KANSAS CITY, Mo.— A short-handed Lady Panthers team rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit for the third time in four games to win at Rockhurst 76-69 in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday.
 
Drury, ranked number one in NCAA-II, extended their winning streak to 14 games while improving to 18-1, and 8-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Lady Panthers were without two starters – Paige Robinson, last year's NCAA-II and GLVC Player of the Year, was out for the sixth game in a row with an injured hand, and Kaylee DaMitz missed her second game in COVID protocol.
 
With the loss, the Hawks fell to 8-4 and 4-2 in the league.
 
Rockhurst jumped out to a 22-8 lead after the opening quarter and led by as much as 19 in the first half before the Lady Panthers could chip away.
 
Drury pulled within 10 points of the lead at the end of the third quarter but never went in front until the 7:15 mark of the fourth period when Alana Findley scored on a jump shot in the lane to give the Lady Panthers a 62-61 advantage.
 
Drury never trailed again as Findley sank two free throws with 43 seconds remaining, giving her team a 70-67 lead. Findley finished with a career-high 32 points, and the Lady Panthers built on their lead down the stretch to win by seven.
 
"We just stayed the course and chipped away in the third quarter and were finally able to go ahead in the fourth," said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. "We struggled scoring in the first half, and we really never got much from the perimeter in the second half, but when you're not hitting shots, you have to bear down a little better defensively, and I thought we pressured them a lot better in the second half.
 
Drury limited Rockhurst to just 3 for 13 shooting from the floor in the fourth quarter as the game turned around. Findley scored 26 of her 32 points in the second half and finished the game going 9 for 16 from the field and 13 of 16 from the free-throw line.
 
"She used her length and strength more in the second half," added Eagan. "We wanted to get her the ball more in the second half, and she really stepped up."
 
The junior from Fair Grove added a team-high seven rebounds. Terrion Moore added 14 points for Drury.
 
Molly Hummell led Rockhurst with 18 points.
 
Drury went just 1 for 12 from three-point range in the game but shot 42 percent from the floor in the game connecting on 24 of 57 shots. Rockhurst was 23 for 55 from the field for 41 percent, but the Hawks made only 5 of their 14 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter as they came up short.
 
The Lady Panthers conclude their three-game road trip on Monday at Truman State with a 5:15 pm game in Kirksville, Missouri.
 
 
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