SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– The ninth-ranked Drury Lady Panthers completed a sweep of their two games in the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center Thanksgiving Classic with a defensive-fueled 81-56 win over Davenport University from Michigan on Saturday and remained undefeated on the young season at 6-0.
Drury's in-your-face defense was "on" all evening as they forced 36 turnovers for the game as Davenport had a difficult time getting into an offensive flow.
The Lady Panthers (6-0) employed their smothering full-court defense in the opening period forcing 13 turnovers and grabbing nine steals to break in front 12-4 in the opening minutes of play, then ran away from Davenport closing the quarter on a 21-6 run to lead 33-10. By halftime, Davenport was guilty of 20 turnovers which led the Lady Panthers to a 50-24 lead.
"Our defense is our offense, and that's what drives us and gets us going," said
Molly Miller, Drury head coach. "And the catalyst to that is
Daejah Bernard and her recognition tonight as the MVP was well deserved. She's the reason we create so much havoc, and she's the reason for our brand of basketball."
Three-point shooting was also a key for Drury as they hit on 11 of 29 attempts, while Davenport managed only one three-point make on 15 shots. Davenport did hold the rebounding edge, grabbing a team total of 40 to 31 for Drury.
Junior
Hailey Diestelkamp paced the Drury scoring with 17 points with sophomores
Payton Richards and
Azia Lynch chipping in 14 each and freshman
Paige Robinson adding 13.
"It's really nice to have five threats on the floor at one time and to have a team that's really willing to share the ball," said Miller. "22 assists last night was great, but here we have 26 tonight, and that was great."
Junior
Daejah Bernard, who was named the Classic's Most Valuable Player had three of the team's 19 steals; she also dished out 10 assists with four rebounds. Richards and Robinson joined her on the All-Classic Team. Jenna Falkenberg and Toni Grace shared team scoring honors for Davenport with 14 each.
The Lady Panthers are back in action at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on Thursday, November 29th, when they will host Rogers State of Oklahoma in a 6 p.m. contest.
#allweDUiswin
