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Posted: Thursday, 10 January 2013 9:58PM

Lady Panthers Fall Late At No. 5 Indianapolis 64-59



Indianapolis, IN. -- Drury threw a major scare into nationally fifth-ranked Indianapolis before falling short at the end in a 64-59 loss to the Greyhounds in Great Lakes Valley Conference play Thursday night from Nicoson Hall.

Bethanie Funderburk had 26 points and Emilie Gray added 19 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for her first career double-double for the Lady Panthers, who fell to 6-6 overall and 0-4 in the GLVC.

Kristin Turner had 22 points to lead Indianapolis, which improved to 10-1 overall and 3-0 in the GLVC, but had to fight off a strong Drury charge down the stretch to hold on for the win.

Turner's 3-pointer with 3:30 to go gave the Greyhounds a 57-47 lead, but the Lady Panthers fought back behind Funderburk to throw a major scare into Uindy.

Funderburk's follow of her own 3-point miss with 16 seconds left cut the Greyhounds lead to three (60-57) with 16 seconds left, and after Turner hit two free throws to push it back to five, Funderburk scored on a drive with six seconds left to cut it to 62-59.

But Turner made two more free tosses with 4.9 seconds left to push it back to five, and Drury didn't answer down the stretch for the final margin.

"Our girls are disappointed, but I told them the last two games (including a Saturday loss to Wisconsin-Parkside), we've gotten better against good competition," Drury coach Steve Harold said. "We're not looking for moral victories, but a couple times late there if we'd just executed better ... our issue right now is fundamentals, and we've got to be fundamentally much sharper than what we are playing."

The Lady Panthers, who led 35-34 at the half - their only lead of the game - shot just 36 percent from fhe field, and were 0 of 9 from 3-point range in the second half (and 5 of 21 for the game).

Drury won the boards 39-34, the first time this season the Lady Panthers have lost a game in which they won the rebounding battle.

The Lady Panthers continue their two-game GLVC road swing at Saint Joseph's in a 3:15 p.m. start Saturday in Rensselaer, Ind. 

"We can't let this game affect the next," Harold said. "We can't limp into St. Joe's feeling sorry for ourselves. We've just got to build upon the positives that are happening right now and find a way to get it done."

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