SPRINGFIELD, Mo.— Drury outscored McKendree 22-11 in the fourth quarter to pull away and seal an 87-75 win at the O'Reilly Family Event Center in Springfield on Saturday.
The win marked the 12
th straight victory for the Lady Panthers and raised their record to 20-4 and 15-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. McKendree dropped to 18-7 and 14-5 in the GLVC.
Both Drury and McKendree entered Saturday's game as the top two shooting teams in the GLVC in field goal percentage and for three quarters, neither squad disappointed the crowd for the offensive pace. The Bearcats and Lady Panthers both shot better than 50 percent in the first half, as McKendree led 45-43 at halftime. Drury slowed down the Bearcats enough in the third quarter to forge a 65-64 lead, then stymied the Bearcats to 2 for 11 shooting in the final quarter to pull away and win by 12.
"We knew we were going to have to guard and they were shooting lights-out," said Drury head coach
Kaci Bailey. "We made an adjustment of staying home on defense and we talked about touching leather on their shooters. We talked about that before the game, but we did a much better job of that in the second half."
Reese Schaaf had her 13
th double-double of the year with 24 points and 11 rebounds while going 10 for 13 from the field. The sophomore from El Dorado Springs also went 2 for 2 from three-point range and 2 for 3 from the free throw line.
Beth Matas Martin added 24 points and six assists.
McKendree's Christy Fortune had 20 points to lead the Bearcats.
The Lady Panthers shot 53 percent in the game, hitting 32 of 61 shots and went 9 for 22 from the three-point line. McKendree shot 42 percent, hitting 26 of 62 shots.
The game marked the first road loss of the year for the Bearcats, who were 12-0 on the road entering Saturday's game.
Drury's 20
th win of the season marks their 21
st 20-win season in the team's 24-year team history and the program has reached at least 20 victories for 11 straight years.
The Lady Panthers are on the road next week as they travel to Missouri S&T on Thursday for a 5:30 pm game in Rolla.
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