BOLIVAR, Mo.—The Drury Lady Panthers won their tenth-straight game, improved to 14-1 and 4-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with a 77-60 win at Southwest Baptist on Tuesday night in Bolivar, Missouri.
Drury, ranked number one in the nation in the NCAA-II coaches’ poll released earlier in the day, closed the third quarter on a 14-2 run to take a 63-43 lead into the fourth quarter.
Lady Panthers guard Payton Richards hit a pair of three-point baskets during Drury’s late third-period surge and finished the game with a career-high 22 points. The graduate student from West Plains went 8 for 10 from the field and was perfect from behind the arc, going 6 for 6 from long-range.
“Payton waited until the game kind of came to her from three-point range and she wound up hitting some big shots,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. “She’s been in these situations and played in big-time games. When we need baskets, I can run some things for her, and she can knock them down.”
Drury opened the game by outscoring the Bearcats 24-4 in the first quarter, and they held SBU to just one made field goal in the opening 10 minutes. But Southwest Baptist scrapped to get within eight midway through the third quarter and trailed 49-41 with 5:06 left in the period.
“I thought our execution was phenomenal in the first quarter,” said Eagan. “We made some adjustments when we needed to, and that was good to see. We were down a few kids, but I thought we had several people step up for us tonight.”
The Lady Panthers were without the reigning NCAA-II Player of the Year, Paige Robinson, who is out with a hand and wrist injury, in addition to starting forward Azia Lynch and three others with injuries and COVID protocols.
Alana Findley added 19 points, while Kaylee DaMitz chipped in nine with five assists.
Kyleigh Vaught had 21 points to lead Southwest Baptist.
Drury forced 27 turnovers against the Bearcats, including 10 in the opening quarter.
The Lady Panthers play their third game of the week on Thursday when they travel to Illinois Springfield for a 5:30 pm game.
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