Drury collides with Lewis in road test on Thursday, 5:30 pm

Drury Lady Panthers Game Preview
#T-2 Drury Lady Panthers (13-1, 6-0) at Lewis Flyers (9-5, 5-1) 
Thur., Jan. 12, 2023 – 5:30 pm – O’Reilly Family Event Center   
 
Live Coverage
Radio: KICK 92.3 FM / 1340 AM
Audio: www.923kick.com, TuneIn app
Live Video: GLVCSN
Live Stats: lewisflyers.com
 
Drury collides with Lewis in road test Thursday
Drury is at Lewis on Thursday in a collision of two teams riding winning streaks.
 
The Lady Panthers are tied for second in the NCAA-II coaches’ poll and have won nine straight. Drury is 13-1 and 6-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.
 
Lewis has won seven in a row and brings a 9-5 record with a 5-1 mark in the GLVC into Thursday’s game. The Flyers are tied for second in the conference standings with Truman State. Lewis’ winning streak includes a 69-63 victory at Grand Valley State on Dec. 31, when the Lakers were ranked number one in Division II. The Flyers followed that with a 74-67 win on Jan. 4 at Ferris State, a team that had been ranked as high as number 20.
 
Drury lost at Lewis last year, falling 87-79 in Romeoville on Feb. 17. The two teams played three times last season, with Drury winning the first match-up, 75-61, at home on Jan. 8 before their road loss to the Flyers. The third meeting was for the GLVC Championship on March 6 in Edwardsville, Illinois, with the Lady Panthers prevailing 76-47. Drury leads the all-time series against Lewis 19-8.
 
Alana Findley enters Thursday’s game as the reigning GLVC Player of the Week. The senior from Fair Grove averaged 20 points, five rebounds and 2.5 steals in two games last week. Findley shot 71 percent from the field, going 17 for 24. She also went 1 for 2 from three-point range and made all five of her free throws. It marked the fourth time this year a Drury player has won Player of the Week honors and Findley is the third different Lady Panther to win the award this year.
 
Thursday’s game is the start of a three-game, six-day road trip for the Lady Panthers. Drury is at Illinois Springfield on Saturday for a 1 pm game, then will travel to Quincy for a 5:30 pm contest on Monday.
 
Plethora of points
Drury has topped 90 points in each of their last three games and has reached that total six times this season. The Lady Panthers scored 93 points on Saturday against Indianapolis, 96 versus McKendree on Jan. 5, and a season-high 97 at Florida Southern on Dec. 17. Drury is averaging a league-best 82.8 points per game so far this year.
 
Findley 16 points away from 1,000
Drury forward Alana Findley enters Saturday’s game with 984 points and needs 16 more to become the 21st player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. Findley already climbed to 12th on Drury’s all-time rebounding chart with 517 and she ranks 12th in steals in her career with 167.
 
Last Game
Drury 93 Indianapolis 74 (Sat. at DU)
 — Kaylee DaMitz-Holt had 26 points including 20 in the second half and shot 6 for 9 from the field, 2 of 4 from three-point range, and 12 for 12 at the FT line
— Alana Findley added 21 points on 9 of 11 shooting and added 5 rebounds
— Drury led 37-35 at halftime
— DU tied a team record with 41 attempted free throws and made 29 of them
 
Drury moves into 2nd place tie in NCAA-II poll
The Drury Lady Panthers moved into a tie for second in this week’s NCAA-II coaches’ poll. Drury and Glenville State (13-1) received 533 points in this week’s poll to tie for second in the national rankings. Ashland (16-0) is ranked number one, followed by the Lady Panthers and Glenville State, then Grand Valley St. (14-1) is ranked fourth. Central Missouri (13-0) is number five in this week’s poll.
 
The week’s poll marks the 143rd consecutive week the Lady Panthers have been ranked in the top 25, the longest such streak in the nation. It is also their 81st straight week to be ranked in the top 10.
 
QUICK FACTS
Records
Drury: 13-1, 6-0, T-2 NCAA-II
Lewis: 9-5, 5-1
 
Head Coaches
Drury: Amy Eagan (3rd yr., 69-8/14th yr., 256-150)
Lewis: Keisha Newell (1^st yr., 9-5/5^th yr., 69-67)
 
Streak
Drury: Won 9
Lewis: Won 7
 
Last Five Games
Drury: 5-0
Lewis: 5-0
 
All-Time Record
Drury 19-8
 
Last Year
Drury 75 Lewis 61 (Jan. 8, 2022 at DU)
Lewis 87 Drury 79 (Feb. 17, 2022 at LU)
Drury 76 Lewis 47 (March 6, 2022, GLVC Championship)
 
Next Game
Drury at Illinois Springfield – Sat., Jan. 14
1 pm – Springfield, Ill.
 
#allweDUiswin