LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Returning to the scene of their only conference loss last year, the second-ranked Drury Lady Panthers pulled away for an 86-61 win at Bellarmine in Louisville, Kentucky on Thursday night.
Drury forward
Hailey Diestelkamp recorded her 10th double-double of the season with 24 points and 10 rebounds. The junior from Owensville, Missouri added five steals in the win.
The Lady Panthers used a 7-0 run to end the first quarter to take a 24-17 lead at the end of the period, and they owned a 47-34 advantage at halftime. Drury stretched the lead to 27 in the second half and kept their record perfect at 18-0 and 8-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Bellarmine fell to 8-8 and 2-6 in the league.
"This is a tough place to play as I've learned in the last few years," said Drury head coach
Molly Miller. "I'm ecstatic about the effort and focus we played with tonight."
Last season, Bellarmine beat the Lady Panthers 84-70 in what was Drury's only conference loss last year as part of a 17-1 league regular season record as well as a 3-0 mark in the GLVC postseason. Drury has won 25 of their last 26 games in the conference regular season.
In Thursday's game, Drury forced the Knights into 32 turnovers as the Panthers picked up 22 steals led by eight from
Lauren Holmes. Holmes also had eight rebounds to go with two blocks, three assists, and seven points.
"(Lauren) got deflection after deflection and had a bunch of rebounds," said Miller. "We told her that if you're in a shooting slump, there are so many other things you can do and there are things that don't necessarily show up on a stat sheet. I was really pleased with her defense and the way she attacked in the glass for boards."
Payton Richards added 14 points for Drury while
Azia Lynch had 13 and
Brooke Stanfield scored 10 points.
Daejah Bernard matched her career-high with 10 assists.
Paige Robinson had eight points before leaving the game late in the first half with an ankle injury.
Mikayla Berry led Bellarmine with 12 points.
Drury continues their road trip on Saturday when they travel to Southern Indiana for a 1 p.m. in Evansville.
#allweDUiswin
