SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— The Drury Lady Panthers, playing their first game since ascending to the number one ranking in the nation, improved to 20-0 (10-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference) with a 95-52 league victory over the Quincy Hawks at the O'Reilly Family Event Center Thursday night.
 
The contest was close early, but it wouldn't last for the visiting Hawks. As has been the case all season for Drury, the combination of full-out defense and solid offensive work by the Lady Panthers was the difference maker.
 
The Lady Panthers and Hawks dueled to a 15-15 draw in the opening moments of the first quarter, but the Lady Panthers went on a 15-0 run to close the period to take a 28-15 lead with sophomore Payton Richards accounting for 15 of the team's scoring. Drury then outscored Quincy 24-6 in the second period to claim a 52-21 halftime lead as the Hawks were never able to regain their early form, committing 20 first-half turnovers while the Lady Panthers grabbed a dozen steals before the intermission.
 
"The first media timeout is good for us because we get a lot of things teams throw at us that we haven't seen before and we made some adjustments, and I think that helped us," said Molly Miller, Drury head coach.
 
Junior Hailey Diestelkamp led the way in scoring for Drury, finishing with a team and game-high 22 points, with Richards adding 18 and freshman Paige Robinson posting 12.  Michaela Gronewald led the scoring for the Hawks with a team-high 11.
 
"Payton had a great warm-up, so we knew the next forty minutes of basketball was gonna be good for us," said Miller.
 
Drury, the nation's leader in turnovers forced and steals, pushed Quincy (5-15, 3-8) into 34 turnovers and had 21 takeaways, with junior Daejah Bernard grabbing eight. The Lady Panthers shot 46 percent for the game on 34 of 74, with Quincy hitting on 22 of 50 attempts for 44 percent. Drury was 20 of 28 at the free throw line, while the Hawks hit just four of four from the charity stripe. Drury also out-rebounded the visitors 44 to 28.
 
"We talked in the locker room before the game that some teams unite over losses, well, we've got the biggest target on our backs right now, and we need to stay focused as we move forward," said Miller in regards to her team's national ranking.
 
With the win, the Lady Panthers secured their sixth consecutive 20-win season and the 16th in the 19-year history of the program
 
The Lady Panthers are back in action Saturday when they host Truman State in a 1 pm game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
 
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