EVANSVILLE, Ind. – For the second time in three years, the Drury Lady Panthers will play for the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament championship. The sixth ranked Lady Panthers, also the top seed in the GLVC tournament, took down fourth seeded Bellarmine 87-62 in the semifinals at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana on Saturday.
Drury improved to 27-3 while the Knights, who were ranked 23rd in NCAA-II, fell to 22-7.
The Lady Panthers will play the winner of third seeded Lewis and seventh seeded Indianapolis on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
Drury center Hannah Dressler had her second double-double of the season scoring 14 points and grabbing a season-high 12 rebounds. Heather Harman led all scorers with 19 points while Briana Jones and Hailey Diestelkamp added 15 points.
“I was really pleased with our energy and effort,” said Drury head coach Molly Miller. “I’m proud of the contribution we got from our bench. With the cushion we had and having to play three games in three days, we needed them to play well and they stepped up.
Dressler’s game also came as no surprise to Miller. “Hannah has been playing with a chip on her shoulder late for the last few weeks,” she said. “She’s played like she wants to win a second championship in her career. I’m proud of her tenaciousness and she deserves this.”
The Lady Panthers led 27-17 at the end of the first quarter and blew open the lead to take a 47-28 advantage to the locker room at halftime. Bellarmine only got as close as 15 in the second half while Drury led by as much as 31 midway through the fourth quarter.
Drury forced Bellarmine into 22 turnovers and the Lady Panthers got five steals from Diestelkamp. Drury out-rebounded Bellarmine 41-32 and had 17 offensive boards.
The Knights were led by Raven Merriweather with 11 points.
Drury will play for their fourth GLVC tournament championship in program history. The last won the league tournament in 2015. The Lady Panthers also won the GLVC postseason in 2010 and 2008. Drury will be playing in the championship game for the sixth time in team history.
