Melanie Oliver had 17 points in just 16 foul-plagued minutes, Erica Groose had a season-high 12 points off the bench, Caitlin Shouse added 11 points and Ja'Nell Jones had 10 points and a team-high six assists to lead Drury, which improved to 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the GLVC with its third straight victory.

The Prairie Stars, newcomers to the GLVC this season, fell to 2-4 and 0-2.

Illinois-Springfield grabbed an early 6-3 advantage before the Lady Panthers reeled off a 10-0 spurt to grab the lead for good. Drury led 42-22 by halftime after committing just six turnovers in the first half and finishing with a season-low 15 while forcing 25 miscues by the Prairie Stars.

"That was our goal coming in .... to finish with 15 or fewer," Drury coach Steve Harold said. "We had nine in the second half, but we did a much better job of keeping our focus and taking care of the basketball in a situation that can be tough to do so. It still wasn't a 40-minute game like we're looking for, but it was closer."

Drury had 20 assists, led by Jones' six. It was her ninth consecutive game to start the season with six assists or more.

"I like what I'm seeing right now out of Ja'Nell," Harold said. "I think she's playing as consistent basketball as she can play and making really wise decisions. i think that's what is triggering our strong first halves.''

Groose also came alive, getting 10 of her 12 points after halftime and adding six rebounds to share team honors with Shouse as Drury beat the Prairie Stars 40-36 on the boards.

"This was a good confidence booster for Erica today," Harold said. "We are trying to get her to slow down and be more patient, and I thought she did that today."

The Lady Panthers are idle until a 2 p.m. non-conference game next Saturday at Northeastern State in Tahlequah, Okla.
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Drury's 15th-ranked men Panthers came up with a crucial 13-0 run to answer one last challenge from Illinois-Springfield to beat the Prairie Stars 75-62 in their Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup here on Saturday.

Freshman guard Alex Hall scored 20 points - including 16 points in the first half - to lead the Panthers, who improved to 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the GLVC entering a showdown Tuesday at unbeaten, 14th-ranked Arkansas Tech in Russellville, Ark. It's only the second 6-0 start for the Panthers since their move to the NCAA-II level in 1994-95, the other coming in their GLVC Championship season of 2007-08.

Illinois-Springfield, a first-year member of the GLVC coached by former Iowa star and NBA player Kevin Gamble, fell to 2-2 and 1-1.

An anticipated shootout matching two teams scoring near or more than 100 points per game never materialized as the Panthers put the defensive clamps on a UIS squad that came into the contest averaging 104.0 points per game after Thursday's 115-114, double-overtime win over visiting Missouri S & T.

Drury held a 39-31 halftime advantage, and pushed it into double-figures early in the second half before the Prairie Stars made their run. A bucket with 6:45 left cut the Panthers' advantage to two (54-52).

But the Panthers responded with a 13-0 run,started by a big turnaround jumper from freshman Cable Hogue and including a pair of pivotal jumpers from sophomore guard Dennon Mitchell, to push the lead to 15 points (67-52) and go on to the victory.

"We got a little separation there and then we stepped up and hit our free throws again down the stretch," Drury coach Steve Hesser said of his Panthers, who made 24 of 26 free throws for the game (92 percent).

"Again, we come on the road for the first time with eight new guys (in the playing rotation), and this was our first time to play here in Springfield ... I'm really proud of my guys for answering the challenge. We'll show 'em some tape and keep trying to get better."

Hesser praised the defensive effort of his Panthers, who held the Prairie Stars trio of Richard Oruche, Brandon Farmer and Zach Lewis averaging a combined 62 points per game to just 43, with 26 of those coming from Lewis. Oruche, who was averaging 26 points, finished with just nine on 4 of 12 shooting.

"I thought we did a really good job on their three big guns," Hesser said. "And then Alex Hall stepped up there at the start and really hit some big shots to get us going."

Hall made 7 of 13 shots overall and 4 of 7 from 3-point range, but hit his first three trey attempts early in the game to get the Panthers rolling.

