HIGH POINT, N.C. -- High Point University women's basketball opened the regular season in the Qubein Center with a non-conference matchup with Davidson. In a tough physical battle with the Wildcats, the Panthers came up short in the final minutes of play, falling 77-64.
Skyler Curran led HPU in scoring with 19 points while
Jenson Edwards added 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and three blocks.
Site: Qubein Arena (High Point, N.C.)
Score: High Point 64, Davidson 77
Records: High Point (0-1, 0-0), Davidson (1-0, 0-0)
Head coach
Chelsea Banbury: "I was happy with how we started the game, I thought we came out ready to go and we had a lot of energy. Probably need to be more consistent with that. We lost energy in the second and third quarter. They came out strong, we gave up way too many points in the third quarter. We picked up the intensity again in the fourth quarter, but we had dug ourselves a bit of a hole, I think we were down 19 or 20 at that point and it was too late. There were bright spots to the game, but we've talked about it in practice, that we have to come out and we have to play 40 minutes. Like I said, there's stretches that we looked like a good team, but we're not there yet if we don't do it for 40 minutes."
The Panthers opened the night with back-to-back and-one opportunities from
Nakyah Terrell and
Skyler Curran, who knocked down both free throws to make it 6-2.
The Panther defense forced three turnovers by the Wildcats, the result four points for HPU to take the 12-4 lead.
Jordan Edwards beat her defender off the dribble, attacking the paint for an easy dump off to Curran on the backside.
Callie Scheier also tallied two steals and two points off a jumper in the run.
After sitting out last season with an injury, Curran exploded for 10 first-quarter points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor in her first regular season game back on the court. Davidson slowly closed the gap before ending the first quarter to make it 18-14 going into the second.
The Wildcats took their first lead of the game two minutes into the quarter with a mid-range jumper, but a baseline drive from Anna Häger tied it back up at 20 all.
The Wildcats scored 11 of the first 13 points in the second quarter to hold a 25-20 until
Nevaeh Zavala ended the run with a driving layup to the basket. The Panthers closed out the first half with a free throw from
Claire Wyatt to make it 31-26.
Davidson opened the second half with a 6-0 run before
Shakira Baskerville collected High Points first bucket.
Pushing past the defense,
Jenson Edwards took it coast to coast to find Zavala breaking on the baseline. A strong finish at the rim closed out the third quarter with HPU still trailing, 41-60.
Curran got the offense rolling at the start of the fourth quarter with a deep three from the wing. Terrell followed right behind with another three after securing an offensive rebound.
HPU cut the lead to 10 with just over two minutes left in the game with Curran's fake screen and roll out to the wing for an open three from Edwards.
Jordan Edwards found
Jenson Edwards for a wide-open layup to close it to nine after a made free throw from the Wildcats.
The Panthers were unable to completely close the gap, coming up short in the first official game of the season, 64-77 to Davidson.
Up Next: The Panthers stay home for a quick turnaround as they matchup against Concord on November 9
th at 7:00P.M.
#GoHPU
