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The High Point University women's basketball team dropped its first of two games of the Bahamas Sunshine Shootout to Georgia State, 79-68, on Monday night in Nassau, Bahamas. Sophomore Cheyenne Parker had her sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

“After two weeks off we were rusty, but that is not an excuse,” head coach Jennifer Hoover said. “I was really disappointed in our overall effort. Right now we have to get tougher and execute more efficiently. Teams are being aggressive and playing us physically and we need to respond."

Junior Erin Reynolds led all scorers with 20 points including 10 from the free throw line. Sophomore Lindsay Puckett easily surpassed her previous career-high of three points with 18 in the game on 6-12 shooting. Shamia Brown finished with eight points and eight rebounds, breaking her streak of 16-straight games scoring in double-digits.

Ashley Watson led a balanced Georgia Southern attack with 11 points off the bench. The Panthers finished with eight different players scoring between eight and 11 points.

The loss drops High Point to 4-4 on the season while Georgia Southern improves to 4-5.

High Point took an early 7-2 lead with 15:27 left in the first half thanks to four points from Parker and a three by Reynolds, but GSU responded with a 12-0 run over the next 6:27 to take the lead for good.

Down nine with 7:29 left in the half, Parker hit a jumper in the paint to start a 10-3 run late in the first half, pulling the Panthers to within two, 23-21, with 3:16 remaining. Georgia Southern responded with an 11-4 run of its own to close the half, taking a 34-25 lead into the locker room.

Parker led all scorers at the break with eight points to go along with seven rebounds. HPU shot just 7-33 (21.2 percent) in the opening 20 minutes. Three different players each had six points to lead GSU at the break.

High Point scored the first bucket of the second half with a layup by Parker on the Panthers first possession but was unable to pull any closer than seven points down as Georgia Southern scored the next four points to go back up by 11.

Trailing by 18 with 1:27 remaining in the game, High Point used a pressure defense to score 11-straight points and trim the deficit to seven, 75-68, with 36 seconds left. Puckett scored five of the points in the run with a three from the corner and two free throws to help the Panthers close the gap.

High Point will conclude its two-game swing in the Bahamas on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 8:30 p.m., when the team will take on Central Arkansas. It will be the first-ever meeting between the Panthers and Bears.