ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Drury Lady Panthers ended Lewis' 10-game winning streak on Thursday evening in Romeoville with a 75-65 win.
 
Lewis raced out to an early 16-5 lead before the first quarter media timeout. Drury was able to cut the Flyers' lead to nine by the end of the first quarter, 21-12, but Lewis kept the Lady Panthers at an arm's length for the opening ten minutes.
 
Talia Norman scored the opening basket of the second quarter to cut the Lewis lead to seven as Drury slowly clawed back into the game.
 
A 13-2 run over the course of three minutes for the Lady Panthers in the middle of the second quarter shortened the Lewis lead to 29-27. Both teams traded scores down the stretch of the first half, with the Flyers entering the half up 37-33.
 
The Lady Panthers came out of the intermission slowly. Lewis grew their lead to 12 points in the first 6:15 of the third quarter. Kaci Bailey called her first timeout of the half right after the Flyers scored.
 
The timeout was the turning point in the game. Out of the timeout, Sara Mendel got a putback layup to kickstart a 13-2 run to end the quarter and enter the fourth trailing 54-53. Rhi Gibbons and Raegan Halliday both contributed four points during the final three minutes of the third.
 
The Lady Panthers went right back to Mendel to open up the fourth quarter and take their first lead of the game with 9:49 left.
 
Both teams went back and forth over the next seven minutes. Drury got their largest lead of the game on a Josie Storey offensive putback and-one. She converted the free throw to make a seven-point Lady Panther advantage.
 
Lewis cut the lead to two after a technical foul was assessed to Storey and a made three-pointer. That did not stop Drury. With 35 seconds remaining, Kaylee King would hit a three-pointer in the corner for the dagger in the Flyers' life, forcing Lewis into fouling for the final seconds of the game. The Lady Panthers would knock down four of their final five free throw attempts to put the game on ice and secure the 75-65 win.
 
GAME NOTES

• The Lady Panthers are now sitting alone in second place in the GLVC with a 10-2 record. UMSL still holds a two-game advantage on Drury after escaping McKendree with a 62-59 win on Thursday.
• The first half of the game was decided by offensive rebounds. Lewis had seven in the first half for nine second-chance points. Drury only had one offensive rebound in the opening half for three second-chance points. The second half was a complete 180; the Lady Panthers scored 11 second-chance points with six rebounds on the offensive end. Lewis only had two offensive rebounds and four second-chance points.
• The Lady Panthers shot 50% on 52 attempts in the game compared to Lewis' 40.3% on 62 attempts.
• The Flyers shot 60% in the first quarter to Drury's 38.5% in the first ten minutes. After the opening quarter, Drury did not have a quarter in which they shot under 50%, and Lewis did not have a quarter in which they shot over 38%.
• Drury's bench provided 15 points, led by Josie Storey with seven points.
• After only scoring 12 points in the first quarter, Drury scored at least 20 in each of the final three quarters.
• In the second half, the Lady Panthers outscored Lewis 42-28. 42 second-half points ties the most Drury has had in a game this year, the first one was Dec. 6 at Quincy.
• Drury improved their league-leading three-point percentage to 44.1% after shooting 6 for 11 from beyond the arc.
• It was the third game in four games that the Lady Panthers have shot better than 50% from the three-point line.
• Rhi Gibbons extended her double-digit scoring streak to 23 games, dating back to last season, with a 17-point performance.
• Gibbons was 9-for-12 from the free-throw line after drawing 11 fouls in the game.
• Sara Mendel recorded her 13th double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Mendel is now third all-time in single-season double-doubles at Drury.
• Mendel improved her season shooting percentage 67% after an 8-for-11 game from the field.
• Kaylee King tied her career high with 16 points. 11 of them are coming in the first half. She was 4 for 4 from distance in the win.
• Lewis' Yahaira Bueno (23) and Mallory Ramage (22) combined for 45 points. No other Flyer scored more than six points.
• Ally Cesarini pulled in eight rebounds to lead Lewis on the glass.
• The win was Kaci Bailey's first career win against Lewis. Bailey entered play 0-6 against the Flyers, 0-3 at Drury, and 0-3 at Quincy.
• Drury is now 5-0 with the starting lineup of Kaylee King, Rhi Gibbons, Jazz Gray, Sage Stratton, and Sara Mendel.
• After winning the fourth quarter, 22 to 11, the Lady Panthers are now +40 in scoring in the final quarter this season.
• Drury is now 6-4 in road games this season, 5-1 in GLVC road games.
• The Lady Panthers won the race 70 for the ninth time this season. Drury is 9-0 in all games where they reach 70 before their opponents.
• Drury trailed by four at halftime, which is the largest deficit that the Lady Panthers have had at halftime in a win this season. Lewis also led by 13 points in the second quarter, making it the largest comeback Drury has had in a game this season. It is the first time that Drury has overcome a double-digit deficit in a win since Feb. 28, 2024, against Upper Iowa when Drury trailed 42-30 in the third quarter and went on to win 79-62.

 
QUOTABLE
"We made big plays late in the game," said coach Kaci Bailey postgame, "Lewis outhustled us in the first half. Kaylee King carried us in the first half, and Sara in the second half. I am proud of how Rhi and Josie played down the stretch."
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Panthers finish the month of January on Saturday with a 1 pm game at Upper Iowa.
 
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