Drury reaches title game but Central Missouri falls just short in Division II semis
The dream of a bringing a national championship trophy home to Missouri is alive for one Division II women’s basketball team but ended for another Wednesday at the NCAA Tournament in Columbus, Ohio.
Central Missouri narrowly missed out on making it an all Show-Me State final when it failed to protect a halftime lead and lost to No. 1 seed Lubbock Christian 63-61 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Drury secured its spot in Friday’s title game by beating No. 2 seed Lander 74-65.
The Jennies led 33-28 at halftime thanks to a strong defensive effort that held Lubbock Christian to 37.9% shooting from the field with only one three-pointer. At that point, it seemed like their impressive postseason play was going to continue long enough for them to survive and advance one more time in this tournament.
But they ultimately didn’t have enough scoring punch to keep pace with Lubbock Christian (22-0), which pulled ahead thanks in large part to 24 points from Allie Schulte. It seized control in the fourth quarter when it moved ahead 58-50 and held Central Missouri without a field goal for several minutes. But the Jennies battled back to within two over the final moments and had a chance to take the lead.
Central Missouri attempted three three-pointers on its final possession but couldn’t get the first one to fall and Lubbock Christian blocked the final two shots.
“It didn’t end the way we wanted,” Central Missouri coach Dave Slifer said.
The Jennies (23-5) were that close to advancing.
“I am extremely proud of what our group accomplished,” Slifer said. “It is unfortunate we came up a little bit short, but that is the game of basketball. Today was Lubbock Christian’s time to win.”
Brooke Litrell led Central Missouri with 16 points, while Nija Collier and Olivia Nelson both scored 11 points.
No. 3 seed Drury reached the championship game thanks to 26 points from national player of the year Paige Robinson and some strong defense down the stretch of a close game against Lander.
The Panthers ended the night on a 7-0 run to pull away in an otherwise back-and-forth game.
Coach Amy Eagan wasn’t surprised by the victory, but how it happened was a bit of a shock.
“I never thought I would say this,” she said, “but a zone won us that game. That is something we don’t typically play much of here at Drury, but we really locked in with it today.”
That zone defense helped limit Lander to 37.1% shooting from the field, but Zamiya Passmore was still a handful as she scored a game high 27 points.
The combination of Azia Lynch (22 points) and Robinson helped counter that and push Drury over the top.
“We are at an all time high right now,” Robinson said. “Coming into this year we didn’t think we were going to make it this far, but we stuck together and obviously we deserve to be here.”
Drury (24-1) will play Lubbock Christian for the Division II championship at 7 p.m. Friday.
“It feels great, but we aren’t done yet,” Eagan said. “We have got one more. I want us to enjoy this and celebrate this, but we have to get back to work and get ready for our next opponent. Our players are locked in, they want to win. We have one more to get before we walk out of here feeling the best.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2021 at 10:35 PM.