ST. CHARLES, Mo. – The Drury Lady Panthers used a 14-0 run that started late in the third quarter to spark them to their seventh-straight Great Lakes Valley Conference championship with a 71-52 win over Lewis at Hyland Arena in St. Charles, Missouri, on Sunday.
The win is Drury’s 26th straight and sends them to the NCAA-II Tournament with a 30-1 record. They also became only the third team in league history to complete an undefeated regular season and win the conference tournament in the same year.
Lewis, the number two seed in the tournament, fell to 21-10.
The Flyers owned a 31-28 halftime lead on the Lady Panthers, then expanded it taking a 39-32 lead with 6:30 left in the third quarter.
A three-point play by Mia Henderson two minutes later, though, sparked the Drury rally. The Lady Panthers surged to a 49-45 lead at the end of the third period and they held the Flyers to just seven points in the final quarter to win by 19.
“Lewis is a great team and they made us work for everything,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. “They’re talented and well-coached. I thought we wore them out and made a few adjustments at halftime. I thought if we just played a little more solid in the half-court, then some good things would happen for us, and that was the case.”
Terrion Moore, named the GLVC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player after the game, finished a team-high 17 points. Mia Henderson, also named to the All-Tournament Team, had 11 points, nine rebounds and seven steals. Kaylee DaMitz-Holt, a third member of the Drury squad named to the All-Tournament list, finished with 14 points and three steals.
Stephanie Hart led Lewis with 17 points. Lily Corrier had 10 points off the bench.
Drury’s league championship is the program’s 12th conference title, their 10th in the GLVC, and their seventh in a row in the league.
“It takes a village to do this,” said Eagan. “It takes an athletics department and lots of people on campus. It takes our parents, our fans, and we’ve got great kids – they really buy into what we do here. I also think I have the best staff in the nation.”
Drury will advance to the NCAA-II Tournament with the automatic bid as the conference champion. The Lady Panthers will find out their opening-round opponent and bracket in the Midwest Regional Sunday night at approximately 9:30 pm (Central).
