SPRINGFIELD, Mo.–  Fans will get their first glimpse of the new-look Drury Lady Panthers on Thursday in the team's season-opening exhibition against Lyon (Ark.) at the O'Reilly Family Event Center in Springfield. Tipoff is at 5:45 p.m.
 
Drury debuts a new coaching staff, five new starters, and eight new players on Thursday. Head coach Kaci Bailey will be on the sideline at the O' for the first time. Named to the job on April 5, Bailey comes to Drury after two seasons as head coach at Quincy and she worked for DU's current Vice President & Director of Athletics Nyla Milleson, as an assistant for four years and Division I George Mason.
 
The Lady Panthers return no starters from last year's team that went 31-2, 20-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, and finished the year ranked eighth nationally, but the team does bring back six letter winners and three that saw significant minutes last season, including GLVC Freshman of the Year Reese Schaaf. The El Dorado Springs native was a Third Team All-GLVC selection last year after averaging 7.6 points and 3.8 rebounds.
 
Drury's newcomers include guard Beth Matas Martin, an All-GLVC selection who transferred from Quincy. The Girona, Spain, native ranked fifth in the conference in scoring last year, averaging 16.3 points and shooting .398 from three-point range. The Lady Panthers also brought home Makaiya Brooks, who transferred from Memphis. Brooks played two seasons for the Tigers, but had a stellar high school career at Springfield-Central where she set the all-time scoring record for the Springfield Public Schools, racking up 2,359 career points.
 
Lyon (Ark.) went 12-14 last year, but will be entering their first season as an NCAA-III member and will play in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Scots are coached by Drury graduate Casey Fowler. Fowler played for the Panthers in 2010-11, then served as a student-assistant under head coach Steve Hesser. After his time at Drury, Fowler joined the United States Navy and served for three deployments before returning to coaching as the women's coach at Baptist Bible College in Springfield. He served as head coach at Arlington Baptist for one year before taking over the Lyon program before the start of the 2023-24 season.
 
The Scots are picked to finish sixth in the SLIAC in the league's preseason coaches' poll.
 
The Lady Panthers were selected for a second place finish in the GLVC coaches' poll. Drury is the seven-time defending conference champion.
 
After Thursday's game, Drury will open the regular season on Nov. 10 in the Trevecca Nazarene Classic in Nashville. The Lady Panthers will take on Kentucky Wesleyan at 5 p.m. on Nov. 10, then will face host Trevecca Nazarene on Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. Drury's first regular season home game is Nov. 16 when they host Missouri Baptist at 11 a.m.
 

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