SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Drury Lady Panthers outscored Missouri-St. Louis 33-6 in the second quarter on their way to a 69-55 win over the Tritons on Thursday at the O’Reilly Family Event Center in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener for both teams.
Ninth-ranked Drury improved to 6-1 and 1-0 in the GLVC while UMSL dropped to 3-2 and 0-1 in the league.
The Lady Panthers led 13-11 after the first quarter, then pulled away from the Tritons with an 8-0 run and kept rolling on their way to a 46-17 lead at halftime. Drury limited UMSL to just eight field goal attempts in the second quarter and forced 20 first-half turnovers from the Tritons. UMSL ended the game with 32 turnovers. The Lady Panthers shot 80 percent from the floor in the second period hitting 12 of 15 shots.
“I was pleased with our second quarter effort,” said Drury head coach Molly Miller. “Our energy dropped off in the second half but we really just need to be more consistent and it’s something we need to focus on regardless of what the score is.”
Lexie Vaught was Drury’s only double-figure scorer as the sophomore from Crane had 11 points. Hailey Diestelkamp had nine points, seven rebounds, and five steals.
Arielle Jackson led the Tritons with a game-high 16 points and Alex LaPorta had 10 points and 15 rebounds for UMSL.
The Lady Panthers are home again on Saturday as they host McKendree. Game time is at 1 p.m. at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
