CHARLES, Mo.— The Lady Panthers pulled away from Lindenwood in the second half to start the year 2-0 as they picked up a 110-69 victory over the Lions on Sunday at Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Missouri.
Lindenwood, a team that was scheduled to play the Lady Panthers in the opening round of last year’s NCAA-II tournament before it was canceled by the coronavirus pandemic, fell to 0-1.
Drury led 49-40 at halftime and owned an 11 point in the third quarter before Lindenwood chopped the margin to five, 65-60, with 2:52 left in the period. Kelsey Winfrey hit a three-pointer on the next possession, and the Lady Panthers closed out the quarter on a 12-3 run.
The momentum carried over into the fourth period as Drury scored 23 unanswered points to take a 98-63 lead and closed out the game to win by 41. The Lady Panthers outscored Lindenwood 33-6 in the fourth quarter.
“I think our kids did a great job of adjusting when we told them to make adjustments, especially in the second half,” said head coach Amy Eagan, who is off to a 2-0 start as the Lady Panthers head coach. “I’m really proud of how they stayed the course. We’re fortunate to have a deep bench, we were able to play a lot of kids, and I think we wore them down.”
Paige Robinson led Drury and with a career-high with 37 points. The junior from Bethany, Illinois, had 24 points by halftime and added another 15 in the second half going 12 for 19 from the field, 6 for 8 from three-point range, and 7 for 7 from the free throw. With her 19th point in the second quarter, Robinson became the 18th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points.
Winfrey finished 14 points, Azia Lynch added 13, and Katie Kirkhart chipped in 12 for Drury.
Julia Ruzevich led the Lions with 23 points and scored 21 of them in the first half. Hennessey Handy added 18 for Lindenwood.
The Lady Panthers forced Lindenwood into 28 turnovers, and nine different Drury players were credited with steals.
The win was Drury’s 34th straight victory dating back to last season. The Lady Panthers finished the previous year 32-0. It was also Drury’s 68th straight regular season win, their 51st straight GLVC regular season win, and was their 25th consecutive road victory.
Next up for the Lady Panthers is a game on Thursday against Southwest Baptist at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
