Box Score
Two champions met on the hardwood in Springfield, Illinois, Sunday afternoon, but only won left with all the Great Lakes Valley Conference marbles. Drury defeated the UW-Parkside women's basketball team, 68-63, in the league's championship game.
The game lived up to its billing on the league's biggest stage.
The Panthers jumped to an early 17-10 lead. All 10 of the Ranger points were scored by Brittany Hogen, who along with teammate Amanda Gibson, made the all-tournament team.
The Rangers caught the Panthers at 18-18 on a hoop underneath by Brittany Beyer with 6:26 to go in the first half. This was part of a 12-1 Ranger run which saw the team extend a margin to 29-22 on a three-ball by Jadee Rooney.
UWP led by seven points at half and took their biggest lead of the afternoon of 10 on the first possession of the second stanza. Again, it was Jadee Rooney canning a shot from behind the arc.
From there, Drury made its move and ran down the Rangers at 45-45 on a three-ball from Lindsay Ballweg with 11:30 to play. Ballweg then broke free underneath on the Panthers' next possession to give her team the lead.
Down the stretch, with the score 64-60 Drury, Panther Katie Pritchard came up big to hit a three-pointer at the top of the key for a seven point lead. Rooney came back to hit another trey with 42 ticks left to bring the score back to 67-63, but that was to be the end of the Rangers' scoring.
The Rangers will await word to see who they will play in the NCAA tournament which starts Friday. You can watch the selection show at 8 p.m. Central Time by going to www.ncaa.com