ROLLA, Mo. – The Missouri S&T Lady Miners were plagued once again by turnovers dropping its Great Lakes Valley Conference opener and third straight overall against Drury 80-58 on Thursday evening in Rolla. S&T committed 27 turnovers in the contest resulting in 30 points for the Lady Panthers.

The Lady Miners fell behind 12-4 to start the game, before chipping away at the lead getting to within four points with less than 11 minutes to play in the opening frame. S&T had its chances to get even closer but struggled at the foul line missing three straight during one stretch.

Drury took advantage of the Lady Miners misfortunes using a 16-7 run spanning over five minutes to build their largest lead of the half at 28-15 after a pair of free throws from Briana Jones. Once again S&T chipped away at the lead using an 11-2 run over the next three minutes to get within 30-26 on a jumper by Sandra Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy).

The Lady Panthers finished the half scoring the final eight points to head into the locker room with a 38-26 lead. They shot 37 percent (14-of-38) from the field in the opening half, made only three of their 14 attempts from beyond the three-point line, but were 7-for-7 at the foul line. Jones led Drury with nine points off the bench while Annie Armstrong added seven.

The Lady Miners shot a respectable 46 percent (10-of-22) from the floor, but were 1-for-5 from three and 5-of-9 at the charity stripe. S&T turned it over 15 times in the opening 20 minutes and were outscored by 10 points in points off of turnovers. Jamy Douvier (Sedgwick, Kan./Sunrise Christian Academy) led the Lady Miners with nine points in the frame while Joe'l Bland (St. Charles, Mo./Homeschooled) added seven and Leigh-Ann Kesper (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) had six off the bench.

The Lady Panthers continued their run from the end of the first half scoring the first 10 points of the second stanza to stretch its lead to 22 points four minutes in. S&T missed its first six shots to begin the second half, turned it over three times and missed a pair of free throws. The Lady Miners snapped their scoreless drought with a bucket from Elsie Greenwood (Breckenridge, Mo./Penney High School) at the 14:54 mark.

Drury countered with a 20-10 run over the next seven minutes to build a 71-38 advantage and eventually led by as many as 34 points. The Lady Miners continued to fight finishing the game on a 16-4 to make the final score more respectable.

S&T finished the game shooting 43 percent (21-for-49) from the field, was 3-of-10 from beyond the arc, but shot only 62 percent at the foul line. The Lady Miners finished the contest tied on the glass with the Lady Panthers at 33-33.

J. Douvier, Bland and Kesper led S&T with nine points apiece. S. Douvier chipped in with eight while Greenwood finished with seven and Brittany Andersen (Saint John, Ind./Andrean ) added six.

Drury had four players finish in double figures led by Jones with 13. Armstrong and Alice Heinzler added 12 each and Paige Wilson contributed 11 to the attack. The Lady Panthers finished the contest shooting 45 percent (30-for-67) from the floor, went 9-of-27 from three and shot 92 percent at the foul line.

S&T is back in action on Saturday hosting College of the Ozarks at 5:30 p.m.