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The High Point University women's basketball team used its best defensive outing of the season, pulling away to a 63-41 victory over Gardner-Webb on Monday afternoon at the Millis Center. Sophomore Cheyenne Parker led the Panthers with 13 points and 10 rebounds, her eighth double-double of the season.

"It was really important for us to start 2-0 in the Big South," head coach Jennifer Hoover said. "We were fortunate to get to start at home. Our schedule has been tough with four games in six days so it was important to come out with defensive intensity. There was a lid on the basket early, but Lindsay Puckett hit a three to get us going and our defense created some easy baskets for us."

The Panthers also got double-digit scoring from Erin Reynolds (12 points) and Shamia Brown (10 points) while Lindsay Puckett scored eight points with six rebounds.

Gardner-Webb was led by Brianna Dillard, who scored eight points with six rebounds and six steals.

High Point improved to 7-6 overall and 2-0 in the Big South while Gardner-Webb fell to 1-11 overall and 0-2 in the league.

Gardner-Webb got out to an 11-6 lead in the low-scoring first half with Dillard scoring the Bulldogs' first six points. Both teams struggled to score and it remained 13-10 in favor of Gardner-Webb for over six minutes until the Bulldogs' Eliana Scanlon hit a free throw with 5:37 remaining in the period. HPU's Puckett hit a three-pointer shortly after, igniting a 15-1 Panthers run that gave HPU a 25-15 lead at the break. Freshman Lexi Patterson hit a three-pointer during the run, her first collegiate points.

Coming out of halftime, the Panthers extended their 10-point lead to 21 (44-23) when Ashante Richard hit a jumper with 12:02 left and got it up to 31 (54-23) when Laura Whitt hit a free throw with 6:18 remaining in the game. Whitt's free throw capped a 17-0 run that was finally broken by a Chaylia Coleman free throw with just under six minutes to go.

Gardner-Webb evened it out in the last five minutes, starting off a 16-6 finishing run with a pair of layups by Jessica Helig and Dillard.

The 15 points Gardner-Webb scored in the first half were the fewest by an HPU Div. I opponent since the Panthers held Elon to 15 on Jan. 15, 2009.

The Panthers have a pair of road games coming up: HPU takes on Liberty on Saturday and Radford on Monday. Both Big South contests start at 7 p.m.