Drury Panthers

[Bballfan]

I will just tag on your post and say with all the $$$ D1 athletes are getting now, you just know they are blowing it on a lot of stuff, including drugs. I mean we are talking about 18 - 22 year olds that are not exactly responsible, especially when it comes to money. And I am sure there is some out there gambling. That's when the game really gets tainted.

[crazznewt]

The Lady Panthers have at least two commitments for 2026 that haven't been announced. Both are high level players from top local programs. One had D1 offers and the other will be the third Lady Panther who will play a second sport at Drury.

SBU Women lost nine players to graduation and part time starter Kristen Edmonds to the portal.They bring in six more international players to join five returners, including senior Zakaya Young, who redshirted last season (I'm still curious how wearing a hajib fits in at a baptist university). They will have open tryouts on September third to fill the remaining roster spots.

[crazznewt]

The NCAA Division II will vote on a five-year eligibility proposal at the 2026 NCAA Convention. This might benefit teams like the Lady Panthers in the long run with their 12 underclassmen and the Men with their 9 underclassmen. If this passes, D1 will no longer have the sole advantage of the extra season rule of eligibility for a juco.


Fundraising success has been way up for Drury and their Athletics. From what I have seen and heard, the future is bright for Drury basketball. First up is the women on November11 at the "O".


A lot of Drury fans are also Missouri State Lady Bear fans. MO State is now a part of Conference USA and will play a much tougher schedule. The Lady Bear's non conference schedule includes games against Kansas, Gonzaga, Florida State and Arkansas. First game is October 2.

[Bballfan]

The NCAA Division II will vote on a five-year eligibility proposal at the 2026 NCAA Convention. This might benefit teams like the Lady Panthers in the long run with their 12 underclassmen and the Men with their 9 underclassmen. If this passes, D1 will no longer have the sole advantage of the extra season rule of eligibility for a juco.

Depends. Some players just don't want to be in college 5 years. After 4 they are ready to get on with life. And of course if you have really good players, see how that worked for Central Missouri women when they lost 2 starters to D1.

But I really don't have a problem with 5 years in general. Football players seem to hang around forever anyhow!

[crazznewt]

Depends. Some players just don't want to be in college 5 years. After 4 they are ready to get on with life. And of course if you have really good players, see how that worked for Central Missouri women when they lost 2 starters to D1.

But I really don't have a problem with 5 years in general. Football players seem to hang around forever anyhow!

From what I've seen and heard, Drury is in good shape and is set up to retain players, especially on the women's side. There are two sides to every story and I feel better about events that have happened within the program the last 3 seasons. Go Drury.

[DUPanther]

Depends. Some players just don't want to be in college 5 years. After 4 they are ready to get on with life. And of course if you have really good players, see how that worked for Central Missouri women when they lost 2 starters to D1.

But I really don't have a problem with 5 years in general. Football players seem to hang around forever anyhow!

Drury's men lost a 5th year player to D1 Gardner-Webb this year who wanted to stay, but could only play another year at a D1 school.

[crazznewt]

Drury's men lost a 5th year player to D1 Gardner-Webb this year who wanted to stay, but could only play another year at a D1 school.

Yes, and one could put together quite the list of players who took advantage of the fifth season covid rule. There were quite a few at Drury who stayed a 5th season.

[crazznewt]

Looks Like Jenna Badali, who would have been the best returning player for the Lewis Lady Flyers, has taken her services 300 miles or so straight east to Ashland, Ohio.

[Bballfan]

Lewis is what...on their 3rd coach since she started there. Maybe she was just tired of all the churn at Lewis.

And Lewis lost a player to Grand Valley (Kathryn Schmidt) last season. Good role player for GV, but on a team of all-stars she went from starting at Lewis to coming off the bench. Got a national championship ring out of the deal though, so hard to say she made the wrong decision leaving.

