at least three players score double-digits. ... Over her last eight games, junior guard Paige Wilson has made 26 of her 36 shots, including a stunning 16 of 19 from 3-point range. ... The Ashland regional features five teams ranked in the latest USA TODAY/WBCA Top 25 national poll: #3 Ashland, #6 Lewis, #14 Drury, #20 Bellarmine and #22 Quincy. ... Senior reserve forward Brook Duncan is averaging 10.3 points over her last five games. ... Of DU's nine available players, all nine have scored in double-figures at least five times each this season, and all but Wilson have led the Lady Panthers in scoring in at least one game. ... Before being outrebounded by 12 by Bellarmine last Saturday, Drury had beaten its opponent on the boards in four straight. The Lady Panthers are 9-0 this season when they outrebound their opponent. ... Drury has made five or more 3-pointers now for 16 consecutive games. The Lady Panthers have made 10 or more threes in a game 12 times this season, including a season-high 17 against Trevecca Nazarene on Nov. 29 at The O'. ...Â
*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: Armstrong now has 1,129 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 53 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 1,370 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 228 of 243 free-throw tries (93 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 89 of 96 this season. Armstrong has made 153 3-pointers in her DU career and needs four to pass Allison Regier (156 from 2003-06) for seventh place and five to move past Magen Brunson (157 from 2000-04) and into sixth place.
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