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• Sophomore Kaylah Keys led the Panthers with 14 points and four assists to go with four rebounds and two steals.
• Redshirt-senior and Nebraska native Stacia Robertson scored eight points, pulled down seven boards and tallied two blocks in her homecoming.
• High Point will have 10 days to enjoy the holidays before jumping back into Big South Conference play at Coastal Carolina on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m.
 
LINCOLN, Neb. – The High Point University women's basketball team fought hard but came up short in an 83-57 loss at No. 12 Nebraska on Saturday afternoon in Pinnacle Bank Arena.
 
The Panthers trailed by five with four minutes to play in the first half behind a balanced offensive attack, but couldn't keep pace with the Cornhuskers as they used an extended run midway through the second half to pull away for the home win.
 
"Nebraska is a very good and disciplined basketball team, but if we don't have a couple lulls we can play with them," head coach DeUnna Hendrix said. "I think we can take some positives and learn a lot from playing them in a hostile environment." 
 
Sophomore Kaylah Keys led the way offensively with 14 points and four assists to go with four rebounds and two steals. Redshirt-senior Stacia Robertson posted eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks in her return to her home state. Senior Latrice Phelps produced eight points and seven rebounds in the contest while sophomore DeAnneisha Jackson added nine points and six rebounds. HPU's bench outscored Nebraska's reserves 15-8 in the game.
 
Senior Lindsay Puckett went 3-of-4 from 3-point land to finish with nine points. The Panthers shot 8-of-22 (36 percent) from beyond the arc and held the Huskers to just 3-of-15 (20 percent) from downtown. Despite the difference in 3-point shooting, Nebraska shot 49 percent while HPU was limited to 34 percent.
 
The two teams went back and forth early on before Nebraska started to create some separation behind 10 points from junior Rachel Theriot. HPU fought right back as Latrice Phelps hit a jumper from the top of the key and Teddy Vincent followed with a 3-pointer in transition to make it 14-13 Cornhuskers with 12 minutes to play in the half. Nebraska answered with eight straight before freshman Kat Harris knocked down a triple to stem the tide (22-16, 9:30).
 
The Cornhuskers continued their hot start, but two huge 3-pointers by Lindsay Puckett kept the Panthers within striking distance at 28-24 with seven minutes to play. Once again the home team stretched its lead out to nine, but baskets by Phelps and Robertson kept HPU within five (34-29, 3:54). However, Nebraska was able to close the half on an 11-4 spurt to take a 45-33 lead into the half.
 
As she did in the first half, Keys come out hot early scoring the first five points for the Panthers before Jackson cut the lead to eight with a free throw (47-39, 18:05). But as they did all afternoon, the Cornhuskers had the answer and scored the next 20 points to take a 67-39 lead with 11:30 remaining. Nebraska was able to control the pace from there, never letting the Panthers get closer than 19 again, pulling out an 83-57 win.
 
The Panthers will take some time off to enjoy that holidays before reentering conference play at Coastal Carolina on Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. The team will then travel to Liberty on Jan. 3 at 4 p.m. before returning home after a month on the road to host Campbell on Jan. 5 at 7 p.m.
 
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