KIRKSVILLE, Mo.— A quick start by the Drury Lady Panthers sparked them to an 88-64 win at Truman State on Thursday at Pershing Arena in Kirksville, Missouri.
Drury improved to 16-5 and 12-2 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference and dropped the Bulldogs to 9-14 and 6-7 in the GLVC.
The Lady Panthers poured in 23 points in the first quarter, taking a 23-16, then outscored Truman State 24-15 in the second period to go ahead 47-31 at halftime. Drury led by as much as 26 in the second.
Makaiya Brooks, who leads the GLVC in three-point percentage, led the Lady Panthers with a season-high 24 points and the Springfield-Central product was 6 for 10 from three-point range.
Sara Mendel added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in 15 minutes of playing time.
"We felt like we could attack them in open space," said Drury head coach
Kaci Bailey. "Makaiya is shooting really well and we were hard to guard because of our ball movement. I thought we took high-quality shots."
Truman State, who had four of their previous five games coming into Thursday's contest, was led by Molly Joyce with 22 points.
Drury outrebounded the Bulldogs 58-37 and had 19 offensive rebounds and outscored Truman State 24-11 on second-chance points. The Lady Panthers shot 46 percent in the game, going 38 for 82 and made 10 of their 24 three-point attempts. Truman State was held to 34 percent shooting as they went 22 for 65, and they connected on just 5 of their 28 three-point tries.
Drury continues their road trip on Saturday as they face Quincy for a 1 pm game in Quincy, Ill.
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