Drury Panthers

[crazznewt]

For me to be the least bit interested in women's ball, it has to be extraordinary.

Katie Scott is 6'3", big, quick, and has a vertical. In this clip, she brings the ball down the court under pressure. She penetrates, avoids the charge, gets the steal and scores while on the floor.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1203059606680936455

[crazznewt]

Panthers get a good commit out of the St Louis area in 6' 7" Riley Naeger. Looks like a good shooter with very good athleticism.
I wonder If Coach Boga recruited this guy since he is from STL.

[crazznewt]

Great win for the Lady Panthers facing adversity. A combination of poor outside shooting, being outsized, and 51 fouls called in the game almost cost Drury a victory.

With a target on their backs from being ranked number one all season, Drury finished their loaded non-conference schedule undefeated at 10-0.

[crazznewt]

I have no idea how good the Panthers will be the rest of the season, but with Hesser in charge they usually win 20 plus games. This is including some games in which Drury is clearly out manned.

I saw him do this in high school. His Glendale HS team with future Panther Brandon Kimbrough beat eventual state champion Kickapoo that was loaded with 4 future D1's including Mr Sho-Me Basketball and another who is still playing in the NBA in Anthony Tolliver.

He is in both Missouri's and Oklahoma's State Basketball Coaches Halls of Fame and has a Division 2 National Championship.
He has also been National Coach Of The Year.

Maybe he will eventually win GLVC coach of the year.

[crazznewt]

Kudos to Southern Indiana, they are a big, strong, talented team and have a nice arena with big time amenities.

I still think this Drury team will be good in the end. They only return one starter and one other player that played significant minutes from last season. There are 9 newcomers including an inexperienced front line.

SBU with the win over Mckendree opened some eyes I'm sure.

The Lady Panthers have looked beatable at times this season, but showed how explosive they can be by scoring 33 points in the third quarter. This was with Bernard on the bench in foul trouble.

Saturday's games should be fun.

[crazznewt]

Diestelkamp breaks the Lady Panther's all time scoring record with a deep three pointer 5 seconds or so into the second half.

Mckendree is a decent team but had trouble with Drury's defense. I lost track after they announced the sixth inbounds violation against the Bearcats.

When the top three steals leaders in all of D2 last season are in sync, it's obvious to anyone in the arena that they are watching something special.

[crazznewt]

[crazznewt]

The improving Drury Panthers had 23 assists on 28 made shots. That is classic Hesser ball. Hopefully this trend will continue.

The Lady Panthers are now 14-0. Diestelkamp led with 37 points and 10 rebounds. Bernard had 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 9 assists giving her 505 assists for her career.

[crazznewt]

As their remarkable careers wind down, Hailey Diestelkamp and Daejah Bernard have been a huge part of an overall record of 111 wins and 8 losses. This is impressive considering Molly doesn't pad the non conference schedule with weak teams.

They have a GLVC regular season record of 58 and 2 and have been GLVC Champions all three years. They made it to the regional finals their first two years and all the way to the final four last year.

The Lady Panthers have looked beatable at times this season because of inconsistent outside shooting and a lack of size. They have overcome with their elite speed and desire to go get the ball.

Meanwhile, Hailey's and Daejah's numbers are down from last year as no Drury player is in the GLVC top 25 for minutes played. Hopefully this helps them to finish strong. They have been a blast to watch.

[crazznewt]

Tonight's rivalry games between Drury and SBU will be intense.

The Men have met 58 times with Drury winning the last 8 meetings. SBU will be a tougher than usual matchup this time and will have probably 2,000 fans including approximately 1000 very loud students in attendance.

It will be a circus atmosphere as SBU pulls out all the stops for this game.

[crazznewt]

Interesting night of basketball including:

Lady Panthers win 55th consecutive regular season and 46 consecutive GLVC regular season game.

Rebuilding Panthers get dominated by Indy.

Bellarmine loses to "South Western Missouri Bible Baptist College".

[crazznewt]

Good win for the ladies against a big and scrappy Indy team, while Coach Miller stayed in Springfield to give birth to a bouncing baby boy!

[crazznewt]

Great game between the Lady Panthers and Bellarmine. Bria Torrens put on a spectacular shooting display scoring 29, as the Knights shot 58% to 38% for Drury.

Drury relied on tenacious offensive rebounding as the knights matched Drury on defense. The smaller Panthers won the rebounding battle 43 to 27 including 24 -5 on the offensive side that prevented this from being a loss. That and Diestelkamp asserted for 37 and 11.

This was the last of a 5 game road trip, the last two coached by Molly's assistants.

Hopefully an easier remaining schedule and lots of home games can get the men back on track.

[crazznewt]

Congratulations to the Drury Cheerleading squad for winning the D2 National Championship. This adds to an already great game atmosphere at O'Reilly.

[crazznewt]

The Lady Panther players need to improve their shooting form. They miss a lot of open shots because they are pulling back from following through and not staying on top of their shot. I've seen some screwed up footwork too.

I know playing at that pace can make it harder to be a consistent shooter, but this will come back to haunt them if not corrected. They almost lost to an outmanned Bellarmine squad because of the 58% to 38% shooting difference and the fact Bellarmine matched Drury's defense. The opposition can get good shots if they don't turn the ball over.

The outside shooting percentage needs to improve for this team to meet their goals in my opinion.