ST. CHARLES, Mo.— Quincy used a 17-0 run in the second half to charge ahead and advance to the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship game with an 86-74 win over the Drury Lady Panthers in the league tournament semifinals on Saturday at Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Missouri.
 
Drury, the number two seed on the bracket, overcame first half foul trouble to lead 38-32 at halftime. The Lady Panthers had four players with two fouls, and forward Sara Mendel picked up three in the first 20 minutes. First Team all-conference guard Caitlynn Daniels played only eight minutes in the first half, and Rhi Gibbons, Drury's leading scorer for the season, was limited to nine minutes as both were saddled with foul trouble, but the Lady Panthers surged to a halftime lead, outscoring the Hawks 19-10 in the second period.
 
Freshman guard Kaylee King stepped in and scored 16 points in the first half, with 13 of them coming in the second quarter.
 
Drury then built on the lead in the third quarter and went up 50-42 midway through the period. Then Quincy started their rally.
 
The Hawks chipped away and took the lead with 1:35 left in the quarter on free throws by Nicole McDermott as Quincy seized momentum. The Lady Panthers went scoreless from the 4:29 mark in the third quarter to the 8:37 mark in the fourth and trailed 59-52 at that point.
 
Drury nearly stole the momentum moments later when Makaiya Brooks hit a three-pointer to pull Drury within four, 61-57, with 6:54 left, but officials leveled a technical foul on the Lady Panthers for celebrating the three and Quincy turned that into a four-point play with two free throws and a basket in the lane by McDermott.
 
Drury could get no closer than six the rest of the way, and the Hawks closed out the game to advance.
 
"We didn't handle adversity well," said Drury head coach Kaci Bailey. "We were up at halftime, and I thought that when they made a run, we sort of backed down. We got down and got in our head and stopped executing.
 
"I thought Kaylee King was huge in the first half and Jazz Gray gave us some good minutes in the second quarter. So I felt good getting our starters back in during the second half, but we just couldn't punch back when Quincy got momentum."
 
Caitlynn Daniels finished with a game-high 23 points for Drury, while King ended with a career-high 16 points. Makaiya Brooks had 13 and Rhi Gibbons added 12.
 
McDermott led Quincy with 19 points and the graduate transfer added nine rebounds and was 9 for 10 from the free throw line.
 
The Hawks shot 48 percent, hitting 30 of 62 shots. Drury went 24 for 59 for 41 percent. Quincy, the GLVC leader in rebounding margin, out-rebounded the Lady Panthers 42-33.
 
Quincy advances to the GLVC championship game and will play fifth-seeded Maryville on Sunday at 3:30 pm for the league title.
 
Drury ends the season with a 22-7 record.
 
 
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