CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Drury Lady Panthers outscored Illinois 19-6 in the fourth quarter and took down the Fighting Illini 66-60 in an exhibition game at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois on Sunday.
The Lady Panthers erased a seven-point deficit going in to the final period after trailing 54-47. Drury shut out Illinois for the final 2:41 of regulation and stifled the Illini to 2 for 17 shooting from the field in the final quarter.
“I’m proud of the girls,” said Drury head coach Molly Miller. “We fought back and could have tightened up late in the game but we turned up the pressure.”
Drury pulled even with 2:15 left tying the game at 60-60 after a lay-up by Adrienne Horn. A Daejah Bernard free throw put the Lady Panthers up by one moments later and Paige Wilson’s three-pointer gave Drury a 64-60 advantage with 53 seconds left.
Wilson finished with 24 points to lead all scorers. The senior from Bartlesville, Oklahoma was 6 for 11 from three-point range and 8 for 15 from the field. Freshman Daejah Bernard had 14 points, five assists and three steals while fellow freshman Hailey Diestelkamp came off the bench to score eight points and pull down a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Lady Panthers owned a 49-35 rebound advantage in the game.
Alex Wittinger had 15 points and 13 rebounds to lead Illinois.
“We talked about carry over in the locker room,” said Miller. “We learned a lot today about the fight we have and what we went through. There’s still a lot this team has to learn and areas where we have to get better. But we need to carry this into next weekend when we head to Nashville and our first home game after that against SBU.”
It marks the first time Drury has defeated an NCAA-I opponent after exhibition losses at Oral Roberts in 2011 and at Vanderbilt in 2009.
Drury was without senior guard Alice Heinzler who missed the game with a foot injury.
The Lady Panthers open the regular season on Friday in the Pops Duncan Classic in Nashville, Tennessee. Drury takes on Kentucky Wesleyan at 5 p.m. on Friday, then the host team, Trevecca Nazarene, on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Lady Panthers play their first home game on Nov. 15 against Southwest Baptist in the Highway 13 Catfight presented by Bank of Bolivar.
