ASHLAND, Ohio. – The Drury Lady Panthers endured another defensive slugfest against Missouri-St. Louis to advance to the second round of the NCAA-II Tournament with a 65-49 win over the Tritons on Friday at Kates Gym in Ashland, Ohio.
Drury, ranked fifth nationally and seeded third in the Midwest Regional, improved to 32-4. UMSL, seeded sixth, ended their season with a 23-6 record.
After leading 14-13 at the end of the first quarter, the Lady Panthers held the Tritons to just seven points in the second quarter and claimed a 33-20 lead at halftime. Drury then got a third-quarter spark from Kaylee DaMitz, who scored 12 points in the period as the Lady Panthers stretched their lead to 19 points, 50-31. The senior from Preston, Missouri, went 6 for 7 from the field and 2 for 2 from behind the three-point line.
Drury led by as much as 21 in the fourth quarter, but UMSL rallied as pulled as close as 12 in the closing minutes, but the Lady Panthers hung on to advance beyond the opening round for the 15th time in program history.
“I thought, defensively, we picked up right where we left off in the conference tournament,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. “Our kids knew their personnel, knew the game plan going in, and executed it really well today.”
Drury held the Tritons to just 39 percent shooting as Missouri-St. Louis went 19 for 49 from the field and only 4 for 18 from three-point range. The Lady Panthers also forced 19 turnovers while committing 12.
Drury shot 48 percent, going 25 for 52, and connected on 6 of their 14 three-point attempts.
Paige Robinson added 14 points for Drury and became the second player in program history to surpass 2,000 points in her career. The senior Bethany, Illinois, ended the afternoon with 2,001 career points, joining only Hailey Diestelkamp in the program’s 2,000 point club. Diestelkamp scored 2,321 points during her career from 2016-20.
Fifth-year senior Azia Lynch scored 10 points, had seven rebounds, and provided critical defensive play against UMSL star center Kiara Stewart for Drury in the win.
“Stewart is just so talented, and she shoots 60 percent from the field, so it’s hard to play her one-on-one down there,” added Eagan. “We knew we needed a lot of attention around her. And what about Aziz Lynch? She made it really tough on Stewart and, most importantly, did such a great job of blocking her out.”
Stewart finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, but just three on the offensive glass. Alex LaPorta also put in 13 points for Tritons who were playing in their first national tournament since 2014.
UMSL had handed Drury one of their four losses on the season in a 75-65 win over the Lady Panthers on Feb. 4 in St. Louis. Drury then defeated Missouri-St. Louis by 10, 64-54, on March 5 in the semifinals of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament, but their 64 points were a season-low for the Lady Panthers. Drury managed just 65 on Friday, but it proved to be enough to advance with a 16-point win.
Drury will play the winner of second-seeded and sixth-ranked Grand Valley State and number seven seed Wayne State in the Midwest Regional semifinals on Saturday at 4 pm (Central) in Ashland, Ohio.
