SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– The ninth-ranked Drury Lady Panthers displayed why the adage 'defense wins' has been uttered by coaches since the game was played with peach baskets. Drury struggled to find their range, but created opportunities with their defense in a 70-58 win over Minnesota-Duluth in front of a crowd of 2,350 made up of mostly of children from area schools attending as part of Hiland Dairy Kids Day at O'Reilly Family Event Center on Tuesday.
 
The Lady Panthers were 0 for 11 from three-point range, 35 percent from the floor overall, but connected on 24 of their 25 free throw attempts while forcing 28 turnovers from the Bulldogs. They also grabbed 17 offensive rebounds and held a 38-33 advantage over UMD on the boards as Drury found a way to improve to 4-0.
 
"When you can win after a shooting game like this, that's something to feel good about," said Drury head coach Molly Miller. "If you can score 70 points but go 0 for 11 from the three-point line, you have to rebound and hit free throws. We were able to do that and turning them over was big for us."
 
Fresh off of a 42-point, 17-rebound game last week, Hailey Diestlkamp produced another double-double for Drury leading the Lady Panthers with 23 points and 12 rebounds. The junior from Owensville, Missouri went 9 for 16 from the field and 5 for 6 from the foul line.
 
Deajah Bernard added 14 points, six rebounds, and eight steals while Payton Richards tacked on 10 points.
 
The Lady Panthers led 30-24 at halftime and outscored UMD 25-17 in the third quarter to take a 55-41 lead into the final period. Drury stretched the lead to 17 with 7:19 remaining but the Bulldogs scrapped back and pulled within eight, 64-56, with 1:34 left after a lay-up by Sarah Grow. The Lady Panthers responded, though, with a pair of free throws from Bernard, and two more on the next possession by Richards to go back ahead by a dozen.
 
Sammy Kozlowski led Minnesota-Duluth with 16 points. The Bulldogs dropped to 1-1 with the loss. 
 
The Lady Panthers play at home again on Friday in the first game of the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center Thanksgiving Classic as Drury will take on Lindenwood at 5:30 p.m. Admission is free to that game along with all four Friday games at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
 
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