Senior guard Leslie Cook scored her 1000th collegiate point as she led High Point past UNC Ashville, 59-53, on Wednesday night in the Millis Center. High Point improves to 16-9 (9-2 Big South) while Asheville falls to 15-11 (6-5 Big South).

Cook had a game-high 12 points in the win, while sophomore Caitlin Thys added 10 points and pulled down 14 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Amber Manuel had 12 boards.

For the Bulldogs, Amanda Elder had 11 points. Brittany Hendley, Kyla Jones and Rachel Williams each had nine.

The opening minutes of the game saw three ties before Asheville went on a short 7-0 run highlighted by a three pointer and jumper from Hendley to give the Bulldogs the 14-7 advantage at 11:57. HPU responded with a 9-0 run in which Jennifer Long scored five points for the Panthers. Andrea Tucker hit a jumper on the Panthers' next possession to give High Point the 16-14 lead with 9:21 left in the half. Elder responded with back-to back baskets to put the Bulldogs on top again.

Over the final nine minutes of the opening period there were four ties and five lead changes with the final tie coming with 33 seconds left when Williams connected on a lay-up. Tucker nailed a last second lay-up to give High Point the 31-29 advantage going into the break.

The Panthers came out strong in the second half, going on an 8-3 run to take a 39-32 lead at 14:45. Asheville would retaliate to tie the game for the 11th time at 12:46 on a jumper from Williams. The Bulldogs would continue their run to go by as many as six (48-42) at 9:47 on another made shot from Williams.

Following an HPU time-out at the 9:39 mark, Candyce Sellars would hit back-to-back baskets to bring the Panthers within two before a missed lay-up by Elder gave the ball back to HPU to set-up Tucker for a game tying lay-up (8:24). Both teams would go scoreless over the next three minutes when Thys would break the draught on a jumper to give HPU the 50-48 lead with just over five minutes left to play. Asheville would tie the game two more times, including a 53-53 tie with 3:17 remaining, but were unable retake the lead as HPU scored the final six points of the game.

"We played good defense and were able to create some turnovers," said HPU head coach Tooey Loy. "This is always a close game between these two teams so it's always nice when you can walk away with the win."

The Panthers held the advantage on the boards, outrebounding UNCA 53-48. High Point forced 18 turnovers.

HPU will be back in action on Saturday when they face Coastal Carolina in the first stop on the annual "beach trip." Game time is set for 5:00 p.m. in Kimbel Arena.