Senior forward Lindsay Ballweg scored nine points and junior point guard Ja'Nell Jones added six points, five assists and four steals in one half of basketball as the Drury Lady Panthers ran past the Drury Alumni 44-29 during their annual exhibition Saturday morning at Weiser Gym.
In a unique twist this time, the teams played just one half before switching to several mini-competitions such as free-throw and 3-point shooting contests during what would have been the second half. The exhibition culiminated in a series of contests for the fans, including Halloween costume judging, baby crawls and raffle giveaways.
"We just wanted to do something a little different this time," Drury coach Steve Harold said. "We got an entertaining half of basketball in the books, and then we hope the fans enjoyed the program from there as well."
Senior post Caitlin Shoude added eight pionts and six rebounds and senior forward Melanie Oliver had eight points, four boards and two steals for the Lady Panthers, who return all five starters from last season's 19-10 finisher that made its seventh straight trip to the NCAA-II Tournament.
Sophomore post Erica Groose also had six points and four rebounds for Drury.
The Alumni were led by six points each from Allison Regier and Jill (Curry) Regier, who also grabbed five rebounds each.
Drury will play another exhibition game next Saturday at NCAA Division I and Southeastern Conference power Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. in Nashville. The Lady Panthers open the season November 16 at Grand Valley State.
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