HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women's basketball team fell to No. 8 Virginia Tech to wrap up non-conference action in Qubein Arena. Despite facing the third-ranked scoring defense in NCAA Division I, which allows just 49.8 points per game, HPU posted 66 points against the Hokies, the second-most since Kentucky's 74 on November 21
st.
Site: Qubein Center
Score: High Point 66, No. 8 Virginia Tech 86
Records: High Point (2-8, 0-0 Big South), No. 8 Virginia Tech (11-1, 1-1 ACC)
Head coach
Chelsea Banbury: "I'm definitely proud of our girl's effort today. I thought we played well. It's a big task playing the No. 8 team in the country. They're big, they're athletic, (Elizabeth) Kitley's the preseason player of the year in the ACC, she was the player of the year last year. She's tough for anybody to handle, and she had a good game tonight. But I thought offensively we were able to get some open shots. Claire (Wyatt) was excellent, hitting wide open threes, and Virginia Tech is very good on defense. I think the fact that we were able to score 66 points says a lot. I thought we did a better job executing today than we have in a while. So hopefully we continue to go in that direction. But I'm just proud of our girl's effort, they battled for 40 minutes and hung in there with a top-ten team in the country."
The Panthers were the first on the board as
Nakyah Terrell sank a jumper, but Tech went on a 7-0 run to take the lead with 6:10 remaining in the quarter.
Claire Wyatt hit her first triple of the night with 5:51 remaining in the period and
Callie Scheier came up with five points after coming off the bench to keep HPU within 10-9.
Terrell hit two free throws and a turnaround jumper on a 4-0 solo run before Scheier took the ball to the hoop for another layup to give HPU the 16-15 lead with one minute remaining in the opening frame. But a Hokie layup right before the horn put the visitors ahead at the end of the first quarter.
Kitley opened up the second period with a scoring run of her own, forcing her way to the basket for six points in the first two and a half minutes of play in the second quarter to give the Hokies the 23-17 lead. But
Skyler Curran,
Jenson Edwards, and Terrell each knocked down baskets to stay within striking range.
Virginia Tech finished the half with back-to-back buckets to hold its biggest lead of the half, a 42-32 advantage.
After hitting two triples in their first possessions of the half, VT held a 48-32 lead over HPU, but
Skyler Curran converted a three-point play with a made jumper and free throw to pull back with 13. Wyatt started to heat up from deep, hitting three triples to put High Point within 12 points with 4:03 remaining in the third quarter. Wyatt finished the night 5-for-7 from deep to lead the Panthers with a season-high 17 points.
The Hokies closed the third quarter on a 10-0 run and extended their lead to 24 points at the beginning of the fourth. The two teams traded points back-and-forth until Edwards and Scheier hit a three-pointer and two free throws on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to 19.
HPU closed the game on an 11-6 run with a three-pointer from
Jordan Edwards and another three-point play from freshman
Anna Häger with an and-1 opportunity.
Up Next: High Point returns to Qubein Arena on Thursday, December 29
th, when it plays host to Longwood for the Big South opener. Tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m. in High Point.
#GoHPU
