INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Drury Lady Panthers bounced back from a Thursday loss with an 80-60 win at Indianapolis in Nicoson Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday.
Drury improved to 16-2 and 7-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. With the win, the sixth-ranked Lady Panthers avoided back-to-back losses, something they have not had in two years. Indianapolis dropped to 6-13 and 3-6 in the GLVC.
Drury jumped out to a 16-4 lead midway through the opening quarter, but the Greyhounds cut the margin to a 37-30 score at halftime.
The Lady Panthers offense came back to life in the third quarter, though, outscoring Indianapolis 28-16. Drury built on the lead from there despite having Daejah Bernard and Hailey Diestelkamp pick up their fourth fouls early in the third period.
“It was a good team win,” said Drury head coach Molly Miller. “With Daejah and Hailey on the bench for basically the entire second half, we had to have several players come in off the bench for us, and I was really happy with the performance Emily Parker gave us.”
Parker scored 11 points including a pair of three-pointers.
Drury guard Alice Heinzler led all scorers with 23 points and the senior went 4 for 11 from behind the three-point arc. Diestelkamp added 15 points, six rebounds, and four steals before fouling out and Lucia Fernandez added 12 points.
Taylor Drury had 15 points to lead the Greyhounds.
“We talked to our team about having a bounce-back game coming off of a night like we had on Thursday,” said Miller. “You can either feel sorry for yourself and pout, or you can come back out and make a statement. It was good to have a 20-point win on the road because that is hard to do in the GLVC.”
Hot second half lifts Greyhounds past DU
Indianapolis opened up a double-digit lead over Drury in the second half, and fought off the Panthers for a 91-82 win on Saturday at Nicoson Hall in Indianapolis, Indiana.
The Panthers fell to 12-4 and 5-3 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Greyhounds improved to 11-6 and 5-4 in the league.
Indianapolis led 39-38 at halftime but built a 10-point lead going ahead 69-59 with 8:56 remaining.
Drury fought back and pulled within two, 79-77, on an Allen Billinger three with 2:56 left. The Panthers never got that close again, though, as the Greyhounds responded with free throws and a steal that led to a lay-up.
“I was really proud of the guys that were in the game late,” said Drury head coach Steve Hesser. “That group really gave some great effort in a game where we struggled to give great effort.
“What we need to learn is that there are some non-negotiables when you play on the road in our league like taking care of the ball, or not playing like your pants are on fire. We got away from cutting and moving and ended up trying to create something with the ball isolated.”
Billinger led Drury with a career high 20 points going 6 for 8 from three-point range.
Tate Hall led all scorers with 22 points for the Greyhounds, and teammate Ajay Lawton added 20.