LIBERTY, Mo. – Drury's slow start did not hinder the Lady Panthers en route to their eighth straight win as they defeated William Jewell 82-52 Thursday evening.
 
Just 38 days after the Lady Panthers' 50-point victory over Jewell, the Cardinals started the game on fire. Jewell raced out to an early 15-3 lead, putting the Lady Panthers in a double-digit hole for the second time in the last five games.
 
The deficit did not faze Drury. The Lady Panthers slowly chipped away at the Jewell lead, starting with a Raegan Halliday three-pointer with 2:19 remaining in the first quarter. Including the Halliday make, Drury ended the quarter with a 10-2 run to trail 19-15 entering the second quarter.
 
The 10-2 run for Drury grew to 19-7 through the second quarter media timeout to tie the game at 24. Sara Mendel scored six during the run, and Kaylee King scored five.
 
Jewell scored one more basket in the half while Drury added 14 to take a 38-26 advantage to the break, a 24-point swing over the final 13 and a half minutes of the first half.
 
Similar to the second quarter, Drury took over the third quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 17-10.
 
The final quarter of the game is where the Lady Panthers put their foot on the gas. After allowing five of the first seven points of the fourth quarter, Drury scored the next eight, started by a Brooke Teter layup.
 
Up by 29 with 3:18 left in the game, Kaci Bailey put five freshmen on the court: Charlee Bailey, Brooke Teter, Teague Muncy, Ellie Wells, and Talia Norman. The five freshmen outscored the Jewell starters seven to six, led by four points from Teter. The 27-point fourth quarter propelled the Lady Panthers to an 82-52 win.
 
GAME NOTES

• The win moves Drury to 14-2 in the GLVC and 17-6 overall.
• William Jewell is still winless following the loss, 0-21.
• The Lady Panthers shot 46.5% from the field on 33-71 shooting from the field and six made threes.
• Jewell shot 38.9% on 21-54 shooting and seven made three-pointers.
• The difference in the game was turnovers. Jewell turned the ball over 27 times, the most forced by the Lady Panthers in a game this season. 11 of the 27 turnovers came from Alex McGarrah.
• Kaylee King recorded six steals in the game, a career high and the most by a Lady Panther since Mia Henderson stole the ball seven times against Lewis in the GLVC Tournament in the 2022-23 season.
• Drury assisted on 20 of their 33 made field goals.
• The Lady Panthers scored season-highs in points of turnovers (31), points in the paint (48), and points off the fast break (20).
• Drury scored 44 points in the second half, the most in a second half this season.
• Sara Mendel recorded her fifth 20-point double-double of the season and third straight with a 22-point, 10-rebound game.
• Mendel shot 9-for-13 from the field to improve her season field goal percentage to 67.3.
• Rhi Gibbons' 12 points extend her double-digit scoring streak to 27 consecutive games.
• Along with six steals, King added 12 points.
• Both Talia Norman and Brooke Teter scored a career-high 10 points.
• Teter shot 4-for-4 from the field. She is the second freshman this season to shoot perfect from the field, the first being Sage Stratton against Indianapolis.
• In both games against Jewell this season, the Lady Panthers have had five players who scored at least ten points in each game.
• Raegan Halliday had six assists in the game, three in the fourth quarter.
• The starting lineup of Kaylee King, Rhi Gibbons, Jazz Gray, Sage Stratton, and Sara Mendel stays undefeated, now 9-0 this season.
• Offensively, Jewell was led by Alex McGarrah with 22 points.
• Rylee Thompson had eight boards for the Cardinals in the loss.
• Kaci Bailey improves to 15-3 in the month of February as the Lady Panthers head coach.
• Drury is now 13-1 this season when leading at halftime and when entering the fourth quarter with the edge.
• The Lady Panthers are now 11-0 when they reach 70 points first this season.
• When holding opponents under 60 points, Drury is 9-0 this season.
• The victory was Drury's fifth of 30 or more points this season.

 
QUOTABLE
"We came out slow and were not on the same page early," coach Kaci Bailey said postgame, "Once we started putting pressure on them defensively, we were able to pull away and do what we had to do."
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Panthers stay in Kansas City for a rematch with Rockhurst on Saturday with a noon tip-off.
 
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