SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – In a meeting of the top two teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the highly anticipated dual turned into a rout, as the Drury Lady Panthers rallied from an early deficit to down the Truman State Bulldogs, 80-63 Saturday afternoon at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
The Bulldogs jumped in front of the Lady Panthers in the first half, pulling away to a nine-point lead at 30-21, but Drury closed out the half on a 15-2 scoring run to take a 36-32 lead at intermission. 
 
They pulled away in the third period, outscoring the Bulldogs 28-18 in the quarter, then coasted home to improve to 18-1 overall and 11-0 in GLVC play as they ran their current winning streak to 14 in a row.
 
"We knew we could not play their pace of the game because you can see how talented they are on the offensive end," said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. "We had to play our pace, and they had to play our speed, and I think it hurt them."
 
Drury got a triple-threat scoring effort from their upperclassmen, as graduate students Terrion Moore and Kaylee DaMitz-Holt dropped in 18 and 17 points, respectively, while senior Alana Findley added 14.
 
But it may have been the play of the Drury bench during the critical second quarter that made the difference, as sophomores Anna Hitt and Caitlynn Daniels came in to hit key baskets during their scoring run to pull the Lady Panthers back in control.
 
"We had Kaylee and Terrion in foul trouble, so we asked them to come in a give us big minutes when we were down. I'm really proud of them and what they gave us - that's what we have to have," added Eagan.
 
Drury forced the Bulldogs into a dozen second-half turnovers and 17 for the game and won the rebounding battle 40-30.
 
Truman State (13-6, 9-2) was paced in scoring by Hannan Belanger, who finished with 18 points.
 
Up next, the Lady Panthers continue GLVC play when they travel to Southwest Baptist on Thursday, January 26th at 5:30pm.
 
 
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