ST. CHARLES, Mo.— The Drury Lady Panthers ran away from Upper Iowa in the second half and advanced to the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament semifinals with a 95-61 win at Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Missouri, on Thursday night.
Drury will play Saturday night at 8:15 pm in St. Charles against winner of third-seeded Quincy and number six seed Missouri S&T. The Hawks and Miners play their quarterfinal game on Friday at 8:15 pm.
The Lady Panthers, the number two seed in the tournament, improved to 22-6 and ended Upper Iowa's season at 13-14. The Peacocks were seeded seventh.
Drury led 45-34 at halftime, then blew open the lead with an 11-2 run to start the third quarter and they outscored Upper Iowa 30-14 in the period. The Lady Panthers didn't let up and put up 50 points in the second half to the Peacocks 27.
"The last two games may not have been our best basketball, but I feel like, in the last two weeks, our group is very confident right now and we have a group of seniors that really want this," said Drury head coach
Kaci Bailey. "The big thing right now is to take this one day at a time, and that was the message to this team before the game: take care of today and go 1-0."
Caitlynn Daniels led Drury with 20 points and added nine assists and six rebounds. Her two steals early in the third quarter sparked the Lady Panthers to their second-half run.
"Caitlynn is playing at another level right now," added Bailey. "When our team sees her in the zone she's in, it raises us to another level."
Rhi Gibbons and
Anna Hitt both had 13 points, while
Jazz Gray contributed a season-high 12 and
Kaylee King chipped in 11.
Sara Mendel grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
Upper Iowa's Mia Hubberty had 19 points.
Drury shot 54 percent from the field, hitting 38 of 70 shots and went 15 for 20 at the free throw line.
The Peacocks entered the tournament leading the GLVC in three-point shooting at 37 percent but were held to 21 percent as the Lady Panthers defense held them to 3 for 14 from behind the arc.
Drury's 95 points was their second-highest point total this season and their 34-point win marks their largest margin of victory in a game this season.
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