The High Point University women's basketball team fell short on Saturday dropping a 68-59 decision to Big South rival UNC Asheville in the Justice Center.

Leading the Panthers (11-15, 7-6 Big South) was sophomore Frances Fields who tallied a career high 17 points. Fields also dished out eight assists and pulled down six boards. Jurica Hargraves added 14 points while Mackenzie Maier and Shamia Brown each had 10. High Point blocked 11 shots as a team to tie the school single game record. Maier posted three of those blocks.

The Bulldogs (10-16, 7-6 Big South) were led on Senior Day by their two senior starters. Ana Baker notched 20 points and Jessica Monroe tallied 13. Lindsey Montgomery had 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Kendall Shepard also added 11.

HPU and UNCA played a close first half with Asheville taking the largest lead, up eight, 10-2 at the 16:26 mark. The Panthers fought back though and took their first lead with 13:46 on the clock off a pair of made charity shots by Brown. UNCA quickly took the lead back with a 14-6 run that gave the Bulldogs a 24-17 advantage when Kendall Shepard drained a jumper. HPU cut the lead down to three at the 5:19 mark, but the Bulldogs again went up by seven going into the final minute. A jumper from Fields was the last basket off the half as the Panthers cut the Bulldog lead down to five (35-30) going into the break.

Asheville came out of the intermission and took a quick seven point lead. High Point kept the game close though and tied the contest 44 all at 13:21 off a three pointer from Hargraves. The Bulldogs responded with a 9-2 run to again take a seven point lead with 10:38 left in the game. Asheville maintained the lead and went up by as many as nine in the final minutes of the game. The Panthers would close the gap to six (63-57) with just under two minutes, off Hargraves' second three of the game, but that is as close as they would come as UNCA went 5-of-6 from the line in the final minute to secure the win.

UNCA held the 49-42 advantage on the boards, putting up 17 second chance points to just six from the Panthers.

High Point will complete its road swing on Monday when the team travels to Clinton, S.C. to face Presbyterian at 7:00 p.m.