Championship Central |
Bracket
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury University led wire-to-wire to win its eighth Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) Women’s Basketball Championship on Sunday, downing Truman State University, 76-60.
The Panthers earned the league’s automatic-qualifying bid to the 2021 NCAA Midwest Regional, which will be held at the O’Reilly Family Event Center from March 12-15. It is also Drury’s fifth-straight GLVC Championship Tournament, and the sixth in the last seven years. The Panthers have defeated five different opponents over that stretch and now await the
NCAA Selection Show later this evening at 10 p.m.
It was the first time this season Drury and Truman faced each other, as health and safety protocols prevented the two from playing their originally scheduled contest.
Drury’s Paige Robinson was named to the All-Tournament team and named the bracket’s Most Valuable Player. The junior finished with 16 points and six assists for the Panthers, while fellow All-Tourney member Emily Parker led all scorers with 19 tallies. Truman’s Hannah Belanger and Ellie Weltha, along with University of Missouri-St. Louis forward Alex LaPorta, joined Robinson and Parker on the All-Tournament squad.
The Panthers shot 32-of-66 (48.5 percent) from the floor in the win, including a 6-for-11 effort 3-point range. Led by Parker and Azia Lynch, Drury outscored Truman in the paint, 42-26. The No. 3 team in the country dished out assists on half its buckets, with Katie Kirkhart and Alana Findley combining for seven.
Drury started the game on an 11-0 run before Truman cut it 15-13 with three minutes left in the opening quarter. However, the Panthers finished the frame on a 9-0 stretch and never let the Bulldogs get back within 14 points the remainder of the contest.
Belanger led Truman with 16 points, while Weltha secured another 13 boards to go with 12 tallies.
The Panthers have now on 10 in a row since their 42-game winning streak was snapped on Feb. 2. Drury has lost just twice since the beginning of the 2018-19 campaign, and next weekend will mark the third-straight year the Panthers would have been set to host the Midwest Regional.