Box Score BOX SCORE

Down 20 with 10 minutes left, the High Point University women's basketball team ended the game on a 27-6 run to defeat American, 60-59, on Sunday night in the Millis Center. Junior Shamia Brown completed a three-point play with 10.6 seconds left to give the Panthers the one-point win.

“In the first we were slow and were not playing basketball the way we can but we got after them in the locker room at halftime and they responded,” head coach Tooey Loy said. “American is a very good team so it took us awhile to wear them down but we just competed for 20 minutes. The team was great defensively. You don't hold a team like that to six points in the final 10 minutes without playing great defense. This comeback was as good as I have ever been a part of.”

After American's Stephanie Anya completed a three-point play, to push the AU lead to 20, 53-33, with 10:08 left in the second half, the Panthers went on a 19-4 run to cut the lead to just five, 57-52, with four minutes left in the contest. Senior Mackenzie Maier got the run started with two quick baskets in succession while Brown and junior Jurica Hargraves contributed with six and five points respectively. The Panther defense had four steals in the run with three coming from Brown.

With HPU still trailing by five, 59-54, with just under two minutes remaining in the game, Brown and Hargraves completed the comeback by rattling off six-straight points to go up one, 60-59, with 10.6 seconds left. After a free throw by Brown, Hargraves hit a long jumper from the right elbow to cut the deficit to two. Brown picked up a block and a rebound on the following on the following AU possession, and then rebounded a High Point miss at the other end and put it right back up for the basket and the foul to tie the game at 59-59. Following a timeout, Brown calmly stepped to the line sank the free throw to complete the three-point play and for a one-point lead.

The Eagles had a chance to win the game in their final possession but the shot by Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year Michelle Kirk was blocked by senior Amy Dodd and rebounded by senior Frances Fields to seal the win.

“We knew coming out in the second half that were going to have to come with some intensity,” Brown said. “The main thing going through my head was to get it back on defense. Make some stops and then just keep running. We felt that the only way we were going to get back into the game in the second half was our defense. We felt we were faster so if we just turned up our intensity we could make some stops and get out in transition and score.”

The game got off to a slow start with the teams combining to hit just five of their first 13 field goal attempts, and the score going back and forth. American started to gain an edge midway through the half. A Kirk putback made it 25-15 in favor of the Eagles, prompting Loy to call a timeout with 7:37 remaining in the first. American started to pull away as the half wore on. HPU got a trey from freshman Erin Reynolds that made it 32-17, but the Eagles' Kirk responded with a pair of free throws and a long jumper to make it 36-20 at halftime.

Kirk flew out of the gate in the second half, hitting seven of the Eagles' first eight points while HPU only scored two during that stretch – a pair of free throws from Hargraves – and American was on top 44-22. After that point, the Panthers started to even it out. A Hargraves three-pointer made it 46-29 and a Brown jumper made it 50-33, but HPU couldn't gain any significant ground by the second official timeout of the period.

Hargraves led High Point with 17 points in the game with Brown adding 16 points and seven rebounds in the win. Kirk led all scorers for American with 20 points in the contest.

The Panthers improve to 1-1 on the season with the win while AU falls to 1-1 to after the opening weekend.

High Point will complete its three-game home stand on Tuesday, Nov. 16, when the Panthers welcome Southern Virginia to the Millis Center. Tip-off for the contest is set for 7 p.m.