FORT SMITH, Ark. – The Drury Lady Panthers ended a five-game road stretch on Saturday afternoon at Arkansas-Fort Smith with a 49-47 win.
 
The Lady Panthers and Lions traded buckets back and forth to start the first quarter. A layup from Talia Norman with 2:35 left in the quarter grew the lead to four. Drury got their lead all the way to eight points before closing the first quarter up 17-11.
 
Fort Smith opened the second quarter on a 13-4 run to take their largest lead of the first half by three points. There were no points scored by either team in the final 1:30.
 
The Lions took a 26-23 lead into the half.
 
The slow offensive end to the first half carried into the second half. The first points of the half came at the 6:43 mark from Senese Rainey.
 
Both teams ended the quarter with eight points, four of which came from Sara Mendel for the Lady Panthers.
 
Trailing 34-31 entering the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers regained the lead at the 6:55 mark and did not look back after Sara Mendel's jump shot.
 
The final minute of play was full of chaos. Fort Smith, down by one, fouled three times to stop the clock. Following the third foul, Rhi Gibbons would head to the free-throw line and split a pair with six seconds left.
 
Telisha Brown then took the ball the length of the floor to get a look at the rim in the final second, her shot spinning around the rim twice before falling out and giving the Lady Panthers a 49-47 win.
 
GAME NOTES

• The Lady Panthers shot 34.4% from the field, going 21-61, while UAFS was 19-51, good for 37.3%.
• Drury scored six points in the second quarter, their lowest total for any quarter this season.
• The Lady Panthers made two three-pointers in the game, both from Kaylee King.
• UAFS shot 9.1% from three, 1-11. It is the lowest anyone has shot against Drury this season.
• Sara Mendel recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Mendel also added three assists, one steal, and a block to her stat line.
• After starting slow in the game, Rhi Gibbons finished with 13 points to extend her double-digit scoring streak to 14 games.
• Gibbons entered the fourth quarter with four points.
• Kaylee King added 10 points.
• Jazz Gray showed up strong for the Lady Panthers defensively and added a game-high four assists.
• UAFS' Haleigh Jackson led them with 12 points, all in the first half.
• Today was the first time since January 9, 2016, that Drury scored less than 50 in a game, which was a game against Wisconsin-Parkside.
• The Lady Panthers finished their regular-season non-conference slate with a 3-4 record. Saturday's game was the lone road non-conference win that Drury had.
• Drury ends their five-game December road stretch with a 4-1 record.

 
UP NEXT
The Lady Panthers are off until January 2, when they host Rockhurst at home for the start of a four-game home stretch.
 
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