CHAMPAIGN, Ill.— Grand Valley State showed why they were the number one ranked team in NCAA-II as they pulled away from Drury midway through the first quarter for a 104-63 win over the Lady Panthers at State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois, on Sunday.
The Lakers stayed unbeaten and improved to 11-0, while the Lady Panthers had their three-game winning streak snapped and went to 6-3.
"We knew what they were capable of, but man, they put on a clinic tonight," said Drury head coach
Kaci Bailey. "There's no let-up with the way they play and they just wear you out. We had a couple of really good looks, but we started taking tired shots."
Grand Valley State scored 23 of their 28 first quarter points in the last five minutes of the period to lead 28-12 ten minutes into the game. The Lakers kept momentum through the second quarter and were up 60-24 at halftime.
The Lakers made 16 of 31 three-point attempts and had nine different players hit shots from long-range. Grand Valley State shot 55 percent overall in the game, hitting 41 of 75 from the field. Drury was 27 for 67 from the floor, 40 percent, but was just 4 for 16 from three-point range.
"Their ball movement is so good that they put our defense in scramble mode," said Bailey. "That means their shooters have time to get set and that makes it easier. But they had players that haven't taken that many three's this year and they all stepped out and were hitting them tonight."
Drury guard
Caitlynn Daniels led all scorers with 17 points. The graduate student from Robins, Iowa, added seven rebounds, four assists and a steal. Forward
Sara Mendel added a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards.
"We were more aggressive in the second half," noted Bailey. "Our spacing was better and we got their bigs out of the paint. I thought we had great effort in the second half; it was just out of reach at that point."
Avery Zeinstra had 16 points for Grand Valley State and was 6 for 8 from the field while making all three of her three-point attempts. Six Lakers scored in double-figures.
The Lady Panthers return to action on Saturday when they host Northeastern State for a 3 pm tipoff at the O'Reilly Family Event Center.
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