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A late comeback attempt by the High Point University women's basketball team fell just short as HPU dropped a 73-65 decision to co-Big South leader Liberty on Monday night in the Millis Center. Sophomore guard Tayler Tremblay set a new career-high with 21 points in the game.

“Any time you lose a game of this magnitude it is obviously a tough and difficult loss,' head coach Jennifer Hoover said. “I am going to try and take out the positives tonight especially the fight we showed as a team. We have to figure out why were are starting so slowly but to play the last three or four minutes with the intensity that we showed is something we can build on.”
 
Tremblay shot 7-for-12 from the floor including one three-pointer and made all six of her free-throws. She also had four rebounds and two assists on the night.
 
Sophomore Cheyenne Parker walked away with her fifteenth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Shamia Brown also scored 13 points adding eight rebounds. Sophomore Erin Reynolds scored 10 points on the night and led HPU with six assists.
 
HPU out-rebounded Liberty 21-14 in the second half and 37-36 for the game, marking the first time Liberty has been out-rebounded in the last 48 games. The Flames entered the game first in the country in rebounding margin at +15.7 rebounds per game.

Devon Brown and Tolu Omotola led Liberty on the night with 13 points each. Avery Warley led the team with 13 rebounds, also scoring four points.
 
High Point cut a 19-point deficit to just four with a little under a minute remaining in the game, but the Flames converted four free-throws in the final 30 seconds to hold off the Panther run.

HPU falls to 14-8 overall and 9-2 in the Big South while Liberty moves into first place in the Big South with a 10-1 league record and a 15-7 overall mark.
 
High Point played well on the defensive end to start the game, forcing five turnovers on Liberty's first seven possessions. HPU was unable to convert the turnovers into points and trailed by five, 7-2, with 15:50 remaining in the first half. The Flames' Omotola scored all seven of the opening points for LU to give the Flames the early lead.
 
Parker managed to end a 9-0 Liberty run when she got the ball in the paint from Shamia Brown to score two on a layup. Following a Liberty trey, Parker scored again on a jumper in the paint to bring the score to 30-16 with 3:29 remaining in the first.
 
High Point closed to within 10 at 30-20 thanks to a couple free throws by Reynolds and a layup by Parker, but LU pushed the lead right back to 16, 36-20. A Shamia Brown bucket with 12 seconds left in the half made the score 36-22 heading into the break.

Liberty extended its lead to as much as 19, 55-36, in the second half before Tremblay was able to score four-consecutive points to begin a 20-8 Panther run that would cut the lead to seven  points with 3:47 remaining. Tremblay and Brown combined to score 15 of HPU's points in the run including nine from the charity stripe.
 
The final three minutes featured a back-and-forth affair. At 2:29, Tremblay sunk a long-distance three to bring the game to eight points, 66-58. Liberty's Omotola knocked down a jumper to take the game back to ten points before freshman Hallie Gunnoe made two free throws to bring the game back to eight points with 1:46 left to play.
 
On the next possession, Brown made a layup to get HPU within six at 68-62. Liberty's Brown made a free-throw to take the lead back to seven before Tremblay knocked down High Point's only three of the night from the top of the key, cutting the Flames' lead to four at 69-65 with 33 seconds left.
 
Liberty sealed the game with four-straight free throws down the stretch to lock up the 73-65 win.
 
High Point is back in action on Saturday, Feb. 11, when the Panthers travel to Buies Creek, N.C, to take on the Campbell Fighting Camels at 1 p.m. The last time these two teams met, the Panthers used a late run to top the Camels by a score of 77-65. Brown led HPU with 25 points in the contest.