The High Point University women's basketball team held on for a 65-63 overtime victory over the visiting Spartans of UNC Greensboro.

Leading the way for the Panthers was senior Katie O'Dell with 22 points. O'Dell shot 60-percent from the floor, going 9-of-15. She was also 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Sophomore Raven Truslow added 19 points of her own, shooting 58-percent and going 7-of-12 from the field. Junior guard Candyce Sellars dished the ball out nine times to lead both teams in the assists category.

For the Spartans Irene Otamiri led the team with 10 points, followed by Ashley Current with nine.

On the boards High Point freshman Caitlin Thys pulled down 11 rebounds, while O'Dell had seven. UNCG's KaLeah Latham grabbed 10 rebounds.

The game got off to a slow start with neither team scoring any points until 17:34 when High Point's Katie Ralls knocked down a jumper. The game remained close throughout the first half, with the largest lead being a seven point HPU lead. The Panthers took the 35-32 advantage into the intermission.

Going into the second half UNCG's Jasmine Byrd hit a three pointer to tie the game at 35. A jumper from O'Dell soon broke the tie and put the Panthers up by two. The second half continued to be a battle with six ties and three lead changes.

With 1:34 remaining in the contest the Spartans went up by four points when Otamiri hit a critical jumper to turn the ballgame into a two possession game. Going down the stretch UNCG committed some costly fouls to send O'Dell to the line with 1:15 to go. O'Dell hit both to cut the lead to two.

The Spartans again fouled at the 36 second mark to send Truslow to the charity stripe. She knocked down both free throws and sent the game into overtime knotted at 60.

During the overtime period the only offensive activity came from the free throw line. The Panthers hit 5-of-10 from the line while the Spartans only shot 3-of-4.

With the Panthers only up by two with 18 seconds to go, UNCG had an opportunity to win the game with possession of the ball. However High Point sealed the victory when Ralls stole the ball from Kemena Brooks with only three seconds remaining.

High Point played stifling defense, holding the Spartans to 34.7-percent from the floor and creating 23 Spartan turnovers. UNCG however held the advantage on the boards, out rebounding HPU 52-40.

The Panthers will travel to Colorado Springs, Colo. the weekend of Dec. 2-4 to participate in a tournament at the United States Air Force Academy. High Point will face Stephen F. Austin in the first round on Friday, Dec. 2. Game time is set for 9:30 p.m. eastern standard time (7:30 mtn).