Springfield, Mo. – The SBU women's basketball team traveled down Hwy 13 to battle rival Drury University. The Bearcats shocked the O'Reilly Event Center as they upset the 12^th ranked team in the Nation winning 66-65. This is SBU's first win over Drury in Springfield since 2010, collecting their third ever win against the Panthers. They move to 5-5 (2-3 GLVC) on the season.
 
"All glory to God! We have an amazingly persistent team and this win feels amazing not just because it's against Drury but more importantly it allows these girls to show themselves how great they can be!" Head Coach Wyketha Harrell said, "Drury is a great team with great coaches. They have a winning culture that makes you have to be at your best to succeed. I told my girls there is no secret to success, there are only patterns. I challenged them to continue to build what that pattern looks like for us."
 
The Bearcat defense came up big in the win holding the Panthers to only 65 points, when they average 77 points a game. They forced the Panthers into 16 total turnovers, creating offense from defense with 17 points off turnovers. "I'm a defensive coach and today's game theme was 'Defend 2 win.' It was a perfect ending that we needed to get one stop to win!!"
 
It was a whole team effort in the win today as 10 different Bearcats scored and six scored 6 points or more in the win. Junior Claudia Vanzant led the entire team with 15 points  going 6-9 from the field while pulling down five rebounds. Fellow junior Bianca Oliver scored her second straight double-digit with 10 today and had a career high four steals. Senior Kallyn Stumbo continued to perform at a high level, playing 37 total minutes pulling down nine rebounds, dishing out three assists and 1 steal. She also scored the game winning basket in the final minute of the game.
 
"I am so proud of our team! Our coaches prepared us well, and all of our players had big moments stepping up when we really needed it. I am so proud of how we stayed together and battled to earn a big win!" -Stumbo
 
The women's basketball team will now head to Christmas break for three weeks. They will return to action on Saturday December 30^th as they host Hannibal-LaGrange. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:00pm in the Meyer Center.