SPRINGFIELD, IL --- The Prairie Stars outscored the 12^th ranked team in the nation by 12 points over the final 13 minutes of the game, but the #12 Drury Panthers held on for the 77-62 win. UIS (8-14, 2-12) had a slow start to the second half but outscored the Panthers (19-3, 12-2) 37-25 over the final quarter and three minutes. Caroline Kelty had a team-high 13 points off the bench while Syerra Cunningham grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

The two teams traded baskets early in the game as the Prairie Stars took early leads on consecutive jumpers by Shelbi Patterson, give UIS an 8-7 lead. After a three from Panther, Annie Armstrong, Prairie Star senior, Meredith Marti responded with one of her own to give UIS another lead at 11-10.

Drury then used a 10-0 run to take a nine-point lead and grabbed control of the game in the first half. Two free throws from Morgan Knorr cut the deficit to 22-15 after the first ten minutes of play.

The Prairie Stars cut the Drury lead to five on two occasions, but seven first half three pointers allowed the Panthers to take a 40-25 lead after the first half of play. The Panthers shot 7-of-13 from deep in the first half against the second best three-point defense in the GLVC.

To begin the second half, the Panthers used a 12-0 run to take a 27-point lead, their biggest of the game. UIS didn't record their first basket of the second half until the 3:39 mark on a layup from Cunningham. However, from this point on, the Prairie Stars outplayed the Panthers, and ended the quarter on a 12-7 run.

It was much of the same in the fourth quarter, as the Prairie Stars outscored the Panthers 25-18 but couldn't get the deficit under 14 points. Kelty had nine points in the fourth quarter alone, as part of her team-high 13 point effort.

Freshman guard, Chasitee Shroyer, had eight points on the night, hitting 2-of-2 from deep and making two free throws as well. Of Cunningham's 12 rebounds, six came on the offensive end, helping towards 21 second chance points for the Prairie Stars.

In the end, Drury hit shots when they needed to, shooting 50 percent from the field and 13-of-23 from three, good for 56.5 percent.

The Prairie Stars will look to bounce back on Saturday, as they take on Missouri S&T at 1 pm.