HOUGHTON, Mich. - Erica Groose came off the bench to register a double-double, including a career-high 14 rebounds, and Drury's Lady Panthers ran away from Southern Indiana early in the second half for a 71-48 victory in the opening round of the NCAA-II Midwest Regional here on Friday afternoon.
The third-seeded Lady Panthers (27-6) moved into Sunday's 12:30 p.m. (CST) semifinal against No. 7 seed Northern Michigan, a 52-51 upset winner over No. 2 seed Indianapolis on Friday. The semifinals, originally scheduled for Saturday, were pushed back a day due to travel problems that forced fifth-seeded Findlay to arrive in Houghton on Friday.
Groose, a 6-1 sophomore, posted her second career double-double, finishing with 10 points to go with her 14 rebounds in just 17 minutes of play. Groose - whose previous career best was an 11-rebound night against Rockhurst last season - had eight rebounds in her first seven minutes of action in the opening half as Drury burst out to a 39-30 halftime advantage.
"How about Erica Groose today?" asked a beaming Drury coach Steve Harold. "What a ballgame.
"I thought all of our kids came in very, very focused. We didn't have a lot of turnaround time after Sunday (winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference Tournament in Springfield, Ill.), but I just thought they were extremely focused."
Thanks to a 10-0 run midway through the first half, Drury led by as many as 14 points on a couple of occasions before settling for the nine-point advantage at the break. The Lady Panthers then outscored the Screaming Eagles 18-6 in the first nine minutes of the second half to push the lead to 21 points (57-36) and were never threatened from there.
Katie Pritchard had a team-high 20 points and Lindsay Ballweg added 18 points to lead four Lady Panthers in double-figures as Drury won its ninth straight game. USI finished the season 22-9 with its second loss in two tries against the Lady Panthers this season.
USI was led by the 20 points from junior standout Ellen Young, but 18 of those came in the first half, as the Lady Panthers held Young to only a pair of free throws in the second half as the Screaming Eagles struggled as a whole against the DU defense, managing to hit just 4 of 25 shots after halftime as they were outscored 32-18 in the second half by the Lady Panthers.
"We didn't do a good job on her defensively in the first half and lost her a couple of times," Harold said. "But I thought Lindsay Ballweg's defense on her in the second half was especially good."
Drury claimed a whopping 49-34 advantage on the boards. Melanie Oliver had eight rebounds to pull within one of tying Amanda Newton as Drury's career rebounding leader with 793.
The Lady Panthers also got a lift with the return of junior point guard Ja'Nell Jones, who'd missed the past seven games with a sprained foot.
"It was great to get Ja'Nell back today ... she really gave us a lift off the bench, and we need that," Harold said.
Now, thanks to the shifting of the bracket due to Findlay's travel woes, Drury has plenty of time to prepare for its regional semifinal matchup with Northern Michigan.
"We'll have a full 48 hours of preparation, which I like that with our team," Harold said. "It's been easy to grab their attention of late. Hopefully we'll just prepare, come out and execute and stay tight with the chemistry this team has. That's been the difference."
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