ST. LOUIS – The Lady Panthers dropped the front end of their two-game road trip to St. Louis on Thursday evening at Maryville, 68-65.

The Saints were on the board before the clock even started due to an administrative technical on Drury with a uniform policy. Once the game was underway, Maryville raced out to an 8-0 lead after back-to-back threes to open the game.

Drury scored their first basket on a Sage Stratton three-pointer. The Lady Panthers would go scoreless in the next two minutes while giving up seven to the Saints.

Maryville stayed hot for the remainder of the first quarter, putting up 20 points to Drury's nine.

The Lady Panthers flipped the switch in the second quarter. Started at the 8:10 mark in the quarter, Drury went on a 13-2 run over the next four minutes with six points from Kaylee King to cut the Saints' lead to 28-24.

The Saints took a 33-29 lead at the half after a 20-13 second quarter from Drury.

The first tie of the game came for the Lady Panthers two and a half minutes into the third quarter at 36 from a pair of makes from Sara Mendel's free throws. Drury would take their first lead of the game just moments later on a pull-up jumper from Rhi Gibbons.

Drury pulled away towards the end of the third quarter and ended the quarter on a Kaylee King three to take the life out of Moloney Arena, 56-48.

The life was quickly brought back to the arena after seven points from Lindsey Schadewalt to start the quarter and get the game within two points two minutes into the final ten minutes.

A back-and-forth final six minutes saw the Saints take the lead with 40 seconds left in regulation at 67-65. On the other end, the Lady Panthers were called for an illegal screen, giving Maryville the ball back with 30 seconds left.

Off the inbound, Raegan Halliday stole the pass to give the Lady Panthers a chance to tie the game. Gibbons was unable to convert following the timeout from Drury, forcing the Lady Panthers into a foul situation with a second left.

Alicia Burgos split the free throws to give Drury one more opportunity after the timeout advanced the ball for the Lady Panthers. The freshman, Sage Stratton, was trusted with the final shot and missed just left to secure the win for the Saints.

GAME NOTES

• The loss drops Drury's record against the Saints to 27-5. Maryville has now won two of the last three meetings.
• The difference in the game was turnovers. The Lady Panthers turned the ball over 19 times compared to Maryville's 10. 12 of the Drury turnovers came in the first half.
• Drury shot at a higher clip than Maryville from both the field (40.8% to 34.0%) and three (46.7% to 30.4%).
• In both the first and fourth quarters, Maryville outscored Drury 20-9.
• Maryville held a 15-point lead early in the second quarter; after that, Drury fought back to take their biggest lead early in the fourth quarter, nine.
• The Lady Panthers pulled in 38 rebounds to the Saints' 32.
• Maryville recorded 11 steals in its win.
• Sara Mendel recorded her seventh straight double-double with a 10-point, 11-rebound performance.
• Rhi Gibbons extended her double-digit scoring streak with 12 points. She also pulled in nine rebounds.
• Gibbons also picked up a career-high six assists.
• Kaylee King was 4-6 from the field, adding 11 points.
• Maryville's Lindsey Schadewalt scored 28 points. The most for any Drury opponent this season.

UP NEXT
The Lady Panthers are back on the court on Saturday with a 1 pm tip-off at McKendree.

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