NKU's Tiara Hopper scored nine points against Drury.
Box score
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The Northern Kentucky University women's basketball team could not recover from a 15-point halftime deficit and dropped a 63-55 decision at Drury on Saturday.
Bethanie Funderburk netted 14 of her 23 points in the second half to lead Drury, which improved to 11-4 overall, 6-1 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Lady Panthers finished with a 48-35 rebounding advantage and snapped NKU's seven-game winning streak.
Katie Pritchard added 18 points for Drury, which used a 10-0 run in the first half to extend an 11-10 lead into a 21-10 advantage. Funderburk and Pritchard both buried 3-pointers to key the spurt by the Panthers, who took a 39-24 lead into the break.
Drury extended its lead to 17 points early in the second half and still owned a 15-point advantage with less than five minutes remaining, but NKU used a 12-2 run to cut the Lady Panther advantage to 60-55 with 20 seconds left on the clock. Drury converted three free throws in the final seconds to seal its fifth consecutive win.
Casse Mogan scored 12 points to lead NKU, which dropped to 11-3 overall, 4-2 in the GLVC.
Ellen Holton added 11 points and seven rebounds.
Tiara Hopper finished with nine points and five rebounds for the Norse, who shot 34.5 percent from the field.
Maria Bennett knocked down a trio of 3-pointers for her nine points, and
Jaimie Hamlet also finished with nine points. Drury, which denied NKU in its attempt at reaching the 800-win milestone on Saturday, holds a 6-5 lead in the all-time series with the Norse.
NKU is now 799-303 all-time in women's basketball.
NKU will attempt to claim its 800th all-time victory Monday with a road game at Bellarmine at 5:45 p.m. Bellarmine is winless (0-6) in the GLVC and has lost five straight games entering Monday's contest.
