The Drury Lady Panthers beat Lander 74-65 on Wednesday to get back to the NCAA Division-II National Championship game.
Drury plays Lubbock Christian Friday night at 7 p.m.
You can watch the game on CBS Sports Network.
Press Release
For the second straight game in the Elite Eight, the Drury Lady Panthers trailed for the entire first half. But like their quarterfinals win on Wednesday, Drury seized control of the second half, and their 74-65 win in the national semifinals against Lander in Columbus, Ohio, will send them to the NCAA-II championship game on Friday at 7 pm (Central).
Drury will play number one ranked Lubbock Christian, who defeated Central Missouri 63-61 on Wednesday in the other semifinal game in Columbus.
The Lady Panthers fell behind by as much nine in the first half and never took the lead until the early moments of the second half when Paige Robinson’s three-pointer put Drury in front 34-33. The two teams traded leads during the quarter until the Lady Panthers went on a 14-2 run to build an 11-point advantage, 52-41, as Robinson scored 13 of her team-high 26 points in that period.
Azia Lynch also helped Drury’s turn-around in the second half as the senior from Overland Park, Kansas scored 22 points while grabbing a career-high 16 rebounds, including eight offensive boards.
Midway through the final period, Drury owned a 10-point lead, 61-51, but Lander turned up their defensive pressure with a full-court press and threatened DU’s lead down the stretch. The Lady Panthers turned the ball over eight times in the final eight minutes, and they lost Robinson, who earlier in the week named the NCAA-II Player of the Year, to an injury with 3:26 remaining.
The Bearcats pulled within two, 67-65, with 1:40 left, but Robinson returned, and Drury hit enough free throws down the stretch to hold off Lander to win by nine and advance.
“I told them at halftime that we just had to be mentally tougher,” said Drury head coach Amy Eagan. “That’s where we were lacking. We were staying in the game in the first half, but we just had to be tougher. I think we showed that in the third quarter, especially when Paige got on us on a run. When she went down, things got a lot more stressful, but thankfully, she was able to go back out there, and we could finish it off.”
Drury ended the game with a season-high 23 turnovers but forced 20 turnovers from Lander, and they held the Bearcats to 37 percent shooting as they went 23 for 62 in the game. After making only two of their first nine shots, the Lady Panthers ended the contest shooting 42 percent connecting on 29 of 69 attempts. Drury also out-rebounded Lander 50-38 in the game.
In addition to Robinson’s 26 points, and Lynch’s double-double, the Drury got a career-high 14 rebounds from Alana Findley, and Katie Kirkhart chipped in 10 points.
Zamiya Passmore scored a game-high 27 points for Lander, and Miriam Recarte added 15 for the Bearcats.
Lander ended their season with a 20-2 record.
Drury will head to the national championship game with a 24-1 mark.
The Lady Panthers will be playing in the NCAA-II National Championship game for the second time in program history and for the first time since 2004. Drury lost to California (Pa.) 75-72 in the ’04 championship game.
Friday’s national championship will be a rematch of the 2019 national semifinals when Lubbock Christian defeated the Lady Panthers 69-60 in Drury’s only loss in their 35-1 season.
Friday’s game will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network with radio coverage on JOCK 96.9 FM/99.9 FM/1060 AM.
