SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drury Lady Panthers closed out their preseason with an exhibition win over NAIA foe Ottawa, 87-48, at the O'Reilly Family Event Center on Tuesday evening.
 
The Lady Panthers opened the scoring with a Sara Mendel turnaround jumper 58 seconds into the game and didn't look back. Drury scored 11 of the next 15 points to take a 13-4 lead with four minutes left in the opening quarter.
 
Drury finished the first quarter on a 10-2 run to lead 23-6 after the opening 10 minutes behind eight points from Mendel.
 
The 17-point Drury lead grew to 30 points four minutes into the second quarter. Thirty points was the largest lead the Lady Panthers built before eventually taking a 43-17 advantage into intermission.
 
Out of the break, Ottawa battled back, cutting the Lady Panthers' lead to 19 points at the halfway mark of the third quarter. The Braves used a 14-7 run, led by Dominique Schutte's eight points during the stretch.
 
Nineteen points was as close as the game would get the rest of the night. A Samantha Becker layup kickstarted a 14-3 run for Drury over the final 4:49 of the third quarter, giving the Lady Panthers a 64-34 advantage heading into the final quarter.
 
The Braves continued to battle in the fourth quarter, scoring 14 points in the final 10 minutes, but it was not enough as the Lady Panthers added 23 points to their total. Becker scored eight points and Josie Salazar added six in the quarter as Drury claimed the 87-48 exhibition victory over Ottawa.
 
GAME NOTES

• As a team, Drury shot 50.0% (29-58) from the field despite shooting 20.0% (3-15) from three-point range.
• Ottawa shot 22.8% (13-57) from the field and 20.8% (5-24) from beyond the arc.
• The Lady Panthers outrebounded Ottawa, 45-38.
• Drury led every specialty scoring category in the game, including points off turnovers (20-6), points in the paint (46-16), second-chance points (11-2), fast-break points (24-0), and bench points (36-11).
• Drury forced 23 Ottawa turnovers.
• The Lady Panthers led by as many as 40 points.
• Drury had three double-digit scorers: Samantha Becker (15), Sara Mendel (14), and Jazz Gray (10).
• Gray and Mendel each recorded nine rebounds, one shy of a double-double.
• Rhi Gibbons, Raegan Halliday, and Kaylee King each added nine points.
• King paced Drury with five assists.
• Halliday led Drury with five of the Lady Panthers' 15 steals.
• The Lady Panthers played all 15 of their active players in the game.
• Dominique Schutte (13) and McKinley Kruger (11) each scored in double figures for Ottawa.
• Sydney Kessler led the Braves with nine rebounds.
• The game was an exhibition for both teams. Ottawa entered the game with a 2-1 regular-season record, while Drury has yet to play a regular-season game.

 
QUOTABLE
"I thought we showed a lot of good tonight once we settled in," Kaci Bailey commented postgame. "We showed our depth tonight, with everyone being able to score and come in and produce on the defensive end."
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Panthers open the regular season on Nov. 13 in The O in the first of two games at the GLVC/MIAA Crossover against Fort Hays State.
 
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