The High Point University women's basketball team put together a late game rally to pull within nine in the final minutes after falling behind 25 in the second half, but it was too late as Georgia Southern held on for the 80-69 win over the Panthers on Wednesday night in Millis Athletic Center.

Freshman Shamia Brown poured in a career-high 20 points to lead the Panthers (2-5) while pulling down a team-high nine rebounds. Jurica Hargraves posted 12 points.

For the Eagles (5-2) Ashley Melson tallied 24 points to lead a trio of players in double figures. Ashley Rivens added 15 points while J'Lisia Ogburn notched 11. Jessica Geiger had a game best 12 rebounds, and Carolyn Whitney dished out 10 assists. Georgia Southern shot an impressive 51.8-percent from the field and shot 41.2-percent from behind the arc.

"Georgia Southern played a very good game," said HPU head coach Tooey Loy. "We didn't adjust well or go after their shooters like we needed to. They were really able to get their feet set and get off their shots."

Georgia Southern came out on fire to open the contest, making their first seven baskets to go on top 16-0. The Eagles led 20-4 before High Point went on a run to cut the lead to 10 with 9:56 on the clock. GSU held off the surge and responded to take its largest lead of the half, up 17 (32-15) with just over six minutes to go. The Panthers refused to go away though and rallied with a 15-7 run to close the gap to single digits, 30-39 with 46 seconds left in the half. Georgia Southern connected on a three pointer just before the break to take a 12 point, 42-30 lead into the intermission.

The Eagles started the second half much like the first, opening with a 22-9 run to take their largest lead of the game (64-39) at the 12:31 mark. Georgia Southern looked to run away with the game as they held on to a 20 point lead with 5:38 to go, but High Point refused to back down as they cut the lead to 11 with just over a minute to play. GSU extended their lead back to 15 off charity shots, but back-to-back three pointers from the Panthers pulled HPU to within nine with 20 seconds to go. The Panthers were unable to get any more shots off in the final seconds.

"I have to hand it to our team though," Loy said. "We didn't quit even though we were down by twenty toward the end of the game. I thought we really got a good run on them at the end, but unfortunately it was just a little too late."

HPU and GSU were close on the boards with the Eagles holding the slight 39-37 advantage. The Panthers forced 23 turnovers while turning the ball over 18 times.

The Panthers will be back in action on Friday, Nov. 5 when they travel to South Carolina. Game time for the match-up against the Gamecocks is set for 7:00 p.m. a Colonial Life Arena.