Ed Beach (Drury Sports Information) LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In a highly anticipated battle of two nationally ranked opponents, it turned out to be no contest. The ninth ranked Drury Lady Panthers jumped out to an 8-0 lead one minute into the game and rolled to an 83-72 win over 15th ranked Bellarmine in Louisville, Kentucky on Thursday night.
Lady Panthers forward Briana Jones had a career high 25 points to lead all scorers. The senior and San Antonio, Texas native went 9 for 13 from the floor and 3 for 4 from three-point range. Heather Harman added 20 points for Drury.
“Our energy was huge from the get-go,” said Drury head coach Molly Miller. “We had good open looks and we made the extra pass. Our offensive was unselfish.
“I was so pleased with our defense,” she added. “This team is really starting to click on the defensive end.”
Drury connected on 10 three-pointers going 10 for 20 from behind the arc. The Lady Panthers owned a 29-10 lead at the end of the first quarter and were up 49-31 at halftime. Drury led by as much as 26, 77-51, in the fourth quarter.
Whitney Hartlage led the Knights with 24 points.
Drury’s 20th win of the season marks the fourth consecutive year the Lady Panthers have won at least 20 games and the program’s 14th 20-win season in their 17-year history.
The Lady Panthers continue their road trip on Saturday and play the first place team in the GLVC-East. Drury faces Southern Indiana for a 1 p.m. tipoff on Saturday in Evansville, Indiana.
