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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd of 1,804 on Hiland Dairy Kid’s Day and without their leading scorer, the third-ranked Drury Lady Panthers easily turned back the Harris-Stowe State Hornets 103-46 on Thursday afternoon at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
With senior all-American Paige Robinson out of the lineup with a foot injury, the Lady Panthers utilized their depth in breaking away from the Hornets early, en route to their largest point total of the season.
Senior Kaylee Damitz poured in fifteen of her game-high 20 points in the first quarter as Drury raced to a 35-19 advantage over Harris-Stowe after the opening ten minutes.
The Lady Panthers, now 11-1 for the season, went on to outscore the visitors 27-7 in the second quarter and were in command 62-26 at halftime.
“When you’re playing a team as athletic as them and who have the ability to get to the rim, you have to make sure you stay the course, and I thought our kids did a good job of that today,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan.
In addition to Damitz, the Lady Panthers placed six other players in double-figure scoring for the game. Graduate student Azia Lynch and sophomore Allie Clevenger dropped in 14 points each.
Graduate student Terrion Moore and junior Alana Findley added 12 apiece, while graduate student Payton Richards and freshman Anna Hitt contributed 11 to the win.
“With Paige being out, you kind of wonder what it’s going to look like because she is such a great scorer for us,” added Eagan. “But I think we really settled well into our roles today.”
The Lady Panthers outrebounded the Hornets 55-37, with Findley grabbing a dozen boards, giving her her fourth double-double effort of the season.
Surina Finnie had 11 points to pace Harris-Stowe, who dropped to 2-6 on the season with the loss.
The Lady Panthers will be idle through finals exam week and will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 18, when they host nationally-ranked Michigan Tech in a 5:30 pm game at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
