(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) — After outscoring the 16th-ranked Drury Lady Panthers, 34-27 in the first half, the Jennies allowed 46 points in the final 20 minutes, dropping a 73-70 decision on Monday night at the Multipurpose Building.
The Jennies (6-3) received a strong offensive showing from senior forward Revonnia Howard (27 points) and junior Shelby Winkelmann(24 points), but no other Jennie scored more than eight points in the loss.
The game’s first 8:52 was highlighted by five ties, the largest lead by either team standing at three points. With the game knotted at 19-19, Drury pulled ahead by four points, capped off by a three from Annie Armstrong, who finished with four three-pointers on the evening.
After the Jennies and Lady Panthers traded baskets on the next two possessions, sophomore Andee Wahlert found senior Jasmine Thompson for a layup to even the contest at 25-25 with 5:41 to go in the first half.
Central Missouri regained the lead following a pair of free throws from Winkelmann, but Drury’s Paige Wilson responded with a jumper to bring the score to 27 apiece with 3:32 left in the opening half.
UCM closed out the half on a 7-0 run, the final three points coming on a three-pointer by Winkelmann with 1:31 left to put the Jennies up 34-27. Winkelmann dropped 16 of her 24 points on Drury in the first 20 minutes.
The second half saw the Jennies score six of the first eight points, establishing a nine-point edge, but the Lady Panthers went on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 44-41 with 14:45 left in the game.
UCM came out of a 30-second timeout with 14:43 left and scored eight unanswered points to build a 52-41 lead. Five of those eight points belonged to Winkelmann.
The two teams exchanged buckets for the next three possessions, but Drury was able to slice the deficit to six following a trey by Shelby White with 11:15 remaining.
The Jennies’ lead went back to seven at 58-51 with just over 10 minutes to go, but four free throws from Drury brought the Lady Panthers back to within 58-55.
Following a layup by Howard, Drury’s Annie Armstrong nailed a triple to close the gap to two points, and Sanayika Shields would tie the game at 60-60 on a jumper with 6:15 left in the game, It marked the game’s first tie since 3:32 left in the first half (27-27).
Six lead changes ensued over the next 4:05, as Drury went up by two points with 2:10 remaining. A free throw by Shields increased the Jennies’ deficit to 71-68, but UCM’s Thompson came back to sink a pair of free throws to make it a one-point game with 40 seconds left.
Following a timeout, Addy Roller missed a jumper, but the Jennies were unable to re-claim the lead after Thompson missed a layup with four seconds left. Drury sank two free throws following a technical foul from Central Missouri’s bench with a second remaining.
With .07 seconds left, Breonna Embray stole the Drury inbounds pass and UCM called a timeout to set up one last play. Senior Justina Prairie Chief inbounded the ball to Winkelmann who hit glass on a turnaround three-point attempt, bringing the game to a 73-70 final in favor of Drury.
The loss extended the Jennies’ losing streak to Drury to three games. It was just the fourth loss in the last 32 games against non-conference opponents for UCM. Central Missouri’s bench produced just two points.
The Jennies look to get back on the winning track on Thursday for a conference matchup with Central Oklahoma. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at the Multipurpose Building.