QUINCY, Ill.— The number one ranked Drury Lady Panthers outscored Quincy 36-13 in the first quarter and raced to a 112-63 win over the Hawks in Quincy, Illinois on Saturday.
The Lady Panthers stayed unbeaten improving to 27-0 and 18-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. Quincy dropped to 7-19 and 3-15 in the league.
Hailey Diestelkamp registered her fourth straight double-double and her ninth of the season as she led both teams with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The senior from Owensville, Missouri, went 3 for 3 from three-point range, had five steals and three assists.
Paige Robinson added 17 points while Lauren Holmes had 13, Brooke Stanfield chipped in 12, and Daejah Bernard matched a season-high with 10 points. Bernard also contributed five assists and four rebounds.
“Even when we had that gap at the beginning, and had a big lead, I was proud of how hard we continued to play,” said Drury head coach Molly Miller. “In the second half, we showed a lot of energy and effort. You’re going into the second half, knowing that the lead is probably safe, but you have to have an understanding that when your name called, you have to be ready. I thought out bench was able to sustain a lot of that energy.”
The Lady Panthers held 58-32 at halftime and went up by as much as 49 late in the game.
Laney Lantz led Quincy with 16 points.
Drury surpassed 100 points for the sixth time this season and for the fifth time in their last eight games. They forced 39 Quincy turnovers and shot 53 percent from the field, going 39 for 74 while hitting 11 of their 24 three-point attempts.
With the win, Drury clinched the best record in the GLVC. It marks the fifth straight season the Lady Panthers will end the conference regular season with either the best league record in the division or overall. The GLVC’s point rating system, however, will determine the seeding in the postseason Drury remains in first place with two games remaining in the regular season.
The Lady Panthers will play their final two regular season games at home and will host William Jewell at 5:45 pm on Thursday in the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
