Drury wins close one
Josh Hall
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Voices
Redshirt freshman Sara Jane Plemmons came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points and lead five Lady Panthers in double-figures as Drury fought past a pesky Maryville 78-74 in a Great Lakes Valley Conference contest here on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Panthers had to claw back from a 15-point deficit in the first half to push their records to 18-4 overall and 10-1 in the GLVC and claim the 250th victory in the program's 10-year history (Drury is now 250-54). The Saints, first-year members of the GLVC, fell to 5-15 and 3-9.
Plemmons, picking up extra time due to Drury foul difficulties and the absence of senior starting post Caitlin Shouse (concussion), played a career-high 26 minutes and hit all six of her FG attempts to pace the Lady Panthers, who also saw senior forward Melanie Oliver add 15 points and 10 rebounds for her school-record 21st double-double of her career.
Drury needed every bit of it to hold off a Maryville team that lost 92-41 to the Lady Panthers at Weiser last season, but is a much different team at home and in their second season since moving up from being one of the top teams in NCAA-III.
Ja'Nell Jones added 12 points and nine assists while Katie Pritchard and Lindsay Ballweg contributed 10 points each for Drury, which trailed 31-16 midway through the first half after the Saints hit five 3-pointers in the game's first 10 minutes. But a 20-0 run by the Lady Panthers - and a defense that held the Saints without a field goal for the final 10:07 of the first half - produced a 39-35 Drury lead at the break.
Erica Groose had a season-high eight rebounds in 28 minutes while getting the starting assignment in place of Shouse, while Plemmons added seven rebounds.
The Lady Panthers return to the GLVC road next week, visiting Northern Kentucky in a 4:30 p.m. (CST) tipoff on Thursday in Highland Heights, Ky., before concluding the trip with a noon (CST) game Saturday at Indianapolis.
The Lady Panthers had to claw back from a 15-point deficit in the first half to push their records to 18-4 overall and 10-1 in the GLVC and claim the 250th victory in the program's 10-year history (Drury is now 250-54). The Saints, first-year members of the GLVC, fell to 5-15 and 3-9.
Plemmons, picking up extra time due to Drury foul difficulties and the absence of senior starting post Caitlin Shouse (concussion), played a career-high 26 minutes and hit all six of her FG attempts to pace the Lady Panthers, who also saw senior forward Melanie Oliver add 15 points and 10 rebounds for her school-record 21st double-double of her career.
Drury needed every bit of it to hold off a Maryville team that lost 92-41 to the Lady Panthers at Weiser last season, but is a much different team at home and in their second season since moving up from being one of the top teams in NCAA-III.
Ja'Nell Jones added 12 points and nine assists while Katie Pritchard and Lindsay Ballweg contributed 10 points each for Drury, which trailed 31-16 midway through the first half after the Saints hit five 3-pointers in the game's first 10 minutes. But a 20-0 run by the Lady Panthers - and a defense that held the Saints without a field goal for the final 10:07 of the first half - produced a 39-35 Drury lead at the break.
Erica Groose had a season-high eight rebounds in 28 minutes while getting the starting assignment in place of Shouse, while Plemmons added seven rebounds.
The Lady Panthers return to the GLVC road next week, visiting Northern Kentucky in a 4:30 p.m. (CST) tipoff on Thursday in Highland Heights, Ky., before concluding the trip with a noon (CST) game Saturday at Indianapolis.
Article last update: 2/2/10 at 8:39 PM CST
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