The No. 4 Drury Panthers gave the No. 1 Ashland Eagles a run for their money at their home court Saturday night.

The Panthers ended the Eagles’ season in Kate’s Gymnasium, 60-86.

“Disappointing, obviously, to lose. Anytime it’s your last game it’s hard,” said Ashland head coach Robyn Fralick.

The Eagles were able to come out on top early, with a 3-pointer from junior guard Kelsey Peare with 13 seconds into the game, followed by a layup from sophomore Andi Daugherty. But the Panthers answered back with a 3-pointer from Annie Armstrong.

From that play forward, Ashland had a hard time keeping up with the Panthers.

Drury grabbed the lead after a 3-point shot from Addy Roller in the first quarter and were able to capitalize throughout the remainder of the first quarter.

With six minutes left in the second period, the Eagles were able to cut their deficit to two points, 27-25, but the Panthers quickly extended their advantage to 40-30 going into halftime.

When it came down to the final quarter, Drury shut out the Eagles in the fourth quarter after a 13-2 run, getting up by as much as 26 before the final buzzer.

Drury outshot the Eagles behind the arc with 44% compared to the Eagles’ 23.8%. The Panthers also shot strong from the field with 51.7%.

Drury’s Paige Wilson came on strong off the bench with back-to-back three-point shots in the last five minutes of the game. Hannah Dressler also contributed crucial offensive and defensive plays, helping the Panthers stay on top.

“I thought Drury played really well,” said Fralick. “I think it came down to [us] doing a better job executing. We made mistakes, and they’re a good team. When we made mistakes, they capitalized on those.”

Daugherty ended the night with 18 points, followed by Alex Henning with 11 points. Sophomore forward Laina Snyder also contributed 10 points, five assists and collected nine rebounds.

“No one wanted to lose tonight,” Daugherty said. “In the locker room, we were discussing how tonight can’t define our season. It was just a fun ride; thirty one-and-two is amazing.”

“Disappointing game but I’m really proud of the kids,” said Fralick. “One game doesn’t define your season and we lost to a good team.”

Seniors McKenzie Miller and Jamie Sobczak also saw their Eagle careers come to an end.

“We don’t have the season we have unless we have the seniors we have on our team,” said Fralick. “Kenzie and Jamie have given so much to the program. There’s so much that comes into winning and great seniors are a huge component of that. We had Kenzie and Jamie.”

Miller, the last player from the 2013 Division II national championship team, won 111 games in her four seasons.

“Not many people get to be a part of a program that’s a winning program,” Miller said. “I was lucky enough to have teammates that got me here.”

As Fralick reflected on her first season as a collegiate head coach, she said “I get to coach great kids, so it’s made my first year pretty simple. I’m really, really fortunate that I get to coach great kids.”

The Eagles ended the 2015-16 season 31-2.