WHEN: Friday, Nov. 10 | 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Millis Center | High Point, N.C.
RECORDS: High Point (0-0), North Carolina Wesleyan (0-0)
SERIES RECORD: First meeting
LAST MEETING: N/A
ESPN3: Big South Network
Audio: High Point Panthers Radio Network
Live Stats: HighPointPanthers.Com 
Game Notes: HighPointPanthers.Com
 
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women's basketball team tips off the 2017-18 campaign on Friday at 5:00 p.m. versus North Carolina Wesleyan in the Millis Center.
 
The Panthers are coming off a 15-15 campaign that saw them close the regular season winning 10 of their last 11 contests. Meanwhile, the Battling Bishops also posted a .500 record going 13-13 in 2016-17.

DOUBLE HEADER
The HPU men's basketball team will open its season on Friday night as well hosting William & Mary. That game will tip at 8:00 p.m. or 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game. The contests will be on separate tickets and HPU will be clearing the Millis Center between games.
 
QUICK HITTERS
• The Panthers are 46-21 in the Millis Center under head coach DeUnna Hendrix including a 9-6 mark last season. The squad closed 2016-17 winning six of its last seven contests at home.
 
• HPU is 6-0 against non-Division I opponents during Hendrix's five seasons on the sidelines. The average score of those outings has been 79-53.
 
• High Point assisted on 56.6 percent of its field goals last season, which was a six percent increase from 2014-15. That number figures to climb again as eight of the nine Panthers who dished out at least 10 helpers last year are back for 2017-18.
 
• Hendrix finally has a veteran roster to work with for the first time since 2014-15. HPU has had at least 70 percent of its roster comprised by underclassmen each of the last two years, but have nine upperclassmen this season.
 
• Kat Harris begins her senior season after posting 12.2 points per night over the final five regular season games of her junior campaign.
 
• In 2016-17's season-opener, Lindsey Edwards paced HPU with 11 points while grabbing seven rebounds against Ohio. The junior has scored in double figures in both of her previous season openers.
 
• HPU's depth was vital to last season's success as the team's reserves accounted for 34 percent of the scoring. The Panthers' bench outscored its opponent's reserves by and average five points per game last year. But it High Point's 15 wins, the reserves posted nearly 10 more points per outing than the opponent's bench.
 
• The Purple & White's most recent matchup with a USA South Conference foe came in the 2015-16 season opener against Greensboro College. Seven current Panthers made their HPU debuts in that contest as Haleigh Hatfield and Edwards both scored in double figures in their first collegiate action.
 
HPU's Record in Season Openers
• The Panthers are 8-10 in their first contest of their Division I campaigns entering Friday night.
 
• Since DeUnna Hendrix took over the helm, the Purple & White is 4-1 in its season openers. The program's only loss in that span came in 2016-17 when HPU tipped off the season with a setback to Ohio in the Millis Center.
 
Repeat Player of the Year
• Junior Emma Bockrath was selected as the Preseason Big South Player of the Year and was named to the Preseason All-Big South Team. The junior is HPU's third student-athlete to earn the recognition joining Kaylah Keys and Katie O'Dell.
 
• As the end of the 2016-17 season, Bockrath became HPU's third Big South Player of the Year joining Stacia Robertson and O'Dell. She also was just the seventh sophomore in Big South history to claim the award.
 
Start the Way You Finished
• When the Millis Center crowd last saw the women's hoops squad it was winning its 10th game in 11 tries with an overtime triumph over Radford.
 
• The Purple & White started the 2016-17 season with a 5-13 record, but won 10 of their last 11 to finish the regular season 15-14 and tie for No. 2 in the Big South Conference standings.
 
Long-Range Threats
• The Panthers set a program record knocking down 199 three pointers in 30 contests last winter. The group also posted a new high mark hitting 35.7 percent of its three-point attempts, which ranked 33rd in the nation.
 
• Kat Harris (.357) and Bockrath (.324) both rank in the top-10 in HPU history in career three-point percentage.
 
Pacing the League in Points
• During Hendrix's five seasons at the helm for the squad is averaging 68.2 points per game. That's nearly two points per contest higher than second-place Liberty (66.3 ppg).
 
• High Point led the conference in scoring last year with 68.2 points per game, which was the third time in five years that Hendrix's squad achieved the feat.
 
• Hendrix's Panthers have never finished lower the fourth, which happened her first season and placed second in 2015-16.
 
• During that span High Point joins Liberty as the only two programs to win at least 10 Big South contests every year.
 
All-Time Series with N.C. Wesleyan
Friday night's matchup will be the first contest between the Battling Bishops and the Panthers.
 
Scouting the Battling Bishops
The Panthers will enjoy a height advantage against NC Wesleyan with the visitor's tallest player - Weslie Young - standing at 5-feet-10-inches. However, during a 13-13 season last year, the Battling Bishops outrebounded their opponents by more than six boards per contest. The team will feature Kechae Parker who posted 13.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest as a junior.
 
The Matchup to Watch
Both Bockrath and Parker are their respective team's top returner in points, rebounds and steals from a season ago and will look to assert themselves early in the season.
 
NEXT UP
The Panthers have a quick turnaround as they head to Athens, Ohio this weekend for a Sunday afternoon showdown against Ohio at 2:00 p.m. in OU's Convocation Center. The Bobcats visited the Millis Center last year and won 76-48.
 
#GoHPU