High Point had four players in double figures as the Panthers defeated Charleston Southern, 64-58 on Tuesday night in the Millis Center. HPU improves to 13-8, 6-1 while CSU falls to 9-13, 1-6.

Senior Leslie Cook led the way with 16 points. Freshman Ashlee Samuels connected for a career-high 15 on 7-of-9 from the field while Ayonna Thompson and Caitlin Thys had 11 and 10, respectively. Thys also had a game-high 12 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Amber Manuel had a career-high 11 boards.

For the Bucs Pam Tolbert had a game-high 19 points while Keena Wicker dropped in 18.

High Point jumped out to an early 12 point lead as Cook hit four three pointers in the first five minutes of the contest. The Buccaneers cut the lead to four with 10:41 left off a jumper from Wicker before the Panthers responded with a 14-8 run, highlighted by back-to-back jumpers from Samuels and a pair of threes from Thompson, to take a 32-22 advantage into the break.

Coming out of the intermission CSU opened with a 14-6 run to tie the game at the 14:48 when Rachel Potts hit the Bucs' first three pointer of the game. The two teams battled over the next two minutes, but the Buccaneers were never able to take the lead from the Panthers in the second half. CSU was just down by four with 12:03 left, but HPU went on another run to go up 60-46 at 4:34 with a three by Candyce Sellars. Charleston would again cut the lead to single digits in the final minute, but the Panther defense held off the Bucs for the win.

"It was a good team effort tonight," said High Point head coach Tooey Loy. "But we played very flat. Our defense slowed down in the second half, but we were able to wake up toward the end. Ashlee [Samuels] works everyday and that work really paid off tonight."

High Point held the slight 44-40 advantage on the boards, while Charleston had more points in the paint, 28-20. The Panther's bench stepped up tonight, outscoring the Bucs' bench, 28-6.

The Panthers will return to the court on Saturday, Feb. 10 when they travel to Lynchburg, Va. to face Big South foe Liberty. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. in the Vines Center.