SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- The 17th ranked Drury Lady Panthers overcame a sluggish first half of play and exploded past Davenport 74-66 to win on the opening night of the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center Thanksgiving Classic at the O'Reilly Family Event Center Tuesday night.
 
The visiting Panthers took advantage of Drury's turnover problems in the opening half and were in front 38-32 at intermission. 
 
But things changed dramatically in the third period, as the host Lady Panthers turned up the defensive pressure and outscored Davenport 26-8 in the period to take control.  It would be the only quarter of the game won by the Lady Panthers, as the visiting Panthers outscored Drury in each of the other three periods.
 
"We challenged them at halftime," said Drury head coach Kaci Bailey.  "We said you got two choices, you can fold and accept this and take the loss and be really mad, or you can make a change.  They did and that's why you have a halftime."
 
The Lady Panthers placed four players in double figures for the game, paced by 20 points from graduate student Beth Matas Martin.  Sophomore Reese Schaaf dropped in 15, junior Caitlynn Daniels had 13, all in the second half of play and senior Andjela Kremenovic finished with 10 as the Lady Panthers improved to 4-0 on the new season.
 
"I thought Caitlynn made some changes at halftime, she came out and played really well down the stretch in the second half and that was big," added Bailey.
 
Ellie Toney and Lillee Gustafson had ten points each as the Panthers fell to 1-4 overall on the year.
 
The Lady Panthers finished 22 of 43 from the field, shooting for 51 percent and held Davenport to 34 percent on 19 of 56 attempts.  Drury also won the rebounding effort, 39-25.
 
The Lady Panthers will conclude play in the Oasis Hotel and Convention Center Thanksgiving Classic, Wednesday, November 22nd, when they face Lincoln in a 5:30 pm game at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
 
 
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