ESTERO, Fla – The High Point University women's basketball team dropped a close one, 74-65, against Santa Clara University to wrap up the Gulf Coast Showcase.
Site: Hertz Arena
Score: High Point 65, Santa Clara 74
Records: High Point (3-6) , Santa Clara (4-4)
Head Coach Chelsea Banbury: "We played well in stretches. It was not enough to win, too many mistakes. I know we let Santa Clara go 10-for-21 from three. It's tough to win a game when you let people shoot the ball like that. I don't think we played well this weekend or at our best. We have a lot of work to do when we get back home."
The Panthers started hot going on a 13-0 run against the Broncos after giving up the first basket.
Chana Paxixe capped that scoring run after receiving a behind the back pass from
Aaliyah Collins as Paxixe made the layup and drew the foul. High Point led by seven after the first quarter, 21-14.
The Broncos worked their way back in the second after finding the three ball a few times. Santa Clara went 5-for-6 from behind the arch to equate to its second quarter comeback. The Broncos went on an 8-0 run to start the second to take a 24-21 lead. Collins hit double digit scoring with just about a minute left in the half as she tallied a steal and a score to put HPU back within two, 32-30. Santa Clara drained a pull up three right before the buzzer to head into the break, 35-32.
Collins started off the third for HPU with a three to bring them within three. The Panthers then got cold in the middle of third which allowed the Broncos to pull ahead by 13, 53-40. With under three minutes to play in the third,
Lauren Scott drew a foul on her layup to go to the line as she made her free throw to cut the lead to 11. SCU made a layup just under minute in the third quarter to go back to a 14-point lead with 10 minutes left to play.
The Panthers crawled their way back into the game in the fourth quarter after Scott drained a three pointer to cut the lead to six, 60-54 with 7:30 to play. Two made layups by
Dom Nesland and
Shakira Baskerville made it a two-point game before the Broncos went to the line twice to pull ahead by five. Two more made free throws by Scott with 3:30 left made it a two-point game once again. The Broncos found a way to stop HPU and make some shots to hold the lead in the final game of the Gulf Coast Showcase for both programs.
Collins led the floor with 21 points as Scott was behind her with 14 of her own. Collins and
Jaleesa Lawrence both pulled in six rebounds in today's contest.
Up Next: High Point will return home to welcome Winston-Salem State University to the Qubein Center on Friday, December 6. Tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m.
#H3U x #GoHPU
