The Drury Lady Panthers fought off a late rally from Findlay to advance to the second round of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional tournament with a 76-72 win on Friday at Kates Gymnasium in Ashland, Ohio.
Drury improved to 30-2 and reached the 30-win mark for the second straight season and for the fourth time in program history. Findlay, seeded seventh in the region, ended their year with a 22-8 record.
Alice Heinzler led the Lady Panthers with 21 points while Hailey Diestelkamp had her eighth double-double of the season scoring 14 points and grabbing 15 rounds.
The sophomore from Owensville played a key role down the stretch with five points, three rebounds and a steal in the final 2:37 as the Oilers threatened late.
Trailing by 10 early in the fourth quarter, Findlay put together a 7-0 run and chopped Drury’s lead to two with 2:23 remaining after a lay-up by Elissa Ellerbrock. The Oilers had two opportunities to tie or take a lead with a three but missed on a pair of perimeter shots.
Free throws from Diestelkamp and Heinzler kept the game out of reach from the Oilers.
Drury out-rebounded Findlay 38-33 and the Lady Panthers grabbed 18 offensive boards. Drury shot 41 percent from the field hitting 28 of 69 shots while the Oilers shot 54 percent going 28 for 54.
“If you don’t rebound, you don’t win games,” said Drury head coach Molly Miller. “Findlay is a team that takes care of the basketball. We knew that going in so to force 22 turnovers and score 21 points off of them was huge for us.
“I thought the stat of the game was our 42 points in the paint. Azia Lynch and Lucia Fernandez gave us a lift in the second half when we needed it and helped get our offense going.”
“Those second-chance points killed us,” said Findlay head coach Jim Wiedie. “It was something like 22-2 on those. Their points off of turnovers hurt, too. When you see a team that presses like that, you’re going to turn it over some. But when you look at those numbers and think that we only lost by four, if we could have cleaned that up just a little, it might have been a different outcome.”
Ellerbrock led Findlay with 16 points while Haley Horstman had 15. Anna Hintz and Lynsey Engelbrecht both chipped in 14 points for the Oilers.
Heather Harman and Azia Lynch both added 12 points for Drury.
Friday’s win gives Drury an opening round victory in the NCAA-II tournament for the third straight year and for the 12th time in the 18-year history of the program. The Lady Panthers are playing in their 15th national tournament.
Drury will play fellow GLVC member Lewis in the second round on Saturday. The sixth-seeded Flyers defeated number three seed Southern Indiana 72-64 on Friday. Tipoff for Saturday’s game is at 4 p.m. in Ashland, Ohio.
