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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — For the second time in less than 24 hours, the ninth-ranked Drury Lady Panthers used a dramatic first quarter performance to claim a decisive 92-66 win over Illinois-Springfield at the O’Reilly Family Event Center during Senior Day activities Saturday to wrap up the regular portion of their season schedule and finish a perfect 15-0 at home.
One day after holding their opponent (Quincy) to just five points in the first period, the Lady Panthers limited the Prairie Stars to eight points the first ten minutes of play, while pouring in 34 in the period, giving them a lead Illinois-Springfield could not recover from.
The win moved Drury to 27-4 overall and to 17-3 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play.
“We can be so good defensively when we choose to be,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. “It’s hard when you have the lead to keep your focus sometimes, and we’re really trying, but yes our first quarters lately have been fun.”
Graduate student Kaylee DaMitz, for the second day in a row, led the way in scoring for Drury, finishing with 25 points, hitting 8 of 10 shots from the floor, including 4 of 5 from three-point range.
Four others joined her in double figures, with senior Paige Robinson hitting for 16 points. Junior Alana Findley finished with 14, graduate students Terrion Moore and Azia Lynch added 13 and 11 respectively.
“As I’ve said before, when Paige came back (from injury), it really freed Kaylee up so much and allowed her to relax a little bit more and do what’s she’s good at,” added Eagan.
Drury finished just under fifty percent for the game from the field (49.3) on 34 of 69 shooting and was eleven of twenty-one from three-point range for fifty-two percent.
The Prairie Stars (16-10, 11-9 GLVC_ were lead in scoring by Liz Uhl, who finished with 20 points.
Next up for the Lady Panthers will be a first round game in the GLVC post-season tournament. They will host a still-to-be-determined opponent in a 6 pm contest Monday, February 28th at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
