WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 27 | 3:00 p.m.
WHERE: Buc Dome | Charleston, S.C.
RECORDS: High Point (12-6, 6-1), Charleston Southern (7-11, 2-5)
SERIES RECORD: High Point leads 26-14
LAST MEETING: High Point won 64-62 in the Buc Dome on Feb. 21, 2017
VIDEO: Big South Network
AUDIO: High Point Panthers Radio Network
LIVE STATS: CSUSports.Com
GAME NOTES: HighPointPanthers.Com
 
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women's basketball team visits Charleston Southern on Saturday afternoon in another key Big South road contest.
 
The Panthers (12-6, 6-1) dropped a 50-47 decision at Radford on Tuesday snapping an eight-game winning streak. However, the Purple & White can continue their best conference start since 2011-12 with a victory on Saturday. Conversely, the Bucs have fallen in two straight games and are 7-11 overall and 2-5 in conference play.
 
Quick Hitters
• Emma Bockrath is one of two players in the Big South Conference to average at least 10.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game joining GWU's Tierra Huntsman.
 
• During her first season as the team's main point guard, Camryn Brown leads the Big South with a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio. That 2.2-to-1 ratio is the 54th-best in the nation.
 
• Redshirt-junior Kennedy Currie has become a key to the Panthers defense. The forward is one of two players in the Big South averaging at least 7.0 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 1.0 blocks per contest this season.
 
• Including the flurry of victories to end the 2016-17 season, the Purple & White have won 16 of their last 18 regular season contests against Big South opponents.
 
• Bockrath - the 2016-17 Big South Player of the Year - has scored in double figures 31 times in 45 career contests against Big South Conference foes. Those 31 games include eight 20-point outbursts.
 
• The High Point defense has come alive in conference play ranking first in the league in steals (12.1/game) and turnover margin (+8.29/game).
 
• Shea Morgan and Bockrath are two of the five players in the Big South who are averaging at least 9.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game in league action.
 
• Since the beginning of conference play, the Panthers have knocked down 88-of-107 free throws (.822), which is the best percentage in the Big South.
 
• Head coach DeUnna Hendrix has 70 Big South wins, which make her the eighth winningest coach in league history. Meanwhile, her .680 winning percentage is the second-highest mark among coaches with 100 regular season league games.
 
• The Panthers are 70-33 against conference foes under Hendrix. That's the second-best mark in the league during her tenure at High Point trailing only Liberty.
 
• During Hendrix's six years roaming the HPU sideline, the team has gone 32-20 in road conference games.
 
Turning Up the Heat on Defense
• The Panthers defense under new associate head coach Heather Kearney has played a more in-your-face style of defense. That change in style has resulted in improved three-point defense (.310 to .280), steals per game (7.3 to 9.8) and turnovers force per game (14.4 to 18.72).
 
• High Point leads the Big South in three-point field goal percentage defense and ranks 33rd nationally allowing opponents to hit 28 percent from deep.
 
• Led by Bockrath, the league's top thief, seven of the eight players in the standard rotation average at least one steal per game.
 
• The havoc caused by the defense has exploded in Big South action winning the turnover margin by 8.3 turnovers per game. The team has parlayed those extra possessions into a 155-54 in points off turnovers.
 
The Hunt for Win No. 100
Hendrix sits at 98 career wins with all of them coming at HPU. Hendrix is already third in all-time wins and would join Tooey Loy as the only two 100-win coaches since the program moved to D-I competition.
 
Reserves Needed
• High Point is 10-1 when the bench outscores its opponent's reserves and 2-5 when that margin is reversed.
 
• HPU averages a 23.3-13.8 edge in its wins and a 25.1-16.4 deficit in losses. Harris has accounted for 66 of the 84 bench points in the team's six losses.
 
All-Time Series with Charleston Southern
HPU is plus-12 in the all-time series (26-14) despite splitting the last four meetings. The road team has won the last four while the Panthers have earned victories in their last four visits to the Buc Dome.
 
Scouting the Bucs
CSU is 7-11 and off to a 2-5 mark in Big South play, but are a dangerous unit at home. In the Buc Dome, the squad is 6-4 with three of those losses coming by five or fewer points. Even though the team doesn't have a player averaging double figures, the balanced attack features six posting at least 7.8 points per contest.
 
What to Watch
Both teams want to get up-and-down ranking as the top-two in the Big South in field goal attempts per game. Meanwhile the defenses are two of the three in the league to force at least 18.0 turnovers per game. Which team takes care of the ball in the up-tempo pace could decide the outcome.
 
Next Up
High Point returns home for a key clash against Liberty on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in the Millis Center.
 
#GoHPU