INDIANAPOLIS - Drury's Lady Panthers will seek a split of their Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division swing when they take on unbeaten and nationally second-ranked Indianapolis on Saturday.
Tipoff is at noon (CST) between the Lady Panthers (18-5, 10-2 in the GLVC) and the Greyhounds (22-0, 13-0). Drury will be looking to bounce back from Thursday's 66-62 loss at Northern Kentucky, while UIndy pushed its school-record winning streak to 22 games with a 97-50 thrashing of visiting Rockhurst.
Drury leads the all-time series with the Greyhounds 5-0, including a 74-52 decision at Weiser Gym last season.
The Lady Panthers rallied from a nine-point deficit in the final four minutes at NKU on Thursday, and had three shots to take the lead inside the final 1:33, but couldn't get the big bucket to fall. Ja'Nell Jones scored a season-high 19 points and Melanie Oliver added 15 points and 15 rebounds for DU, which shot a season-worst .396 from the field (19 of 48) and were just 3-for-12 from 3-point range on the heels of a 3-for-15 effort on treys in the win at Maryville last Saturday. The Lady Panthers entered this week leading NCAA-II in both FG and 3-point FG percentages.
The Greyhounds of coach LeAnn Freeland made 13 3-pointers and shot 56 percent from the field in Thursday's win over Rockhurst, in which Indy was able to rest several regulars after building a 48-19 lead at halftime.
Jessica Canary, a 6-0 senior guard, led the way with 22 points (including 5 of 8 shooting on treys) while Samanta Meissel, a 6-2 junior who leads the GLVC in scoring (20.0 ppg), added 18 points in 16 minutes.
Canary adds 14.3 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds for the Greyhounds, who lead the GLVC in scoring defense (allowing just 53.6 points per game) and have won by an average of 24.5 points, also best in the league and just ahead of Drury (15.0 average margin).
Drury will be trying to avoid consecutive losses for the first time since late November, when they fell to Washburn at home and lost to Central Missouri in the SBU Thanksgiving Classic on a half-court buzzer-beater.
Saturday's game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM (
www.jock987.com).
(NOTE: UIndy had planned to carry the game through a free, live video webcast, but announced Saturday morning those plans had been scrapped due to impassable road conditions for the crew's satellite truck.)
Game Notes