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The High Point University women's basketball team connected on its first six shots and never looked back in an 81-65 win over Radford University in Big South action on Monday night in Radford, Va. Junior Erin Reynolds scored 24 points to lead HPU in scoring for the second-straight game.

“I was so proud with the way we came out tonight,” head coach Jennifer Hoover said. “I was a little worried coming off a high emotion win over Liberty, but we came out with great energy. For us to be as efficient as we were offensively early was key. We got great looks and were knocking them down. The first 10 minutes of the game might have been the best basketball we have played all year.”

Reynolds shot 9-18 from the floor and 2-3 from behind the arc to eclipse the 20-point mark for the second time on the weekend and her team-best fourth time this season. The junior also dished out three assists and had four steals in the game.

Senior Shamia Brown shot 6-10 from the floor and 6-6 from the line to finish with 18 points while also grabbing six rebounds and sophomore Cheyenne Parker picked up her Big South-leading ninth double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.

Radford's Da'Naria Erwin-Spencer and Ashley Buckhannon each scored 18 points to lead the Highlanders on the night. Victoria Hamilton finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds to record a double-double.

With the win, High Point moves into sole possession of first place in the Big South with a perfect 4-0 mark and improves to 9-6 overall. Radford falls to 7-7 overall and 1-2 in the Big South on the season.

High Point used its hot shooting to jump out to an early 14-7 lead at the first media timeout as Reynolds scored the Panthers first five points and eight of the first 14 to spot HPU the early seven-point lead.

The Panther lead would grow to as large as 22 in the first half as Laura Whitt connected on a three from the left corner to make the score 33-11 with 9:57 remaining. High Point shot 12-18 in the first 10 minutes of the game and 4-6 from behind the arc.

Radford began to pull itself back into the game in the final 10 minutes of the first half, outscoring High Point by 11, 23-12, to close to within 11 at 45-34 heading into halftime. The Highlanders forced seven turnovers and grabbed seven offensive boards to trim the HPU lead in half.

High Point finished the half shooting 16-26 from the floor (61.5 percent) and 5-8 from behind the arc (62.5 percent). Reynolds led all scorers with 13 points for High Point at the break while Brown finished with eight. Erwin-Spencer scored 11 points, including seven during the Radford run, to lead the Highlanders.

A basket by Buckhannon on the first possession of the second half trimmed the HPU lead to nine at 45-36, but the Panthers answered back with a 9-0 run to reopen the lead to 18, 54-36, with 15:04 remaining. Four different High Point players combined to score the nine points in the run.

The HPU lead would fluctuate between 18 and 14 for the next nine minutes until two free throws by Parker started a 9-0 run that gave High Point its biggest lead of the night at 77-54 with 3:49 remaining. Parker scored four in the run all from the line while Whitt connected on a key three pointer from the corner, her second of the game.

High Point finished the game shooting 27-56 from the floor (48.2 percent) and 6-10 from behind the arc. The Panthers had their best game of the season at the line shooting 21-25 (84 percent) on free throws. HPU outrebounded the Highlanders 41-34 and grabbed 11 steals.

The Panthers next return home to kick off a three-game home stand against Campbell University on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 4 p.m. The game will be the first between High Point and Campbell since the Camels returned to the Big South this season.