Box Score BOX SCORE
The High Point University women's basketball team came out on top, 68-65, over Longwood in a back-and-forth affair in Farmville, Va., on Friday evening. The contest featured 10 ties and 12 lead changes and came down to a missed three pointer by the Lancers at the buzzer.
“We battled all night,” head coach Tooey Loy said. “We didn't have our A game tonight but we had an A effort. Sometimes you go into a tough environment and you have to win these games on effort. We got great stops late and we found enough baskets throughout the game. This team is really starting to come together.”
Trailing by one with just under two minutes left in the game, HPU's
Cheyenne Parker hit a jumper to put High Point up by a score of 64-63. After two free throws by junior
Shamia Brown pushed the lead to three, 66-63, Longwood got a lay-up from Mina Jovanovic to pull back within one with a minute left.
After both teams went a possession without a score, High Point had the ball with the lead and just five seconds on the clock. Senior
Frances Fields was fouled on the inbounds and calmly sank both free throws push the lead to 68-65. Longwood had a look for a three at the buzzer but the shot hit off the rim, giving High Point the three-point win.
Three players scored in double digits for the Panthers led by Brown who had 17 points and five rebounds in the game. Senior
LaTeisha Dean and sophomore
Erin Reynolds each added 11 points in the win. Longwood's Chelsea Coward led all scorers in the game with 19 points. Parker finished with 14 rebounds in the game to lead all players.
Longwood jumped out to an early, 9-4, lead to start the game thanks in large part to five second-chance points off five offensive rebounds in the first four minutes of play. Longwood's Brittanni Billups had six of the Lancer's first nine points.
Brown provided all of HPU's offense early, scoring High Point's first seven points, including an old-fashioned three to pull the Panthers to within two at 9-7 with 15 minutes left in the first half.
The deficit would swing between two and four points until High Point's
Jurica Hargraves gave HPU its first lead with back-to-back threes to make the score 15-14 with just over 10 minutes left in the half.
Following a Longwood timeout, the Panthers pushed the lead to four, 18-14, on a free throw by Brown and a layup by sophomore
Laura Whitt, but the Lancers came right back with a 9-1 run to jump back up, 23-19, with seven minutes left in first half.
The lead would swing back and forth between the two teams over the final minutes of the first half but it would be the Panthers that would take a 34-30 lead into the locker room at the half thanks to a 7-1 run to end the period. Brown led all scorers with 10 points in the half while Parker pulled down nine boards in the opening 20 minutes.
Longwood briefly reclaimed the lead early in the second half, 39-38, but the Panthers responded with an 11-2 run to claim its largest lead of the day, 49-41, with just over 11 minutes left in the contest. Dean and sophomore
Jazmin Cromartie combined to score nine of the 11 points on the run.
The Lancers came right back out of a media timeout with a 13-3 run of its own to take a 54-52 lead with a little under eight minutes left in the game.
The lead continued to swing between the two squads with four ties and three lead changes over the next six minutes as neither team could wrestle control away from the other.
High Point improves to 3-1- on the season with the win while Longwood falls to 1-2.
High Point continues its seven-game road stretch on Monday, Nov. 22, when the Panthers head to Wilmington, N.C., to take on the Seahawks of UNC Wilmington. High Point beat UNCW last year in High Point on a last second shot by Fields. Tip-off for the game is scheduled for 7 p.m.
