KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Drury Lady Panthers came into the contest ranked 2nd nationally. Rockhurst was coming off a win in their previous game. It was a slow start for Drury but a big third quarter helped the Lady Panthers take down the Hawks 80-54. The slow start for Drury left them trailing 37-36 at halftime. The Lady Panthers have been strong second-half performers this season and showed why after outscoring Rockhurst 22-10 in the third period. The run was led by Drury’s Alana Findley who scored 14 of the 22 points in the quarter.
The Lady Panthers have now won 16 straight and rest at 20-1 on the season and 13-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Rockhurst dropped to 9-11 and 4-8 in the league.
Drury Lady Panthers Head Coach Amy Eagan reflected on the game, “Obviously, I’m happy that we won. I’m excited for our kids and our program. That’s win number 20 and we are in January, I think they need to understand how special that is, even though we have goals that are higher than that”.
The spark plug of today’s game was Alana Findley. The Senior out of Fair Grove Missouri was limited to four minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls. Findley made a quick impact upon her return to the game and ended with 18 points.
Coach Eagan remarked of Findley, “She can just play. We’ve seen it over and over and over with her, her ability to score, how she alters the game defensively, her rebounding. She just has a complete game about her”.
The fourth quarter remained a tight contest as both teams traded baskets throughout the period. Drury was able to reach a 12-point lead at one point in the quarter. Rockhurst ended on a small run of their own and cut the deficit to seven by the final buzzer. Kaylee DaMitz-Holt led the Panthers with 20 points and 3 steals while Terrion Moore scored 10 points and added three blocks.
Mollie Hummell had 17 points for Rockhurst and also added 8 rebounds. Macie Conway and Alli Kamies dropped 14 and 13 points to round out the major scoring effort of the Hawks.
Drury takes the hardwood again on Thursday when they travel to Missouri S&T for a 5:30 pm game in Rolla, Missouri.
