GAME INFO

Saturday, January 9 -- at Winthrop (Rock Hill, S.C.), 5 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch | Game Notes
 
Sunday, January 10 -- at Winthrop (Rock Hill, S.C.), 5 p.m.
Live Stats | Watch | Game Notes
 
The High Point University women's basketball team (7-4, 5-1 Big South) heads back to the road this weekend for a pair of games at Winthrop University (2-5, 1-3 Big South). Originally scheduled to be played at 3 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 9) and 1 p.m. on Sunday (Jan. 10), the games will both begin at 5 p.m. due to rescheduling conflicts with Winthrop's men's team.
 

Matchup History

• High Point and Winthrop have met 45 times since High Point joined Division I, with the Panthers leading the series 29-16.
• HPU has dominated the series in recent years, winning nine of the last 10 with the only loss coming early in the 2019-20 season.
• The series has been much closer when played in Rock Hill, with the Panthers holding a slim 11-9 advantage at the Winthrop Coliseum.
• The last meeting between the two schools was a historic one for High Point alum Camryn Brown as she set the HPU and Big South record for points in a game with 44 in a 94-61 victory for the Purple and White.

 

Across the Bench

• Winthrop is 2-5 on the season and 1-3 in Big South play, playing both teams in the conference that the Panthers have already played.
• The Eagles split their opening series of the season against Winthrop and then were swept by Campbell. The two teams have one non-conference opponent in common, with both losing to Wofford early in the season.
• Winthrop is one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, entering the weekend leading the Big South in rebounding margin at +5.0 and are second in the conference and 58th in the country in rebounds per game with an average of 42.1 RPG.
• Semeka Randall-Lay is the interim head coach for the Eagles, assuming the role in April after serving as the associate head coach in Rock Hill during the 2019-20 season.
• Myra Strickland is the only Eagle averaging double-digit points, entering the weekend scoring an average of 12.0 points per game. She's ninth in the conference in free throw percentage with a 72.7% clip and seventh in the Big South in assists per game with an average of 2.5 helpers per game.
• Four different Winthrop players grab an average of four rebounds in each contest, led by Sydney Hunter's average of 7.3 RPG.

 

Panther Notes

Last Time Out

High Point extended its winning streak to five consecutive games with a pair of wins over Big South preseason favorites Campbell. The Panthers trailed in both games, falling behind by as many as 12 in Monday's 63-55 victory and as much as nine in Tuesday's 73-67 victory to secure the sweep. Jenson Edwards, Cydney Johnson, and Skyler Curran scored in double digits both games, and Jordan Edwards matched her career-best with 23 points in Tuesday's series finale.
 

How Sweep It Is

The Panthers secured back to back series sweeps this weekend after beating Campbell in both games. HPU is the only Big South program to record multiple sweeps in conference play this season and is looking to improve on the six series sweeps from last year.
 

Nothing but NET

This week marked the debut of the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) for women's basketball as the contemporary sorting tool used to measure a team's quality and help evaluate team resumes for selection and seeding in the NCAA Tournament. The NET rankings have been used in the men's games since the 2018-19 season and have been modified for the women's game starting this year, replacing the RPI ranking. High Point was initially ranked 227 in the first NET rankings of the season and moved up to 205 after the sweep of Campbell.
 

4-0 with Four in Double Digits

Tuesday's game marked the fourth time that HPU has had four players score in double digits in the same game when both Edwards, Curran, and Johnson crossed the 10-point threshold. All four times that the Purple and White have had four scorers in double digits have resulted in wins, with an average winning margin of 19.75.
 

SHOOTER!

Jenson Edwards leads the conference and is 30th in the country in three-point shooting percentage, connecting on 48.1% of her shots from behind the arc.
 

Steph Curry or Skyler Curran?

Curran is in the top-10 in the country for three-pointers made and attempted this season. She's thrown up 80 shots from behind the arc - the fourth-most in the country - and has connected on 29 of them, the 10th-most in Division I and most in the Big South.
 

