ROLLA, Mo. – The Lady Panthers' 11-game winning streak came to an end Saturday afternoon in Rolla as Missouri S&T dominated the point in the 67-55 win for the Miners.
 
Missouri S&T is one of the most physical teams in the GLVC, and it showed in the first quarter; the Miners just wanted to go inside to Anna Gilbertson and Morgan Luebbering. Despite S&T forcing the ball inside early, Gilbertson and Luebbering only scored four combined points in the quarter.
 
The Lady Panthers, wanting to match physicality inside, fed the potential GLVC Player of the Year, Sara Mendel. Mendel nearly outscored the Miners herself in the quarter with eight points as Drury held S&T to nine in the quarter. The Lady Panthers held a 14-9 advantage after the opening ten minutes.
 
Drury's five-point lead entering the second quarter was quickly squandered as the Miners brought it within one just two minutes into the quarter. S&T would take their largest lead of the first half, three points, at the 3:22 mark behind a 14-6 run over the middle four and a half minutes. S&T would be able to hold onto the momentum and take a 27-26 lead to the intermission.
 
Sara Mendel opened the second half with a layup, taking back the Lady Panthers' lead, but that did not last long. The Miners would respond with a 9-0 until the 5:56 mark in the third quarter to take an eight-point advantage, 36-28.
 
Drury brought the game back within two but was not able to make it any closer as the Miners held a 45-42 edge entering the final quarter.
 
In the Miners' final game of the season, they saw an upset brewing with ten minutes left in regulation. An 11-5 run to open the quarter gave S&T its largest lead of the game, nine points, with 6:26 remaining.
 
Jazz Gray cut it to eight with a free throw, but the Miners took the game's first double-digit advantage the next possession with an Ava McCulla layup.
 
Cutting the disadvantage to five points from the score from Raegan Halliday, Sara Mendel, and Rhi Gibbons, it was the closest the Lady Panthers would get for the remainder of the game.
 
Missouri S&T ended the game on a 9-1 run, seven of the nine total points in the final 1:17 of the game from the free throw line to give the Miners a 67-55 win.
 
GAME NOTES

• The Lady Panthers finish the regular season with a 17-3 GLVC record, the second-best based on record in the GLVC.
• The loss ended the Lady Panthers' longest win streak of the season, 11 games.
• Missouri S&T (40.3%) outshot the Lady Panthers (33.3%) in the loss.
• The Miners did not make a single three-pointer in the game, 0-for-6. Drury did not do much better, 2-for-17.
• Drury lost the rebound battle 43 to 37. The offensive battle was decided by one board in favor of the Miners, 14 to 13.
• Both teams turned the ball over 12 times.
• The Lady Panthers were outscored in every quarter except the first. The biggest separation was the fourth quarter, where S&T outscored Drury 22 to 13.
• S&T scored 24 more points in the paint than Drury, 44 to 20.
• The Lady Panthers scored 17 points off turnovers.
• Sara Mendel led all scorers in the game with 20 points. She did so on 8-for-11 scoring and pulled in seven rebounds.
• Rhi Gibbons had 18 points on 7 made field goals.
• Raegan Halliday scored every point off the bench for the Lady Panthers, seven points. Halliday led Drury with four assists.
• Josie Storey blocked two shots, leading all players.
• Missouri S&T had three players score at least ten points: Kiarra Kilgore (12), Anna Gilbertson (11), and Norah Gum (10).
• Adriana Benassi had nine rebounds in the game, leading the game.
• The loss was the first of the season for the starting lineup of Kaylee King, Rhi Gibbons, Jazz Gray, Sage Stratton, and Sara Mendel. They are now 12-1.
• It is the first time in series history that Missouri S&T has swept a season series against Drury.

 
QUOTABLE
"We knew coming into this game that S&T would want to go inside and make it physical," coach Kaci Bailey commented postgame, "We came up with too many empty possessions down the stretch."
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Panthers will wait for the GLVC to release the women's basketball tournament bracket to see who they play in the first round of the conference tournament at Missouri-St. Louis next week.
 
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