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The High Point University women's basketball team pulled away late for a 63-51 win over Presbyterian College to improve to 9-0 in the Big South on Monday night in Clinton, S.C. Junior Erin Reynolds led HPU with 26 points in the game.

“This was just a real gutsy win by the girls tonight,” head coach Jennifer Hoover said. “We played solid defense all night. They are a tough team to play. Their kids know their system well and set a ton of screens. We played with a lot of passion and determination tonight. I am so proud of our players and staff.”

Reynolds shot 8-18 from the floor and 8-10 from the line to lead the Panthers on the night. Reynolds also tied for the team lead with three assists and had four rebounds and two steals.

Senior Shamia Brown was the only other HPU player to score in double digits with 13 points and led High Point with nine rebounds.

Karlee Taylor led Presbyterian College with 16 points including 12 from behind the arc on 4-5 shooting. Sherece Smith also finished in double digits with 11 points.

High Point improved to 14-6 overall and a perfect 9-0 in the Big South. The Panthers finished January with an 8-0 record. Presbyterian fell to 8-12 overall and finished the first swing through the Big South with a 2-7 mark.

Neither team was able to build a lead larger than five points in the opening 20 minutes of action. High Point claimed an early 4-2 lead on back-to-back buckets by Reynolds, but the Blue Hose retook the lead with six-straight points. Presbyterian led by five, 19-14, with eight minutes left when freshman Lexi Patterson connected on a three from the left corner to make it a one-possession game once again.

Down four with a minute remaining in the half, Reynolds hit a three from the elbow to cut the deficit to one at 25-24. Presbyterian hit a jumper in the paint to make the score at the half 27-24.

Despite battling foul trouble in the first half, Reynolds led all scorers with nine points for HPU. Taylor scored a team-high eight for PC.

The Panthers opened the second half on a 5-0 run to move back into the lead at 29-27 thanks to a free throw by Brown and two buckets down low from sophomore Cheyenne Parker.

High Point would hold the lead for the rest of the half but was unable to shake the Blue Hose until a 14-4 run to end the game brought the final score to 63-51. Reynolds scored 10 points in the run and went 8-10 from the free throw line down the stretch to ice the game.

HPU forced 20 turnovers in the game and nabbed 11 steals while holding PC to just 51 points in the contest. It is the third-straight game in which HPU has held its opponents to below 60 points.

High Point will kickoff the second half of conference play at home on Feb. 4, when the team will host Radford University at 4 p.m. High Point picked up an 81-65 win over the Highlanders in the teams' first meeting. Reynolds led HPU with 24 points in the game while Brown scored 18 and Parker 15.