Junior Amber Manuel scored 14 points and pulled down 18 rebounds to lead High Point past Winthrop, 57-49 on Saturday in the Millis Center. With the win the Panthers (18-10, 11-3 Big South) claim the Big South regular season title and earn a number one seed in next week's Big South Tournament hosted by UNC Asheville.

Head coach Tooey Loy also earned his 100th career victory tonight in six seasons at the helm of the Panthers.

Seniors Candyce Sellars and Leslie Cook had 14 and 10 points, respectively.

For the Eagles (5-25, 2-12, Big South) Ashley Fann had 20 points while Ashley Haugtvedt added nine.

Both teams started the game slow with only 10 points total scored in the opening ten minutes of the game with HPU holding a 6-4 lead at 10:31. The second half of the opening period saw more shots fall as High Point took their largest lead of the game at the 2:35 mark when Cook connected for three to give the Panthers the 22-10 advantage. 

Winthrop would connect on consecutive possessions with layups from Fann and Franchesca Davenport to cut the lead to eight (22-14) going in to the break.

The Eagles would open the second period with a 6-1 run to close the gap to 23-20 off a three pointer from Fann, but HPU's Cook would hit back-to-back jumpers to give the Panthers a 27-20 lead at 15:27.

Winthrop would again rally to tie the game at the 9:23 mark with a lay-up from Yvonne van Daalen, but a jumper from Erica Brockmyer on the Panthers' trip down the court would hold off the Eagles. Winthrop would again tie the game at the 8:16 mark when Fann connected for two to knot the score at 31. A three pointer from Sellars followed by a steal and lay-up from Katie Ralls would put the Panthers back in the front by five at 7:43.

HPU would go on an 11-8 run to take an eight point lead with just over two minutes left in the game, but Winthrop rallied to pull within four, 51-47, with 30 seconds left in the contest. The Panthers were a perfect 4-of-4 from the line in the final seconds to seal the victory.

"We played solid defense for forty minutes tonight," said Loy. "Without our defense we wouldn't have won tonight's game. We were also able to make our free throws tonight which were the key down toward the end of the game."
 

The Panthers held the slight 48-44 advantage on the boards. High Point shot 66.7-percent from the line while Winthrop shot 47.8-percent. HPU had eight steals with Ralls and Sellars each having three.

High Point will travel to UNC Asheville for a first round tournament game to be played at noon on Thursday, March 8 in the Justice Center. Seedings for the tournament will be announced by the conference office on Sunday.