Springfield, Mo. – This Saturday's (Dec. 1) Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) opener for Missouri S&T women's basketball team is one which the outcome was quickly determined as the Miners struggled throughout en route to suffering a 113-61 loss to nationally eighth-ranked Drury at DU's O'Reilly Family Events Center.

The Lady Panthers, who are ranked eighth nationally in the latest (Nov. 26) Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) NCAA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll and 14th in the D2SIDA poll, won with an up-tempo offense and tenacious full-court pressure defense which resulted in Drury forcing 38 Miner turnovers.   The Panthers, who are now 8-0 overall and 1-0 in the GLVC this season, featured six players with double-digit point totals led by Hailey Diestelkamp's game-high 17 points.  Payton Richards and Paige Robinson each poured in 16 points while two others, Lauren Holmes and Emily Parker, tallied 13 points apiece.

Missouri S&T was paced by junior forward Maddie Raley (Haubstadt, Ind./Gibson Southern)'s 13 points and freshman center Alex Kerr (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) contributed 11 points off the bench for the Miners, who fall to 2-4 overall and 0-1 in the conference.  Kerr paced S&T in rebounding with nine boards as did Hailey Diestelkamp for the Lady Panthers, who extended their current all-time series winning streak with S&T to 12 straight.

For the game, S&T finished shooting 40.7 percent (24-59) from the floor while the Miners went three-of-18 in three-point field goal attempts for 16.7 percent and made 55.6 percent at the free throw line by going 10-of-18.  Drury, which claimed a 40-39 rebounding edge, concluded the contest making 54.3 percent of its shots (44-81).  The Lady Panthers connected on 13-of-27 three pointers for a 48.1 percent success rate and made good on 12-of-18 at the charity stripe for a 66.7 success rate.

Drury recorded 50 points off the 38 S&T turnovers and posted a 46-21 points advantage in bench scoring.  The Lady Panthers tallied 26 fast-break points to the Miners' six and claimed a 18-points margin (50-32) in scoring in the paint area.

After 1st Q – DU 42, S&T 22
The host Lady Panthers led 10-6 with 7:48 remaining in the opening quarter and then proceeded to outscore the Miners 32-16 the rest of the way.  Drury registered a field goal percentage of 65.2 percent (15-23) in the first 10 minutes of the contest.
 
After 2nd Q – DU 67, M&T 32
Drury's double-digit lead increased in the second quarter as the Lady Panthers bumped up their margin to 35 points with six seconds left before halftime.  DU, which shot 50 percent (9-18) in the second quarter to S&T's 25 percent (4-16), had a 16-point advantage (45-29) with just over seven minutes in the frame but then went on a 22-3 scoring tear to close out the quarter. 
 
After 3rd Q – DU 95, S&T 50
The start of the second half saw the Lady Panthers continue to force turnovers as Drury's lead went from 35 points (69-34) at the 9:09 mark up to 48 points (95-47) with 13 seconds to go in the quarter. 
 
FINAL SCORE: DU 113, S&T 61
The final 10 minutes continued to be controlled by Drury as the Lady Panthers increased their lead to 56 points, 106-50, with 6:17 left to be played.  A late S&T surge narrowed the the Miners'  gap to 50 points (111-61) as Alex Kerr (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) converted a three-point play for S&T's final points of the contest. 
  
Up Next: Missouri S&T is idle until mid-December when the Miners begin a two-game non-conference home stand at S&T's Gibson Arena in Rolla, Mo., to close out the 2018 calendar year.  S&T hosts Missouri Baptist on Dec. 18 in an 11:30 a.m. (CT) matinee before concluding 2018 on Dec. 30 against Westminster (Mo.) at 3 p.m. (CT).
 
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