HIGH POINT, N.C. – Four Panthers scored in double figures as High Point downed Radford, 70-62, in Qubein Arena.
Jenson Edwards led HPU with 17 points, adding five rebounds and five assists while
Skyler Curran posted a near double-double with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Site: Qubein Arena
Score: High Point 70, Radford 62
Records: High Point (8-10, 6-2), Radford (8-11, 4-4)
Head coach
Chelsea Banbury: "It was definitely a good win against a good Radford team today, they were coming off a win against Campbell on Wednesday. We definitely needed this one because it gives us a little bit of an edge over them in the standings. I thought our half-court defense was really good, they weren't able to score much in the half court. We executed our game plan, our girls took that seriously. I said this to our team in the locker room, a lot of a lot of their runs were self-inflicted, us turning the ball over. They weren't forced turnovers, us just kind of throwing the ball around the court, so if we can eliminate those I think at the end of it you look at us and we'd say, 'hey we're a really good team.' So I'm happy with our teams effort and I'm definitely happy we got the win, but if we continue to get better I think we could be a really good team by the end of this"
High Point opened the game with back-to-back layups from Curran before Radford got on the board with a jumpshot.
Jordan Edwards led the response with a layup before
Jenson Edwards sank back-to-back jumpers to give HPU an early 10-2 lead. The Highlanders responded with a 6-1 run to pull back within 11-8, but a
Shakira Baskerville layup and
Jenson Edwards' first three-pointer of the day put HPU ahead 16-8 with 2:36 to play in the period.
Radford added two more layups, but High Point closed the quarter on a 6-0 run with two layups from
Anna Häger and a pull up jumper from
Jenson Edwards. The Panthers led 22-12 at the end of the first quarter while shooting over 62 percent from the field.
While the Highlanders held HPU scoreless for the first two minutes of the second period, the Panthers held the visitors scoreless for nearly three minutes while Curran added a layup and
Claire Wyatt knocked down a three-pointer to give High Point the 27-15 lead with 6:51 remaining in the half. Curran added another layup and a three-pointer before Radford got back into the game with an 11-3 run to close the half.
High Point held the 35-31 advantage at the halftime break while shooting 50 percent from the floor.
Jenson Edwards scored four quick points out of halftime, but Radford hit three free throws, a layup, and a three-pointer tied the game a 39-39 with 6:46 left in the quarter. But after a timeout, High Point remained poised as
Jenson Edwards knocked down another jumper,
Jordan Edwards hit a triple, and Wyatt found
Nakayah Terrell in transition
for an easy bucket.
After two Radford layups,
LaImani Simmons led a 5-0 scoring run of her own, knocking down a three-pointer before hitting a pull up jumper to push HPU's lead to 51-43.
Jordan Edwards opened up the final frame with a three-point play, drawing a foul on a made layup and then sinking her free throw. Wyatt, Edwards, and Simmons combined for four layups in an 8-1 High Point run to hold the 62-51 lead with 5:19 remaining in the game. The Highlanders posted a layup and two free throws to cut the HPU lead back to single digits, but Curran,
Jenson Edwards, and
Jordan Edwards closed the final minute going 8-for-10 at the free throw line to secure the conference win.
Up Next: High Point travels to Campbell on Wednesday night in a battle for second place in the Big South as both teams sit at 6-2 in conference play. Tip-off in Buies Creek is set for 7:00 p.m.
#H3U x #GoHPU
