SPRINGFIELD, Mo.– The second-ranked Drury Lady Panthers returned to action from the holiday break Sunday afternoon, and despite playing shorthanded, were able to easily dispatch the William Jewell Cardinals, 90-42 at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
Minus more than a third of their scoring production, with senior Paige Robinson and graduate student Azia Lynch out of the starting lineup with an injury and COVID protocol, respectively, Drury got effort up and down their roster, in rolling to their ninth consecutive win and improving to 13-1 overall and 3-0 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
Senior Kaylee Damitz paced a balanced scoring attack for Drury, finishing with a game-high 20 points in picking up the slack for the Lady Panthers.
“I always feel anytime you can get some real game reps, that makes you a little more of a veteran team,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. “Our young kids haven’t had that opportunity because of our non-conference schedule this year, but was really glad today they were able to do that.”
The Lady Panthers grabbed control early in the contest, forcing the Cardinals into twenty-one first-half turnovers while limiting them to just six first-quarter points in route to a 39-22 halftime advantage, then coasted home from there.
“I thought our defense was really good today,” added Eagan. “We forced them into a lot of turnovers, and we played really smart without fouling, and that was big.”
Junior Alana Findley finished with 18 points for the Lady Panthers, while freshman Anna Hitt had a career-best 15 points and senior Terrion Moore dropped in 13, giving Drury four players in double figures.
Katie Knock, with 17 points, led the way for the Cardinals as they dropped to 1-8 overall and now 0-3 in GLVC action.
Drury forced the Cardinals into 34 turnovers for the game and won the rebounding battle 39-28.Â
The Lady Panthers return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 4th, when they travel to Southwest Baptist University for a 5:30 pm Great Lakes Valley Conference meeting.
The team will be without leading scorer Paige Robinson. The reigning NCAA-II women’s Player of the Year is out until mid-February with a hand and wrist injury.
