Ed Beach (Drury Sports Information) ASHLAND, Ohio. – The Drury Lady Panthers advanced to the second round of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional with a 75-57 win over Bellarmine on Friday at Kates Gym in Ashland, Ohio.
Drury (29-3), seeded second in the region and ranked fifth nationally in NCAA-II, will play third seeded Saginaw Valley State on Saturday at 4 p.m. (central time).
Leading 36-30 at halftime, the Lady Panthers forced 11 turnovers from Bellarmine in the third quarter and outscored the Knights 18-9 in the period to open up a 54-39 lead. Drury maintained a double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter.
“Everything seemed to be rolling off the rim for us and we had to rely on our defense,” said Drury head coach Molly Miller. “Holding them to nine points in the third quarter was big and we needed to get their turnover total up.”
Bellarmine ended the game with 27 turnovers and the Lady Panthers scored 28 points off Knights’ miscues.
Paige Wilson led Drury with 16 points. The senior from Bartlesville, Oklahoma hit four three-pointers and was 6 for 11 from the field in the game. Daejah Bernard added 14 points, six rebounds, and six assists while Heather Harman had 10 points.
Bellarmine led most of the first quarter before the Lady Panthers went on a 6-0 run to take a 19-17 lead at the end of the opening period. The Knights pulled even early in the second quarter but Drury went on another run outscoring the Knights 8-2 in a three-minute span and Alyssa Owens’ 18-footer at the buzzer of the first half gave the Lady Panthers a 36-30 lead at the intermission.
Raven Merriweather led Bellarmine with a game-high 18 points and eight rebounds. Sarah Galvin added 15 for the Knights who ended their season with a 22-8 record.
“Bellarmine is a great team with a lot of seniors who had a lot to play for today,” said Miller added. “I give them a lot of credit for how they came out and how well they played.”
Friday’s win marked Drury’s third win of the season against Knights. The Lady Panthers won at Bellarmine 83-72 on Feb. 2 and 87-62 on March 4 in the GLVC semifinals in Evansville, Indiana.
The trip to the regional semifinals marks the second straight year Drury has advanced to that round and the national field of 32 teams. They are now 11-3 in their team history in the opening round of the national tournament.
The Lady Panthers will face a Saginaw Valley State (23-7) team that advanced with a 70-66 win over Lewis in the tournament’s opening round. Saturday’s 4 p.m. tipoff will be the first of two regional semifinal games.
