SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — The ninth-ranked Drury Lady Panthers Monday night kicked off their postseason in exactly the same way they wrapped up the regular season…playing shutdown defense.
The Lady Panthers yielded an opening tip basket to William Jewell, then went on a 26-0 scoring binge and never looked back, downing the Cardinals 97-51 in the first round of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament at the O’Reilly Family Event Center.
For the third consecutive game, Drury’s opening quarter defensive dominance settled the issue, as for the third game in a row, they limited their opponent to single-digit scoring in the opening ten minutes of play.
After leading 30-4 after one period, the Lady Panthers went to the halftime locker room up 53-18 and cruised home to improve to 28-4 on the season.
“We’ve been really, really good in the first quarter lately, getting off to good starts and when you do those things, you can kind of go play and take some chances, especially on defense,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan.
The Lady Panthers were paced in scoring for the third game in a row by graduate student Kaylee DaMitz, who finished with a game-high 22 points. Junior Alana Findley finished with 14 points and had 11 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season.
Senior Paige Robinson, sophomore Allie Clevenger and freshman Anna Hitt had 10 points each.
Drury forced the Cardinals into 32 turnovers on the night while committing just 10 and easily won the rebounding battle 48-25.
“I think this group is always on a mission,” added Eagan. “Obviously, when you get to the postseason, you’re a little more dialed in and we have such veteran group that when you talk about playing for championships, it’s not a sometimes things it has to be an all-the-time thing.”
Skyler Boylan, with 14 points, led the way for William Jewell, who concluded their season at 1-25 overall.
With the win, the Lady Panthers advance to the quarterfinal round of the GLVC Tournament and will face the winner of the tournament’s first-round game between Rockhurst and Lindenwood at 2:30 pm Thursday at the First Community Arena in Edwardsville, Illinois.
