ROLLA, MO- After a week off from games, the Miners will host the top-ranked Panthers of Drury University for their lone game of the week. This will be the first time in program history that the women's team has hosted a top-ranked team in Gibson Arena and just the fourth time they have played against the number one ranked team in Division II.

Missouri S&T comes into Saturday's game 9-11 overall and 5-8 in GLVC play. S&T is coming off a 71-65 loss to Maryville where the Miners gave up 15 unanswered points in the second quarter to get the Saints right back into the game.

S&T started out hot with as much as a 19 point lead and keeping Maryville at bay, forcing them to go 3 for their first 31 shots and keeping them to seven points for the first 15 minutes of the game.

Maryville would answer with a 12-0 run to cut the Miners lead to just seven with 2:25 left in the second quarter. S&T did not have an answer to the Saints commanding offense and ended up dropping the game 71-65.

The Miners are currently led by Alex Kerr's (St. Louis, Mo./St. Joseph's Academy) 12.3 points per game; she was unstoppable in the game last Saturday as she broke her career record of 26 points and picked up her third double-double of the season with 12 rebounds. Maddie Raley (Haubstadt, Ind./Gibson Southern) is close behind Kerr with 10.8 points per contest while Mykala Baylor (South Bend, Ind./Clay) leads the charge on the boards, pulling down a team best 8.9 rebounds.

Drury:
The Panthers enter Saturday's game as the top ranked team in Division II with a perfect 23-0 record overall and 13-0 in GLVC play. Their last win came this past Saturday when Drury jumped all over the Tritons of Missouri-St. Louis and forced 40 UMSL turnovers in the 77-44 win.
 
Drury is led by junior Hailey Diestelkamp's 21.0 points per game; she ranks second in the league in points per contest and is 13th in the nation. Along with Diestelkamp, Daejah Bernard ranks 1st in the GLVC with 6.4 assists per game and 3.91 steals per game with Lauren Holmes right behind her with 3.59 and ranking second.
 
As a team, the Panthers rank 1st in the league, 5th in DII, with 84.9 points per game, 1st in DII with a 28.6 point scoring margin, 21.3 assists per contest, 17.8 steals per game, an assists-turnover ratio of 1.29, and a turnover margin of 14.64. Drury is also one of only two teams left in NCAA DII women's basketball that is still undefeated.

Series vs. Drury:
Drury leads the all-time series against the Miners 26-6 with the last S&T win coming in the 2010-2011 season when the Miners finished the season 20-8 and made it to the NCAA Midwest Regional. The Miners are 2-13 in their last 15 games against the Panthers.
 
The last time the two teams met was back in December of this season. Drury had an explosive first quarter where they scored 42 points in the opening 10 minutes and held a 67-32 lead over the Miners at the half. Drury went on to have six players score in double figures in the 113-61 win.