The High Point University women's basketball team fell to Mid-American Conference foe Ohio, 82-70 on Friday in the first round of the FAU Invitational. The Panthers (5-6) will face the loser of the Campbell/FAU game on Saturday, Dec. 30, 2006.

Senior Candyce Sellars posted a season high 22 points to lead all HPU scorers. Sellars was 8-of-15 from the field including 6-of-8 from behind the arc. Amber Manuel and Ayonna Thompson each added 12.

For the Bobcats (7-4) Domenica Silva connected for 19 points. Lauren Kohn and Simone Redd each had 15 while Rachel Frederick recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Ohio started out strong, jumping out to an early 7-0 lead at 16:14 before the Panthers got on the board with a layup from Manuel. The Panthers would rally to pull within two at 11:48 from a three pointer by Sellars. Ohio would answer with a 19-7 run to take their largest lead (22-34, 12 points) of the half at the 2:53 mark. HPU would close the gap with a jumper from Thompson to end the first period down by seven, 36-29.

Coming out of the intermission the Bobcats jumped out to increase the margin by 15 (31-46) at the 17:11 mark off a jumper from Quintana Ward. High Point would again cut into the lead to pull within nine off a three pointer by Thompson at the 13:40 mark. The Bobcats held the Panthers to just one basket over the next five minutes. At 8:53 the Bobcats took the largest lead of the game, going up by 22 points off a pair of free throws from Silva. Sellars would hit back-to-back three pointers on the Panther's next two possessions to spark a 17-10, HPU run and bring HPU within 12 with just over a minute left to play. That is as close as the Panthers would get as Ohio held on for the win.

Ohio held the advantage on the glass, outrebounding HPU, 49-28. High Point's bench produced 28 points while Ohio's had 15. Both teams were even in both second chance points and fast break points at 13 and 6, respectively. The Panthers' defense forced 22 Bobcat turnovers to 14 HPU turnovers.

The Panthers will be back on the court on Saturday, Dec. 30 when they face the loser of the Campbell/ Florida Atlantic game which will be decided later this afternoon.