Drury University

HOUGHTON, Mich. - Drury's Lady Panthers will begin their quest for a third Elite Eight trip in the program's 10-year history when they take on Southern Indiana in an 11 am.. (CST) matchup Friday here in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional.

The Lady Panthers (26-6), riding an eight-game winning streak, are the third seed in the eight-team field, while Southern Indiana (22-8) is seeded sixth. 

The NCAA sent out word late Thursday night of the original Midwest Regional bracket undergoing a major change due to No. 5 seed Findlay's inability to arrive in Houghton (heavy fog) as scheduled on Thursday. 

As a result, three games will be played on Friday - Drury-USI, No. 2 seed Indianapolis vs. No. 7 seed Northern Michigan at 1:30 p.m. (CST) and host/top-seed Michigan Tech vs. No. 8 seed Northern Kentucky at 5 p.m., but Findlay will now take on No. 4 seed Wisconsin-Parkside at noon (CST) on Saturday in the only game scheduled for that day.

The original Saturday regional semifinals have now been pushed back to 12:30 and 3 p.m. (CST) on Sunday, with the regional championship game moved from Monday to Tuesday night at 6 p.m. (CST).

The regional winner will advance to St. Joseph, Mo. - where Drury made its first Elite Eight appearance, advancing all the way to the national title game in 2004 - March 24-27.

All seven games of the Midwest Regional will be available for viewing in a free webcast courtesy of Michigan Tech, and available by clicking this link. The game can also be heard live on JOCK 98.7 FM (www.jock987.com), with John Miller calling the action.

The Lady Panthers go into their eighth straight NCAA-II Tournament appearance on quite a roll, having captured their second Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament championship by beating Wisconsin-Parkside 68-63 last Sunday in Springfield, Ill.

Now DU draws another GLVC opponent in the Screaming Eagles, who have played just one game since Feb. 22, a 56-54 loss to Lewis in Evansville on Feb. 28 in the quarterfinals of the GLVC Tournament, a setback that was USI's first in 15 home games this season.

Drury defeated the Screaming Eagles 70-51 at Weiser Gym on Feb. 9 in their lone meeting this season. In that contest, Lindsay Ballweg scored 21 points and Melanie Oliver added 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Lady Panthers, who were on top 32-25 at halftime after outscoring USI 16-5 in the final 5:30 of the first half.

The Screaming Eagles trailed by four (50-46) with just under eight minutes left, but DU finished the game on a 20-5 run to break it open. Rinesha Soaper had 18 points off the bench and Amie Newhart added 11 points to pace USI. Ellen Young, a 5-5 junior, averages 15.1 points while Newhart, a 5-6 junior, adds 12.0 points to lead the Screaming Eagles.

The senior Ballweg, the GLVC Tournament Most Outstanding Player and named to the Daktronics All-Midwest Region First Team on Wednesday, averages 18.5 points to lead Drury, while sophomore guard Katie Pritchard adds 13.9 points and senior forward Melanie Oliver chips in with 12.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. Oliver needs just 10 rebounds Friday to surpass former DU star Amanda Newton and become the Lady Panthers' career leader. 

Drury leads the all-time series with Southern Indiana 7-2. In their previous seven trips to the NCAA-II Tournament, the Lady Panthers have lost in the first round only once - a 66-56 decision to Quincy last season in Highland Heights, Ky. 

Drury would play in Saturday's 4 p.m. semifinal game with a victory over USI, which has won seven of its last nine games and defeated Indianapolis and Northern Kentucky in that stretch after its earlier loss to the Lady Panthers.

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