Box Score (Springfield, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners rallied from a 16 point first half deficit and actually took the lead midway through the second half but couldn't take advantage of some missed opportunities down the stretch as Drury was able to come from behind and win the game 82-71 on Saturday afternoon at Weiser Gym in Springfield, Mo.

S&T (12-11, 5-9 GLVC) got off to a slow start making only one of its first 10 from the floor and were outrebounded 11-2 to start the contest as the Panthers (16-7, 10-3 GLVC) raced out to a 25-9 lead in the first eight minutes. The Lady Miners began to chip away thanks in large part to the play of freshman Brittany Percival (Hartville, Mo./Hartville ) and senior Tamara McCaskill who scored 10 points to cut the lead to 28-19 by the 7:22 mark.

Drury stretched the lead back to 14 before the teams began trading buckets for a three minute stretch as the game stayed at a 14 point margin. S&T was able to close the half on an 8-2 run to get within 42-34 and had a chance to get closer but Kylee Grant (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods)'s running three-pointer at the buzzer grazed off the rim sending the Lady Miners into the break down by eight.

After its slow start shooting S&T closed the half by knocking down 12 of its final 18 shots to finish the frame shooting 46.4 percent and out-rebounded the Panthers 7-2 down the stretch. Percival and McCaskill led the Lady Miners with 10 points apiece. Drury on the other hand shot 14-of-27 (52 percent) from the floor but hit 11-for-13 at the foul line compared to just four attempts for the Lady Miners.

S&T stormed out of the halftime break on a 15-4 run behind eight points from Katie McElrath (Owasso, Okla./Owasso) to take its first lead of the contest 47-46 at the 15:30 mark. After a McCaskill jumper put the Lady Miners up three they had an opportunity to extend the lead to five but McElrath missed a wide open layup on a fast break opportunity opening the door for Drury.

The Panthers responded with four straight points to retake the lead thanks in large part to S&T's inability to grab a rebound on the defensive end. Lauren Dubbert's three-pointer at the 11:25 mark gave the Lady Miners a 52-50 but a layup by Erica Groose tied the game back up just 0:23 later.

After Drury retook the lead at 54-52 on a jumper by Sarah Bos, Grant gave S&T the lead right back with a three at the 8:53 mark. The Panthers answered though getting a three-pointer by Hannah Carter to regain the lead and keyed a 9-0 run allowing them to stretch the lead back to eight points with just over seven minutes to play in the contest.

The Lady Miners refused to go away getting it to within five points on five different occasions but every time they got close Drury had an answer getting either a jumper as the shot clock was winding down or went to the foul line and made its free throws.

Trailing by five with 1:33 to go S&T had a chance to get closer but a turnover and subsequent layup by Ja'Nell Jones extend the Panther lead back to seven. The Lady Miners once again cut the lead to five on a basket by Dubbert with 1:06 to play but Drury went 6-for-6 at the foul line in the final minute to secure the win.

S&T outshot the Panthers in the second half by a 58.3-to-40.0 percent margin but were unable to keep the Panthers off the offensive glass as they got 11 boards in the frame.

Percival and McElrath each finished with 17 points leading four Lady Miners in double figures. McCaskill finished with 14 while Dubbert contributed 13. Percival matched her career-high in scoring that she set at Rockhurst on February 7.

Jones had a game-high 20 points to lead Drury and was joined in double figures by Katie Pritchard with 12 and Bos had 11.

S&T returns to action on Thursday evening taking on GLVC West Division leader Quincy beginning at 5:15 p.m.