Drury women fall just short of Division II championship against Lubbock Christian
When fans look back on this season from the Drury women’s basketball team, they will remember it as one of the best in program history. But it won’t be immortalized with a championship trophy.
The Panthers fell just short of a national title at the Division II NCAA Tournament on Friday when they lost to Lubbock Christian 69-59 in the championship game at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.
It was a disappointing end to an otherwise magnificent season that featured 24 victories and two losses.
“It just wasn’t our night,” Drury coach Amy Eagan said. “I am super proud of these two kids sitting beside me as well as the entire team and everything they did all season.”
Drury has come close to winning the biggest prize in its sport several times during the team’s brief 21-year history. The Panthers have gone 544-111, which gives them the best winning percentage in all of Division II women’s basketball over that time. And they have twice played for a national championship.
But they are still waiting to bring home that elusive trophy.
Drury also lost to Lubbock Christian in the 2019 semifinals.
No. 1 seed Lubbock Christian, which went undefeated this season, made it clear early on that it was the better team in Friday’s game. Lubbock Christian jumped out to a 28-14 lead on the No. 3 seed Panthers and controlled things from there.
With the win, Lubbock Christian claimed its third national championship.
Lubbock Christian led 32-24 at halftime behind a hot start from Madelyn Turner. After trailing by as many as 14, Drury did well to cut the lead down to a manageable number at the break thanks to an impressive scoring effort from Paige Robinson.
Drury fell behind by as many as 21 in the fourth quarter, and the game appeared over. But the Panthers showed grit down the stretch by going on a 17-2 run that cut the score down to 62-56 in the final two minutes.
“We have been resilient all year,” Eagan said. “That is the character of all of them. I am proud of them for fighting back.”
Suddenly, they had a chance. And a storybook ending seemed within reach when Allie Clevenger made a three-pointer with 57.8 seconds remaining that cut Lubbock Christian’s lead to three.
“Not a lot of teams would do that,” Robinson added. “They would have just given up. We didn’t do that. We fought back and made it a game.”
But Lubbock Christian clinched the game by making free throws in the final moments.
Allie Schulte led Lubbock Christian with 18 points.
Robinson led the way for Drury with 20 points, and Emily Parker added 15 points.
The emotions of the loss hit Drury players hard when the final buzzer sounded and Lubbock Christian players poured onto the court to celebrate. Robinson went straight to the bench and pulled her jersey over her head. Some of her teammates were in tears.
Their memorable season didn’t have a happy ending, but was memorable nonetheless.