EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The sun will come out tomorrow, indeed, thanks once again to Annie Armstrong.
Armstrong added to her late-game legend, nailing a 19-footer as the buzzer sounded to lift No. 10 Drury to a 91-89 Great Lakes Valley Conference victory against Southern Indiana Saturday afternoon at the Physical Activities Center.
Armstrong, who also hit a buzzer-beater for a win against Montana State-Billings in Las Vegas on December 20, helped the Lady Panthers escape after letting a seven-point lead get away in a span of 34 seconds inside the final minute.
Drury led 89-82 after two Shelby White free throws, but turnovers against the USI full-court pressure saw the Screaming Eagles (9-3, 3-1) close the gap quickly. Two free throws by Autumn Miller with 19 seconds left after an Armstrong turnover and a foul on DU's Sanayika Shields, had it knotted at 89.
The Lady Panthers patiently worked it around for the final shot, eventually finding Armstrong at the top of the key, as she pulled up and let what appeared to be a 3-pointer fly - one that swished through as the buzzer sounded, sending the DU bench into celebration.
No. 1 Bentley 83, Southern Connecticut State 66
WALTHAM, Mass. -- Senior All-America forward Lauren Battista buried a career-best three trifectas and finished with a game-high 25 points as Bentley, the number one-ranked Division II team in the country, stayed unbeaten with an 83-66 win against Southern Connecticut State in Northeast-10 Conference play Saturday afternoon at the Dana Center.
Battista's 25 points elevated her career total to 1,738 and moved her past Danielle Chaisson into third place on Bentley's all-time scoring list. She trails number two Allison Fay by 54 points and is 62 back of all-time leader Kelly Barker.
Bentley, which overcame its biggest deficit of the season (9 points midway through the first half), improved to 14-0 overall (9-0 NE-10) with the victory number 896 for coach Barbara Stevens. Southern Connecticut fell to 6-8 overall and 2-6 in the conference.
No. 3 Emporia State 80, No. 8 Central Missouri 67
EMPORIA, Kan. -- The sixth-ranked Jennies had their seven-game win streak snapped by No. 3 Emporia State 80-67 on Saturday night at the William L. White Auditorium.
The Jennies (12-2, 6-1 MIAA) started out fast, jumping to a 15-8 lead 5:15 into the game and stretching the lead to as many as 10 over the Lady Hornets (16-0, 7-0 MIAA) in the opening half.
However, UCM's lead quickly evaporated over the next 7:02 as Emporia State's Laura Patrick, Amber Vandiver and Merissa Quick combined for 15 points en route to a 17-5 run to knot the game at 26-26.
The two teams exchanged leads two times before Emporia State ended the half scoring four unanswered points, taking a 35-31 lead into halftime. The Jennies were outscored 10-2 in bench points and 11-6 in points off turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Emporia State's Desiree Wylie scored four points in under a minute to help increase the Lady Hornets' lead to 10 at 43-33 with 15:40 remaining. ESU maintained their offensive intensity, outscoring UCM, 9-4, reaching their biggest advantage of the game at 52-37.
No. 4 Nova Southeastern 77, Palm Beach Atlantic 64
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Nova Southeastern held off a pesky Palm Beach Atlantic squad on Saturday afternoon, winning 77-64 at the Rubin Arena.
The Sharks (12-0) led by eight at the half and started out the second by scoring the first eight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Danielle Robinson. They pushed the lead to 19, 56-37, with 13:27 left.
PBA (7-12) scored the next 10 to push it back down to single digits 56-47 at the 10:35 mark. It was still nine just under a minute later, before the Sharks had an 11-4 run to create some breathing room. Taylor Buie and Alexis Murphy each had two consecutive layups during the stretch.
Though the lead was back up to 16 with 6:53 to go (67-51), again the Sailfish would quickly again get it under 10. This time they scored nine of the next 10 to make it a 68-60 game (3:49). Amanda Burakoski hit a big 3-pointer on the very next possession, with 2:59 left, to stop the home team's momentum. NSU made 4-of-4 free throws in the final 32 seconds to provide the final margin.
No. 7 West Texas A&M 73, Cameron 66
LAWTON, Okla. -- For the second consecutive year, No. 7 West Texas A&M fought off a furious rally by Cameron for a 73-66 victory. With the win, WT improved to 11-1 on the year and 2-0 in Lone Star Conference play, while Cameron fell to 8-4 and 0-2 in league play.
Cameron pulled within 69-65 with 1:20 left on an "and one" by Lacy Reinke. Off a miss by the Lady Buffs, junior Jordan Vessels took a big charge in transition giving the ball back to WT with 42.6 seconds left.
After a turnover by WT, the Aggies had the ball with 41.4 seconds left. A traveling call against CU gave the ball back to WT with 32.8 left. Senior Casey Land was fouled in the backcourt with 25.4 left, making 1 of 2 shots as senior Devin Griffin came up with a huge offensive rebound as Land returned to the line with 20 seconds left. She made one of two once again for the 73-66 win.
No. 9 Seattle Pacific 63, Montana State-Billings 57
SEATTLE – Betsy Kingma found her shooting touch again – and the Seattle Pacific Falcons found the win column again.
Kingma scored a season-high 15 points, Katie Benson recorded a double-double, and Suzanna Ohlsen added 15 points as the Falcons defeated Montana State-Billings on Saturday afternoon, 63-57.
Junior guard Kingma got all 15 of her points behind the 3-point arc. In fact, all seven of her shots were from downtown, as she hit five of them.
Kingma's previous season high was 13 in a 66-63 victory against UC San Diego on Nov. 22 – a game she won with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
