This Week In Drury Athletics (March 15-21) ....
BASKETBALL
The Lady Panthers (28-6) will be playing for their third trip to an NCAA-II Elite Eight on Tuesday when they take on top-seeded and nationally third-ranked Michigan Tech (30-2) in a 5 p.m. (CST) tipoff on the Huskies' home court in Houghton, Mich.
Drury has moved into the regional title game with wins over Southern Indiana (71-48) on Friday and Northern Michigan (59-51) on Sunday, with sophomore guard Katie Pritchard leading the way with 20 points in each game. Senior Melanie Oliver continued to leave her stamp on the DU record books by becoming the school's career rebounding leader - surpassing the old mark by Amanda Newton (793 from 2002-06) when Oliver grabbed 10 rebounds against Northern Michigan to push her career total to 802 in just three seasons.
For those who haven't made the 15-hour trip to Houghton, Tuesday's game will be shown live - for free - through a video webcast courtesy of Michigan Tech. To access it,
click this link.
Fans can also listen to the broadcast through JOCK 98.7 FM (
www.jock987.com).
The Drury Panthers saw their tremendous season come to a close on Saturday with a 71-58 loss to Quincy in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional in Owensboro, Ky. Coach Steve Hesser's Panthers, who didn't have a senior on the roster, finished the campaign with a 23-7 mark and another GLVC West Division title.
SWIMMING AND DIVING
Congratulations - again! - to the Drury swimming and diving teams, who became the first D-II school in history to sweep the men's and women's championships in back to back seasons when the Panthers came home with both trophies Saturday night from Canton, Ohio.
Sophomore Jun Han Kim was named the National Swimmer of the Meet and helped the DU men to a 135-point victory over runner-up Incarnate Word, while the DU women won their division by 126 points over second-place Wayne State.
That marks the sixth consecutive national championship for the DU men and the second straight (and third in four years) by the DU women, both coached by Brian Reynolds.
Drury loses just one male swimmer - Alexander Protsenko - and four quality seniors from the women's squad (Abbey Musch, Deidre Rosel, Lauren Bader and Jing Hua) as they'll attempt to continue their tremendous tradition next March in San Antonio, Texas with two young and hungry squads.
BASEBALL
Coach Mark Stratton's Panthers played just two games last week after losing scheduled doubleheaders with Truman State and Saint Joseph's to rain. They made up for it offensively by accumulating a combined 41 runs and 41 hits in sweeping a pair from Wisconsin-Parkside by 19-9 and 22-4 scores Sunday in the Great Lakes Valley Conference opener at Meador Park.
The Panthers are scheduled to host Pittsburg State in a single non-conference game at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Meador before heading to Kansas City on the weekend for a four-game GLVC set with Rockhurst Saturday and Sunday, with noon starts each day.
SOFTBALL
Coach Annie Medico's Panthers battled the rain on Saturday to pick up a 7-6 win in 12 innings against Northern Kentucky on Chelsea King's game-winning single before the scheduled second game with the Norse - picked for third in the GLVC preseason poll - was cancelled due to the wet conditions.
Drury then played GLVC favorite Indianapolis on Sunday and dropped both games, by 11-4 and 14-2 scores, to fall to 6-14 overall and 3-5 in league play.
The Panthers hit the road this week for a Tuesday non-conference doubleheader at Missouri Western in St. Joseph (3 p.m. start), then make the long trip to Saint Joseph's (Saturday) and Wisconsin-Parkside (Sunday) for weekend GLVC action, with play beginning at noon each day.
GOLF
Coach Kellen Mast's Panthers are playing a home match today and Tuesday at the Rivercut Golf Course, where they are hosting the Drury Invitational.
Fans are encouraged to get out and support the DU squad in its only home tournament of the spring. Drury will travel to Joplin later in the week to take on Arkansas-Fort Smith in a Friday dual match at Twin Hills CC, where coach Lisa Tinkler's DU women's squad will also play UAFS.
TENNIS
The Drury squads were victorious on Sunday in matches with Northwest Missouri State at the Cooper Tennis Complex, with coach Luc Godin's DU men winning 6-3 and coach Jarrod Smith's Panther women taking a 9-0 triumph.
Both squads are idle before hitting the road next week, with the DU men headed for several matches in the southeastern U.S., and the women set to play teams in Oklahoma.