Mitchell finished with 13 points, hitting all five of his shots at the line, while Dominique Long and Brandon Lockhart had 11 points apiece, a career-high for the latter.

The Panthers claimed a 36-34 advantage on the boards, with Andrew Taylor leading the way with nine rebounds.
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SPRINGFIELD -- Evangel’s Spud Harbour had a career high 33 points and had 6 assists, a steal and 6 rebounds as the Crusader men's team beat Graceland 86-78 in a Heart of America conference game at the Ashcroft Center on Saturday.

Harbour, a junior from Glendale High School in Springfield, had 18 first half points and went 13 for 24 from the field, 5 for 7 from the free throw line and 2 for 5 from three-point range.

Chad Gillaspy had 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Crusaders (6-4, 2-0) who won their fourth straight game.

Graceland (5-5, 1-1) was led by Jewel Carter’s 20 points.
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SPRINGFIELD -- The Evangel women held Graceland to 49 points and picked up a 67-49 win at the Ashcroft Center on Saturday.

Kara Blankenship led all scorers with 18 points and added 10 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Ashlee Luko had 14 points and Lacey Luttrull chipped in with 10 off of the bench.

Evangel (7-3, 1-1) led 37-24 at the half and outscored the Yellowjackets (5-3, 0-2) 30-25 in the second half. The loss was Graceland’s third straight defeat.

The Lady Crusaders next game is Thursday at Lindenwood at 5:30 p.m.

Evangel returns to action Thursday in a conference game at Lindenwood at 7:30 p.m.
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MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Kansas State rode a 26-point performance from its senior All-America candidate Ashley Sweat to overcome an early 19-point deficit and pull out a 64-60 victory over the Missouri State Lady Bears Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Commerce Bank Wildcat Classic. The Wildcats shot .500 from the floor in the second half and turned up the defensive pressure to limit MSU to just 8-of-30 (.267) shooting after intermission to improve to 4-4 on the season.

Sweat, who went 8-of-13 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the foul line, made key play after key play down the stretch, including a crucial three-pointer with 1:07 to go that stretched the KSU lead to 63-57.

Missouri State led by nine with 6:09 left in the contest when Sweat started a 10-0 KSU run by knocking down a pair of free throws. Brittany Chambers converted a three-point play moments later, and Kari Kincaid’s second three-pointer of the half put the Wildcats up for the 17:36 mark of the first half when they led 3-2.

After a Jaleshia Roberson free throw knotted the score at 57-57 with 2:59 to go, Chambers’ putback off an offensive rebound gave KSU the lead for good. Sweat made one of two attempts at the foul line at the 1:35 mark, but the Wildcats got another huge offensive board and Sweat made MSU pay, canning a three from the right wing to effectively seal the win.

The victory for Kansas State came after the Lady Bears shot lights-out in the first half and forced 11 Wildcat turnovers to build a 19-point lead. Missouri State got out of the gate in a hurry, using back-to-back three-pointers from Roberson to take a seven-point lead in the opening minutes. With the Lady Bears on top 4-3, Roberson drained a trey and drew a foul from Chambers. After the sophomore from Kansas City missed the free throw, Lacey Boshe grabbed the loose ball and fed Roberson for a long jumper from the left wing for a 10-3 lead.

Chambers briefly pulled the Wildcats to within two points with a pair of baskets, but the Lady Bears reeled off 11 unanswered points to stretch their advantage to 21-8 with just under 10 minutes to go in the half. MSU would go on to push the margin to 15 points on a Christiana Shorter steal and breakaway layup at the 8:15 mark to cap a 17-4 run.

Sweat answered with 10 straight points for the Wildcats to help pull the home team to within 11, but the Lady Bears came right back to score 12 of the next 16 points, extending the lead to 39-20 on a Jasmine Malone jumper with 1:43 to play in the first half.

