QUINCY, Ill.—The 17th-ranked Drury Lady Panthers opened their Great Lakes Valley Conference schedule with an 81-56 road win at Quincy on Monday night.
The game marked the return to Quincy of Drury’s head coach, Kaci Bailey, who guided the Hawks for two seasons before taking over the Lady Panthers program last spring.
After a flurry of missed shots in the opening five minutes, Drury went on a 15-4 run to end the first quarter, then built a 36-22 lead at halftime. The Lady Panthers led by as much as 27 in the second half before closing out the game to win by 25.
“You could tell we were pressing and panicking early,” said Bailey, speaking of the emotions that ran high on both sides. “We told them to settle down in every time-out and even at halftime, we looked frustrated, but I told them that we’re up 14, to relax, stick to the game plan, and make them work for four quarters. I thought we did that in the second half, and we wore them down.”
Beth Matas Martin, who played two seasons at Quincy and was a First Team All-GLVC selection last year before transferring to Drury, led with a game-high 20 points. Martin added eight rebounds and two steals. Reese Schaaf added 16 points, and Anna Hitt chipped in 14 points with seven boards and five assists.
Drury held the Hawks to 29 percent shooting from the field as Quincy went 21 for 74 and was just 2 for 20 from three-point range. The Lady Panthers owned a 51-38 advantage on the glass.
“We tried to stress rebounding in the first quarter,” added Bailey. “We kept guarding and we boxed out better after the first five minutes. Our bench also came in and did a great job. Saving some minutes for our starters helped as we’ve got two more road games this week.”
The win was Drury’s 13th straight win against Quincy and raised the Lady Panthers record to 6-0 and 1-0 in the league. The Hawks dropped to 1-5 and 1-1 in the conference.
Drury continues their three-game road trip on Thursday when they travel to Lewis for a 5:30 pm game at Romeoville, Illinois.
