Site: Qubein Center (High Point, N.C.)
Score: High Point 75, USC Upstate 59
Records: High Point (12-11, 9-3), USC Upstate (18-6, 10-3)
The High Point University women's basketball team shot over 60 percent from the floor and 80 percent from beyond the arc to take a win over USC Upstate, 75-59, in the Qubein Center on Saturday afternoon. Four different Panthers finished with 10+ points.
Jenson Edwards led the way for HPU with a double-double, tallying 24 points and 10 rebounds on the day.
Cydney Johnson was right behind her, shooting 8-for-9 from the floor to finish with 16 points while
Jordan Edwards finished with a hefty line of 15 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds.
Head coach
Chelsea Banbury: "Obviously I'm happy to get this win, this was a big game for us. Upstate has been playing very well, they only had two losses in the league on the year. And I think this is going to be a big one by the time we're done with this season. Our girls were focused, they came in and they executed the game plan. They were willing to help each other on the defensive end and make things hard for Upstate to score. Then Jordan and Jenson were excellent tonight, Jenson had a double-double, Jordan with seven rebounds, eight assists, and 15 points. They came out and they kind of fueled us. And then
Cydney Johnson also offensively and defensively she was excellent for us. Cyd made a lot of stops, helped her teammates a lot, got some deflections to interrupt things on the defensive end. Then she was willing to step out and set ball screens for her teammates on the offensive end, and it was difficult for them to guard it."
Panther Particulars
The Spartans opened up the game scoring six of the first eight points of the contest, but the Panthers were able to respond with an 8-2 run of their own to take a 10-8 lead.
Callie Scheier connected with
Jaden Wrightsell as she drove to the basket for a layup to put HPU up 12-10 with 4:07 left in the first quarter.
http://
A defensive steal from
Cydney Johnson got the ball to
Jordan Edwards who took it coast to coast for another two points for HPU.
Johnson stood strong as she bodied off her defender for another layup to bring the HPU lead to 22-18 with 6:18 minutes remaining in the opening half.
While Upstate limited HPU's three-point field goal attempts,
Jenson Edwards knocked down the first triple for the Panthers to extend their lead to five points and spark an 11-0 run to end the first half.
Jordan Edwards completed the and-1 opportunity to keep the offensive momentum on the Panther's side.
The Panther offense came alive and ended the first half leading Upstate, 37-24.
Jordan Edwards led the Panthers in first half scoring with 11 points, while
Jenson Edwards and
Cydney Johnson had 10 points apiece in the first half. The Panthers shot 57.7% from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
HPU came out of the halftime break strong with an 11-2 run early in the third quarter in which four different Panthers contributed to.
Jenson Edwards had two layups,
Jaden Wrightsell and
Jordan Edwards each had one layup, and
Claire Wyatt hit from deep on her only three-point attempt of the night.
The Spartans gained some momentum and brought the score to 49-40, but the Panthers were quick to respond with six points to extend their lead back to 15.
The purple and white ended the third quarter strong with a
Jenson Edwards bucket and a big defensive stop as time expired.
Wrightsell converted on a three-point attempt to bring the score to 63-48 with 7:25 left in the game.
Jenson Edwards connected with Johnson once more for another two-point finish for the Panthers before Scheier found
Nakyah Terrell for an easy layup to being the Panther lead to 19.
Up Next: The Panthers will travel to Boiling Springs to face Gardner-Webb on Tuesday (Feb. 15). Tipoff is set for 7 pm.
#GoHPU x #H3U
