The Newman Jets handed the Drury Lady Panthers a 79-73 defeat on Wednesday evening at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on the final night of the Oasis Hotel & Convention Center Thanksgiving Classic.
 
Down by 11 points in the early moments of the fourth quarter, the Jets used a combination of long range three-point makes and clutch free throw shooting in the final two minutes to finish at 1-1 in the Classic, as did Drury.
 
Drury was unable to solve a solid inside performance by Newman throughout the game, then watched as the Jets stormed back to drain seven second half three-point shots and won for the fourth time in eight games.
 
"I didn't think Newman had a great performance in their opener yesterday and, as a competitor, they rose to the occasion tonight and to be honest, we didn't come ready to go from the jump and that was the difference," said Drury head coach Kaci Bailey.
 
The Lady Panthers broke out of a tightly contested first half, putting together an 11-2 run in the closing minutes, capped by a turn-around three-point launch from Makaiya Brooks at the buzzer to take a 39-30 lead into the halftime locker room.
 
The loss spoiled a career-best night for Lady Panther Rhi Gibbons who ended the night with a team high 25 points, as Drury dropped to 3-2 on the season with the setback.
 
Newman had three players in double figure scoring, lead by 21 points from Jaeden McMillin.  Paige Craft had 16 and Valeriya Lioukina closed with 14.
 
The Lady Panthers return to action on Monday, December 2nd, when they open Great Lakes Valley Conference play with a 5:45 pm meeting with Southwest Baptist University at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.