ELON, N.C. – The High Point University women's basketball team dropped 60-57 back-and-forth battle to Elon on Sunday night.
Skyler Curran recorded her first 20-point game and double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Panthers. Freshman
Nevaeh Zavala chipped in a new career-high 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor and going 5-for-6 from the charity stripe.
Site: Schar Center
Score: High Point 57, Elon 60
Records: High Point (1-2, 0-0), Elon (1-2, 0-0)
Head coach
Chelsea Banbury: "It's really hard to win games when you dig a hole like we did to start the game. We still need to put 40 minutes together. I do like the energy that Nevaeh gave us off the bench though, that was a bright spot."
After a free throw was awarded to the Panthers due to an administrative technical foul, High Point scored on its first possession as
Jenson Edwards found
Claire Wyatt under the basket for a layup. The Panthers were held scoreless for the next eight minutes of game clock until Edwards knocked down a jumper to close out the first quarter.
Freshman
Nevaeh Zavala came off the bench in the second quarter and made an immediate impact, knocking down a three pointer and another jump shot on back-to-back possessions.
Layups from Edwards and
Skyler Curran along with three consecutive stops on the defensive end pulled HPU back with 23-17 with 3:18 left in the half.
Curran followed up with another layup before Zavala added two free throws and a layup of her own to tie up the ballgame at 23-23.
The Phoenix made their first field goal since the 6:38 mark in the quarter with 1:03 remaining in the half to hold the 26-23 at the break. HPU outscored Elon 17-8 in the second quarter.
Claire Wyatt opened up second half scoring for HPU with a three pointer to keep the Panthers within 28-23.
The two teams traded free throws on three consecutive possessions with points from
Nakyah Terrell and Zavala but still left HPU trailing 37-35.
High Point closed the quarter on a 7-3 run with free throws from Edwards and a three pointer from Zavala before Curran put away a hook shot to put the Panthers ahead, 46-45.
While neither team was able to put away a basket for nearly three minutes to open the fourth quarter, Curran buried a triple at the 7:05 mark to extend the HPU lead to four.
Elon used a 5-0 run to take the 50-49 lead back, but Curran went 1-for-2 on two trips to the line to put HPU back up, 51-50.
While Elon took back the lead with a jump shot, Zavala and Curran again each made one free throw apiece before a Terrell layup put HPU up 55-52 with 2:44 left.
Curran made two free throws to give HPU the lead at 57-54 with 1:47 remaining, but Elon responded with a three pointer to tie the ballgame on its next possession.
With time winding down, Elon made another three pointer to take the 60-57 lead and giving HPU just five seconds to score, but the Panthers came up short.
Up Next: High Point makes the quick turnaround and travels to East Carolina on Wednesday for an 11:00 a.m. matchup.
#H3U x #GoHPU
