ST. LOUIS – Sara Mendel's eighth 20-point double-double of the season lifted the third-seeded Lady Panthers over sixth-seeded Truman State, 75-69, in the quarterfinals of the GLVC Tournament in St. Louis.
 
Rhi Gibbons started the game off strong for the Lady Panthers, including a game-opening and-one. Gibbons would score seven of Drury's first 11 points in the game as the Bulldogs kept pace with the Lady Panthers up to the first media timeout, 11-7.
 
Two minutes after the media timeout and off the bench, Teague Muncy would take Drury's largest lead of the quarter on a putback layup after she fought for an offensive rebound, 16-7. Truman would cut their deficit to five points, 21-16, by the end of the opening quarter.
 
Drury took back a nine-point lead just 60 seconds into the quarter after a technical foul was assessed to the Truman bench. Following the foul, the Bulldogs' offense woke up, going on a 10-0 run to take their first lead of the game, 26-25, not even four minutes into the second.
 
The lead would not last long as Drury would go on their own 13-2 run behind five points from Josie Storey.
 
Again, Truman would fit back late in a quarter to cut the Drury lead to six points entering halftime, 39-33.
 
Neither team was able to get a shot to fall until the 7:32 mark in the third quarter, as first-team all-conference honoree Emajin McCallop would make a jumper to make it a four-point game. It would be the closest the Bulldogs would be for the rest of the third.
 
Ten points and six rebounds for Sara Mendel in the third quarter gave the Lady Panthers a 53-43 advantage into the final quarter.
 
Two and a half minutes into the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers led 57-49. At that moment, the Bulldogs went on a quick 6-0 run to bring the difference down to two points. Raegan Halliday and Sara Mendel would each get a quick score to get the Drury edge back to seven, 62-55, before the final media timeout.
 
Following the media timeout, the Bulldogs went on another 6-0 run to bring the game within one point, 62-62, with 1:46 left in the game, forcing Kaci Bailey to call a timeout.
 
The timeout is what the Lady Panthers needed as the reset with just over a minute to play and outscored the Bulldogs 13-8, ten of the points coming from the free throw line, to give Drury the 75-69 win.
 
GAME NOTES

• Drury improved to 21-7 with the win over Truman State. The Bulldogs ended their season with a 17-12 record.
• The Lady Panthers shot 39% from the field in the game while Truman State shot 36.1%.
• Drury shot 40% from the three-point line to improve their season percentage to 38.2%, which remains the second-best in NCAA Division II.
• Drury won the rebound battle 51 to 26. 17 of the Lady Panthers' rebounds were on the offensive glass, leading to 20 second-chance points.
• Truman only scored five second-chance points on seven offensive rebounds.
• The Lady Panthers turned the ball over 17 times, their most since the Feb. 14 game at Rockhurst.
• Drury scored 22 points, led by Josie Storey with 10 points.
• Sara Mendel recorded her 20th double-double of the season with a 22-point, 14-rebound performance. She has had four blocks, all in the first half.
• The double-double was her eighth 20-point double-double of the season.
• Rhi Gibbons scored 16 points in the win, eight of them from the free throw line.
• Kaylee King was one rebound away from her first career double-double. She ended with 13 points and nine rebounds.
• Teague Muncy pulled in 14 rebounds off the bench. It is the most rebounds by a freshman since Emily Parker pulled in 12 against Missouri S&T on Feb. 3, 2018.
• Muncy also had three assists.
• Truman State was led by Emajin McCallop with 27 points and three steals.
• Lexie White was the only other Bulldog in double digits with 14. She led Truman with nine rebounds in the game.
• Drury's starting lineup of Kaylee King, Rhi Gibbons, Jazz Gray, Sage Stratton, and Sara Mendel improved their record to 13-1.
• Drury is now 15-0 in games where they reach 70 points before their opponents.
• The Lady Panthers are 17-1 now in games they lead at halftime and to start the fourth quarter.
• Drury improves to 4-3 all-time as the three-seed in the GLVC Tournament and 16-3 in their quarterfinal games.
• The win was the Lady Panthers' third win against Truman State in the GLVC Tournament, 3-0. Drury is now 26-1 all-time against the Bulldogs and has won the last eight.

 
QUOTABLE
"Teague Muncy was huge for us on the glass," Kaci Bailey mentioned postgame, "I felt like in the second half we did not get rattled when Truman went on runs, we were able to stop their runs and get into a rhythm."
 
UP NEXT
The Lady Panthers play (2) Maryville March 7 in the GLVC Semifinals with the tip-off at 2:15 pm.
 
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