Upset Bid Comes Up Short As Truman Falls In OT

BOX SCORE (OT)
NCAA Division II Midwest Regional (Quarterfinals)

No. 1 Drury (Mo.) 74 (25-3 overall)
Leading Scorer: Annie Armstrong 22 points
No. 8 Truman (Mo.) State University 68 (22-9 overall)
Leading Scorer: Nicole Gloor 15 points

Highlight: Annie Armstrong's runner with 10 seconds left tied the game in regulation and in the overtime period, top-seeded Drury Lady Panthers outlasted the Truman Bulldogs 74-68 in the first round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Truman Women's Basketball team's ride in March Madness came to an end as they pushed top-seeded Drury Lady Panthers to overtime before falling 74-68 in the first round of the NCAA Division II Midwest Regional.

Drury's Annie Armstrong took advantage of a pair of Bulldog turnovers in the final minute of play to tie the game at 65 with 10 seconds left in regulation. Amy Briggs tried to win it at the buzzer but her runner was off to the side sending the teams into an extra five minutes.

In overtime and with the Lady Panthers up two, Allie Norton's three-pointer from the left baseline was a tad long with 11 seconds left and Drury was able to corral the rebound and make foul shots to move on in the tournament.

The Bulldogs had a nine-point lead in the first half before Drury's Amber Dvorak scored eight of the next 10 points for the Lady Panthers and the home team wound up with a five-point halftime lead at 35-30.

Drury came out in the second and took their largest advantage at 47-37 with 15:02 left.

Truman, with six from Bianca Szafarowicz, went on a 13-2 run to take a 50-49 lead at the midway point of the period.

The teams exchanged the lead five times over the next eight plus minutes with Armstrong putting Drury up 63-62 with a minute and a half left to play.

With the crowd rising and urging the Lady Panthers on for a defensive stop, Amy Briggs buried a deep three-pointer to bring the Truman crowd to their feet and put the Bulldogs up 65-63. The Bulldogs drew Armstrong into an offensive foul but after a Truman timeout, Szafarowicz slipped trying to plant after breaking the press and was whistled for traveling.

Szafarowicz made up for it on the defensive end as her and Michalina Tomczak tied up Funderburk forcing a jump ball with Truman having the arrow. On the inbounds play, Briggs was nudged and fell to the floor bring another tie-up with 23 seconds left. Drury called timeout and Armstrong hit the running lay-up with 10 seconds left to tie the game.

The Lady Panthers outscored the Bulldogs 9-3 in the extra period.

Armstrong was 7-of-11 from the field and 8-of-8 from the line for her 22 points in 43 minutes. Dvorak finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds while the Lady Panthers shot 52% from the field and won the boards 43-27.

Nicole Gloor led five Bulldogs in double-figures with 15 points while Szafarowicz added 14, Norton 13, Briggs 11 and Tomczak with 10. Truman shot 37% from the field, just 66% from the foul line and were a 6-of-24 from long range.

The Bulldogs season comes to an end with by tying the 1998-99 squad with the most wins in school history at 22-9. It was their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 15 years and they captured the program's first conference title by winning the Great Lakes Valley Conference postseason tournament.

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