Box Score (Springfield, Mo.) – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners had its eight-game winning streak in Great Lakes Valley Conference openers snapped in a 76-59 defeat at #9 Drury on Thursday evening in Springfield, Mo.

This one didn't get off to good start for the Lady Miners (4-3, 0-1 GLVC) as they were held scoreless for the first 4:14 of the contest. Thankfully for them the Lady Panthers (7-0, 1-0 GLVC) weren't much better and led by just five. Mia Wesley (Philadelphia, Pa./John Bartram) came off the bench to provide a spark for S&T scoring six straight points to climb back. The Lady Miners took their first lead of the contest at the 12:41 mark on a fast break layup by Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School). S&T's lead grew to five points on two different occasions with the latest coming after a jumper by Wesley with 7:09 left in the half.

From that point foul trouble began to take its toll on the Lady Miners over the next six and half minutes as Drury went to the foul line 12 times and made all 12 during a 17-2 run allowing them to take a 30-20 lead with 0:38 left in the stanza. S&T trimmed the lead to 30-24 in the closing seconds of the frame. Toni Knar (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) hit 1-of-2 at the line and then after an offensive rebound she hit a three from the left wing to cut the margin to six. The Lady Panthers had a chance to push the lead back to eight, but Sanayika Shields jumper was off the mark.

The Lady Miners shot 34.5 percent (10-for-29) in the opening half and were led in scoring by Wesley with 10 points. S&T was 1-of-5 from three and made three of its six attempts at the line.

Drury shot 21.4 percent (6-of-28) from the field, but was 16-for-18 at the foul line. Shelby White led the Lady Panthers with seven points while Shields added six more.

The Lady Miners cut Drury's halftime lead to three in its first two possessions of the second half, but wouldn't get any closer than that as the Lady Panthers scored six straight points to extend the lead to 38-29 with 17:21 left in the contest. S&T closed the deficit to seven on a three from Knar before a layup by Shields on the ensuing possession extended the lead back to nine at the 13:22 mark.

Drury then used an 11-2 run to build its largest advantage of the night at 56-39 with exactly 10 minutes to play. The Lady Miners tried to muster a comeback closing to 62-53 on a layup by Wesley, but like they did all night the Lady Panthers answered scoring 10 of the next 12 points to push the lead back to 15 points.

S&T shot only 39 percent in the second half and finished the game shooting 37.1 percent (23-for-62) from the field. It made just three of its 13 attempts from three and was 10-for-15 at the charity stripe. Wesley and Senait McLeod (Miami, Fla./Coral Reef) led the way in scoring with 19 and 12 points respectively.

Drury shot 57 percent from the field in the second half to finish the game at 41.3 percent (26-of-63). It was 4-of-15 from three and 20-for-23 at the foul line. The Lady Panthers had three players reach double figures in scoring led by Amber Dvorak with 20 points. White had 16 while Shields added 10 more.

The Lady Miners return to action next Saturday when they travel to St. Charles, Mo., to take on Lindenwood beginning at 1 p.m.