LEBANON, Ill. – Senior guards Annie Armstrong and Addy Roller came up with huge, momentum-swinging plays to stop a late McKendree run and lead No. 12 Drury to a 71-60 victory over the Bearcats in their Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup Saturday afternoon at the Statham Sports Center.
McKendree had cut DU's seemingly comfortable, double-digit lead to three (59-56) with under two minutes to play with a 6-0 run. But the Lady Panthers got it back over the next 55 seconds on a conventional three-point play on a drive, foul and free throw by Armstrong followed soon by a Roller 3-pointer from the right corner to push it back to nine (65-56) with 1:05 to play.
Drury took it home from there for its 10th consecutive victory, one that secured the 13th 20-win season in the program's history for the Lady Panthers (20-3, 13-2 in the GLVC), who also expanded their GLVC West lead to two games over Truman State and Quincy with three games to play.
The trip to McKendree (11-14, 6-9) represented the last road game of the regular season for Drury, which will play its final three at The O' – where it has won a school record-tying 22 consecutive games – starting with next Thursday's visit by Maryville on the annual "Play 4Kay/Pink Zone" for cancer awareness night.
"These road wins are valuable in the GLVC, and McKendree is a very much improved team, one that's peaking at the right time," Drury coach Molly Miller said. "Thanks to Annie's heroics again and her acrobatic shot, then Addy hit the three and we got some stops.
"It's a game of runs, and when they go on runs, we've got to figure out how to dig down with a big stop. But overall, I was pleased with our defensive effort. We wanted to contain all of their players, and I think we did a pretty good job of that."
Roller finished with 18 points and a Drury career-high nine assists, hitting all four of her 3-point tries to lead the Lady Panthers, who got 15 points and five assists from Armstrong.
"We had a talk today about being a senior and what these last few games mean, and I think Addy really came out with that determination in her eyes," Miller said.
Drury scored the game's first 10 points and led the Bearcats 24-13 after one quarter and 39-30 at the half. The Lady Panthers scored the first six points of the third quarter to push the lead to 15 (45-30), and seemed in command late with a 59-47 advantage after Roller's jumper with 4:29 to play.
But the Bearcats rallied, and Jordan Morton's three-point play with 2:16 remaining pulled McKendree within three before the late heroics from Armstrong and Roller.
Hannah Dressler grabbed 11 rebounds – her seventh double-digit rebounding effort of the season and second straight – to pace the Lady Panthers on the boards.
Emily Pusheck had 14 points to lead McKendree, which made just 1 of 7 3-point shots to Drury's 10 of 18 from long range (56 percent). The Lady Panthers hit 8 of their first 12 3-point tries in a game in which, overall, they shot 49 percent (24 of 49) and limited the Bearcats to 41 percent (22 of 54).