MSU connected on 16-of-32 field goal attempts in the opening period and headed to the locker room with a 19-4 advantage in points scored off turnovers. Senior guard Melissa Busby came off the bench to spark the Lady Bear offense, totaling 11 first-half points on 4-of-5 shooting.

But the Lady Bear offense went cold just as the Wildcats heated up. MSU would convert only two field goals in the final 6:26 and KSU held leading scorer Casey Garrison to just seven points on 3-of-13 shooting, marking just the fourth time in her Lady Bear career that the Bolivar, Mo., native failed to reach double digits.

Shorter, who was named to the all-tournament team along with with Garrison, posted a career scoring high for the second straight day, going 5-of-9 from the floor to finish with a team-high 15 points.

Next up, the Lady Bears (4-3) return home Tuesday (Dec. 8) night for a 7:05 p.m. match-up with Tulsa, the first of two straight contests at JQH Arena.
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SPRINGFIELD -- The Missouri State men opened the second half on a 13-6 run and never looked back in a 58-48 win over Air Force at JQH Arena on Saturday in the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge Series.

The Bears trailed 28-27 at the half, but stormed back to tie the game early in the second stanza on a three-pointer by Kyle Weems after the Falcons scored the first basket of the second period. After the fifth tie of the game at the 16:04 mark of the second half, Weems would hit his fifth trey of the game to give the Bears a 37-34 advantage, and Missouri State would never trail again.

Weems' fifth three-pointer matched a career high, while his game-high 19 points helped the Bears improve to 7-0 for the first time since the 1996-97 season.

The Bears would reel off 11 of the game's next 15 points to build a 48-38 lead on a jumper by Jermaine Mallet with 8:49 to go. Adam Leonard would make Missouri State's last two field goals of the night, both three-pointers, down the stretch, and the Bears helped their conference tie the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge Series, two games apiece.

The second half comeback by the Bears followed a valiant run by the Falcons (4-2) who found themselves behind 15-4 less than five minutes into the ball game. Grant Parker paced a feverish comeback by the visitors, finishing the first 20 minutes with 12 points, including 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

AFA's deliberate offense worked to perfection as it outscored Missouri State 24-12 over the final 15:45 of the first half, frequently running the shot clock down to its final ticks before drawing a foul or finding an easy bucket. The Bears were called for 10 of the 13 fouls called in the first half, which led to the Falcons scoring 11 of their 28 first-half points at the line.

Just before the break, the Bears recaptured the lead briefly on a put-back by Michael Porter at the 1:28 mark, but Parker got to the line again before the half to give AFA a brief advantage, 28-27.

However, in the second half, Cuonzo Martin's team stepped up its defensive pressure, forcing 12 turnovers and holding Air Force to just six field goals in the half.

Meanwhile, the Bears got to the free throw line 13 times in the second period, making 10. MSU's offense hit a season-high 10 three-pointers, including five by Weems and four by Leonard who scored 16 in the game to secure his fourth straight double-figure scoring effort.

The Bears also got 9 points and a game-high 4 assists from Mallett, while Weems secured a team-high 8 rebounds.

Parker was held to just three points in the second half to finish with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Evan Washington added 14. Air Force shot .394 (13-for-33) for the game, while connecting on just 5-of-15 (.333) from beyond the arc.

The Bears owned a 29-25 rebounding advantage, including 11 offensive boards as the team shot a season-low .375 (18-for-48) from the field. Missouri State had just four turnovers in the second half to finish with 11 in the game and made a season-high 80-percent from the charity stripe (12-for-15).
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Elsewhere, Mizzou dominated Oregon 106-69; Arkansas broke a four-game losing skid with a 91-54 win over Mississippi Valley State; the Southwest Baptist men romped over Missouri Baptist 106-75; Missouri S&T lost both games to Quincy, falling 86-70 in the men's game and losing 89-70 in the women's game; and College of the Ozarks split its road games, with the men beating Trinity 70-60 while the women lost to Rio Grande 69-66.