SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The new-look Drury Lady Panthers took to the O'Reilly Family Event Center floor for the first time in 2023-24 and came away with a 113-77 win in an exhibition game against Lyon (Ark.) on Thursday night in Springfield.
 
The game marked the first time new head coach Kaci Bailey was on the Drury bench, and the Lady Panthers introduced five new starters and debuted eight newcomers to their roster on Thursday.
 
Drury scored 60 points in the first half, building a 29-19 lead after one quarter on their way to a 60-38 advantage at the intermission.
 
The Lady Panthers led by as much as 36 in the second half, and the 113 points they scored surpassed Drury's highest total in a game last year (105 against Indianapolis in the GLVC Semifinals on March 4).
 
Five Drury players scored in double-figures, and all 13 Lady Panthers that played cracked the scoring column. DU guard Kaylee King missed Thursday's game with an injury.
 
Beth Matas Martin, a graduate transfer from Quincy, led Drury with 17 points and made 4 of her 8 three-point attempts, while Springfield native Makaiya  Brooks added 15 in her Drury debut after transferring from Memphis. Reese Schaaf turned in a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Quincy Erickson contributed 12 points and Aiden Moxness added 10.
 
"I liked that we shared the ball and showed that multiple people could score, so we don't have to rely on one or two people," said Bailey, who was named the program's head coach last spring. "I thought we were really good on the offensive end, but now we've got to carry that over and figure out how to guard somebody."
 
The Lady Panthers shot 50 percent in the game, hitting 44 of 88 shots, but Lyon connected on 44 percent of their attempts, going 31 of 70. Drury made 11 three-pointers, and limited the Scots to just four. Drury dominated the glass, out-rebounding Lyon 57-35, and they had 29 offensive boards while Scots had 13.
 
After allowing 23 points in the third quarter, the Lady Panthers closed out the game, outscoring Lyon 31-16 in the fourth quarter.
 
Drury got 62 points from their bench in the exhibition win.
 
Lyon will enter their first season as an NCAA-III program after competing in the NAIA. Thursday's game was also a homecoming of their head coach, Casey Fowler, who was a player and student assistant at Drury under Steve Hesser. Fowler is in his first season at Lyon.
 
The Lady Panthers will make their official debut on Nov. 10 when they open the regular season against Kentucky Wesleyan at 5 p.m. at the Trevecca Nazarene Classic in Nashville, Tenn.
 
 
 
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