SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — In a game delayed one day due to inclement weather, the ninth-ranked Drury Lady Panthers were relentless on defense, completely shutting down the Quincy Hawks from the opening tip and rolled to an easy 72-45 win Friday afternoon at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
The Lady Panthers limited Quincy to one made shot in the opening quarter and to just five points in the period. They then held the Hawks to one more completed shot in the second quarter and four points, in route to a commanding 34-9 halftime lead as the visitors were just 2 of 22 shooting from the field the opening 20 minutes.
“We’ve been pushing them really hard and been very picky in practice about our defensive stuff and I thought you saw a lot of that in the way we played in the first half,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan.
Drury, which improved to 26-4 on the season and 16-3 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, was paced in scoring by graduate student Kaylee Damitz who finished with 19 points. Senior Paige Robinson added 18 points, while junior Alana Findley added 10 points and had eight rebounds, as the Lady Panthers out boarded the Hawks 32-27.
“We really don’t worry about our offense,” added Eagan. “When you do execute defensively like we did, it allows you to relax and get some good quality shots, and when you play that way, you get steals and some advantages like four on three or three on two.”
Dami Adeyinka was the lone Quincy player to reach double figures, closing with ten points as the Hawks dropped to 8-19 for the season and to 4-15 in GLVC play.
The Lady Panthers will close out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 26th, when they host Illinois-Springfield on Senior Day, in a 1 pm game at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