[crazznewt]

Bball fan, it's obvious you have good knowledge and insight of D2 sports, and I enjoy reading your posts. With the volume of information you have shared about Grand Valley, respectively speaking, you should start a GV thread. Grand Valley fans might start posting.

[Bballfan]

They can make their own thread. LOL

I obviously am not as familiar with Drury sports as you, but I know enough over the past decade or so with their women's bball team to be dangerous.

The game that never was. Drury was #1. Ashland was #2. Still sad it never happened. That year, and a few years ago when Ashland was #1, and Grand Valley and Drury were both in the top ten. That's why the D2 tournament desperately needs an overhaul. When you have 3 teams in one region that could win it all, that's just sad. And I have seen teams in the Elite Eight that would be lucky to be in the top 4 of a conference in the Midwest or Central region.

[crazznewt]

I still have two unused tickets for that regional Drury was scheduled to host. That Lady Panther team was the most athletic women's basketball team I have ever seen live. This includes two Southwest Missouri State final four teams and everyone they played. I know this is a bold claim, but I can break the numbers down to support this, starting with a point guard who led the nation in steals and never had to give the ball up against a press. Couldn't shoot a lick, so the opposition would back off of her three steps and still get burned for a layup.

There would have been 2400 plus very enthusiastic fans in attendance for this regional which would have gone down as one of the classic sports events in Springfield history.

[Bballfan]

Daejah Bernard was the point guard. If I remember her brother played for Northwest Missouri State. I was at the game where Drury lost to Lubbock (many teams struggle against the matchup zone). Talked with Bernard's parents at that game. Very nice people.

Drury returned basically everybody the following year, and the tournament got shutdown.

Then the year after that, Drury made the national championship game in that weird COVID restricted season where they played in some convention center. Lost to Lubbock again.

Without Ashland and Lubbock and COVID, how many national championships could Drury women's bball have?

[crazznewt]

Daejah Bernard was the point guard. If I remember her brother played for Northwest Missouri State. I was at the game where Drury lost to Lubbock (many teams struggle against the matchup zone). Talked with Bernard's parents at that game. Very nice people.

Drury returned basically everybody the following year, and the tournament got shutdown.

Then the year after that, Drury made the national championship game in that weird COVID restricted season where they played in some convention center. Lost to Lubbock again.

Without Ashland and Lubbock and COVID, how many national championships could Drury women's bball have?

That is a good question. This is going to be sloppy as I have to be quick:

Those Lubbock, Ashland and Grand Valley teams were big, strong and talented.
I've always felt Drury needed a little more size to counter some of the big teams they faced.

Drury's athleticism was second to none though. I cant name them all, but here is a synopsis: Starter Lauren Holmes was a 9 time 7A Arkansas prep state champ, with championships in basketball, volleyball, and track. This included state titles in the 100 meter hurdles and the long jump (twice). She was the Arkansas Female Athlete of the year in 2017 and Northwest Arkansas Female athlete of the year three times. Also had all conference honors for D1 North Texas before transferring to Drury. Most considered her the third best athlete for Drury after Benard and Diesltkamp.

Brooke Stanfield was a valuable reserve for this team. After graduating from Republic High, she was presented the Southwest Missouri Female Athlete of the year award by emcee Tim Tebow.

Drury got even more athletic for their undefeated season with the addition of Mizzou transfer Kelsey Winfrey, who was another reserve. This team also included Sophomore starter, Paige Robinson.

The amount of floor space these athletes covered on defense brought collective oops and ahhhs from a packed arena on a regular basis. All this attention for a team with only two who were considered scorers.

[crazznewt]

I renewed my GLVCSN subscription a couple weeks back. Very disappointing that archived games from previous seasons are no longer free for viewing.

I was scanning the web for news, and stumbled upon a third unannounced Lady Panther high school recruit for next season. From the state of Iowa, she is a very good commit for Drury who look to be continuing their trend of recruiting from the high school ranks.

So good to see another athletic fundraiser go well for Drury. This one was the "Champions Challenge", which broke another record for donations for the fifth straight year.