Letting it Fly...

After breaking the program record for three-pointers made in a single season last year, the Panthers continue to fire from deep, entering Saturday in the top-10 in the country for three-pointers attempted, three-pointers made, and three-pointers per game. HPU makes an average of 10.3 long balls per game, good for eighth in the country, while the Purple and White's 113 total makes on 342 attempts both rank second in all of Division I.
 

...In a No-Fly Zone

High Point is one of the best teams in the country in defending the three-pointer, entering the weekend leading the conference and in 14th place in all of Division I by allowing just 22.8% of opponent's three-pointers to fall.
 
Three-Point Club Make Total: 113
 

Climbing the Ranks

Curran entered the season with 137 career three-pointers made, good enough for eighth-most in the program's Division I history, moved up to fourth place with 154 in her career after draining nine against NC Wesleyan on Dec. 9, and now has 166 in her career. With Curran's 23 points against Campbell, she enters this weekend in 17th place on HPU's D1 scoring list with 889 career points, 15 away from taking over 16th and 111 shy of becoming the 14th Panther to score 1,000 points since High Point joined Division I.
 

Foremost Facilitator

Jordan Edwards leads the conference in assists per game and is second in total assists, dishing out 45 assists so far on the year for an average of 4.5 helpers each contest. That puts her 19th in the nation in total assists and 78th in the country in assists per game.
 

Ball Movement

The Panthers lead the Big South in assist to turnover ratio, dishing out an average of .87 assists to each turnover. High Point also leads the conference in total assists with 144 on the year, good enough for 43rd in the country, and assists per game, with an average of 13.1 each game as a team.
 

A Better EDucation

Jordan and Jenson Edwards are both in the top-three in the Big South in three different assist categories. Jordan leads the conference in assists per game (4.5) and is second in total assists (45) and assist to turnover ratio (1.73). Jenson leads the conference in assist to turnover ratio (2.10) and is third in total assists (44) and assists per game (4.0).
 

Brick Wall of Chyna

Senior Chyna McMichel registered nine blocks in the two games against Upstate, recording a career-best five blocks on Dec. 30 and then following it up with four more on New Year's Eve. It was the first time since sophomore Amaria McNear blocked eight shots at Gardner-Webb a season ago that a Panther had recorded five blocks in a single game and only the second time it has happened in the last six seasons. McMichel is currently third in the conference in blocks and fourth in blocks per game with 14 total blocks for an average of 1.3 per game. Her 14 blocked shots put her 47th in the country.
 

Scheier's Year-End Send-Off

New Year's Eve 2020 wasn't the first time sophomore Callie Scheier has ended the year with a barrage from deep as the sophomore also made four triples on the final day of 2019. She went 4-9 from behind the arc at Winthrop on Dec. 31 a season ago for all 12 of her points and has now scored a total of 24 points while shooting .500 with eight makes from behind the arc in the year's ultimate day.
 

Two at the Top

Curran is third in the conference in scoring with an average of 16.0 points per game this season. Teammate Jenson Edwards joins her in the top-five in the conference, entering Saturday in fifth place with an average of 14.8 PPG.
 

Getting Their Money's Worth

HPU took 40 free throws against NC Central on Dec. 7 and converted on 30 of them, tied for the second-most attempts in school history and four shy of matching the record for makes. Nationally, the 30 makes are tied for the 11th-most in all of Division I this season. On the season, High Point shoots 76.7% from the stripe for second in the conference and 31st in the country. The Panthers' 155 total makes from the line are the most in the conference and eighth-best in the nation.
 

You Don't Make It, She Takes It

Curran leads the conference in defensive rebounds per game, snagging an average of 6.5 opponent misses off the glass per game.
 
 
Up Next: The Panthers are scheduled for their bye week next weekend and are off until the following weekend (Jan. 22-23) when HPU returns to the Palmetto State to face Presbyterian in a two-game series.
 
This women's basketball preview is presented by Beamer Tire and Auto.