SPRINGFIELD – The Drury Lady Panthers pulled away from Arkansas-Ft. Smith with a 10-4 run in the final two minutes to earn a road win, 70-62, in Fort Smith, Arkansas on Saturday.
Drury had a 60-58 lead with 1:22 remaining when Paige Wilson’s jumper extended the Lady Panthers’ lead. Seconds later, a steal by Daejah Bernard led to a lay-up and a made free throw by Hailey Diestelkamp that gave Drury breathing room with a seven-point advantage.
The 11th ranked Lady Panthers improved to 9-2 while the Lady Lions fell to 5-5.
Drury’s Heather Harman matched a career high with 25 points. The junior from Walnut Grove went 10 for 16 from the field and 4 for 8 from three-point range. Diestelkamp had a double-double for a second straight game with 15 points and 13 rebounds. It was her fourth double-double this season. She was also 6 for 9 from the field and hit all three of her free throws.
Micayla Haynes had 15 points to lead Arkansas-Ft. Smith.
The Lady Lions came from seven points down the second quarter to take a 33-31 halftime lead over Drury. The Lady Panthers fell behind by four early in the third period but responded with an 8-0 run that put them in front 45-41.
Arkansas-Ft. Smith rallied again to take a 52-51 lead with 6:18 remaining, but Drury outscored the Lady Lions 19-10 the rest of the way.
The Lady Panthers held Arkansas-Ft. Smith to 32 percent shooting from the field as the Lady Lions were 17 for 52 from the floor. Drury made 25 of 55 shots for a 45.5 percent mark from the field.
Drury is idle until Monday, Dec. 19 when they return home to play Quincy. The game has a special tipoff time of 11 a.m. as part of Hiland Dairy Kids Day at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
