Box Score BOX SCORE
The High Point University women's basketball team opened Big South play with a 68-60 loss to defending conference champion Liberty on Monday night in the Millis Center. Senior
Jurica Hargraves scored 13 points to lead HPU in the loss.
“We did not play good High Point basketball here tonight,” head coach Tooey Loy said. “We didn't make the next pass; we didn't make the easy plays. Defensively, we broke down too many times. We just didn't play good basketball. Now we have to get back in the gym, fix the mistakes and get back to playing High Point basketball.”
The Panthers struggled on the defensive end to start the game as Liberty connected on 10 of its first 16 shots to jump ahead by 13, 26-13, midway through the first half. HPU trailed by just one, 8-7, early in the contest, but two free throws by Emily Frazier and back-to-back threes by defending Big South Player of the Year Devon Brown sparked an 18-6 run for the Flames.
High Point began to slowly climb back into the game thanks in large part to Hargraves who scored eight of HPU's 15 points during a 15-5 run by the Panthers that pulled them within three at 31-28 with five minutes left in the period. Junior
Shamia Brown also chipped in with five points in the run.
Liberty managed to push its lead back to nine at 38-29, but the Panthers scored the final four points of the half on two free throws by senior
Amy Dodd and a 10-foot jumper by senior
Mackenzie Maier to close to within five, 38-33, at the half.
Hargraves led all scorers with 11 points at the break while Liberty's Avery Warley finished the period two rebounds shy of a double-double with 10 points and eight boards.
Liberty opened the second half on a 10-0 run to go up by 15, 48-33, forcing a timeout by the Panthers just 2:40 into the second stanza. HPU missed its first six shots from field in the second half until Hargraves hit a mid-range jumper to bring the score to 48-35.
With 10 minutes left in the game, High Point trailed the Flames by a score of 55-40 when Dodd scored on a long two-pointer to spark a 10-0 run by the Panthers, cutting the Liberty lead to just five, 55-50 with a little less than seven minutes left in the game. Dodd and sophomore
Erin Reynolds each scored four points for HPU in the run.
The Panthers were unable to claw any closer in the contest however as Liberty outscored HPU 13-10 down the stretch to lock up the 68-60 win.
Dodd finished with 11 points and Brown finished with 10 to join Hargraves in double digits. The Panthers, who entered the game as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, struggled from behind the arc, connecting on just six of 28 three pointers. With the loss the Panthers fall to 6-8 on the year.
Brown led all scorers in the contest with 17 points for Liberty who improves to 6-7 on the season while Warley finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Flames will continue their nine-game road trip on Saturday, Jan. 8, when they head to Clinton, S.C., to face Presbyterian at 5 p.m.
High Point also returns to action on Saturday when the Panthers will head to Asheville, N.C., to face off against UNC Asheville at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs entered conference play with the best record on the season at 7-4, but fell at home to Radford in its Big South opener by a score of 81-69. Last season, HPU swept its two games against UNCA, winning by an average of 21.5 points.
