HIGH POINT, N.C. - Lauren Bevis led the way with 19 points, including 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, to help the No. 1 seeded High Point University women's basketball team defeat the No. 9 seeded UNC Asheville in OT, 70-57, on Thursday afternoon. With the win, the Panthers advance to the 2024 Hercules Tires Big South Championship semifinals.
Site: Qubein Center
Score: High Point 70, UNC Asheville 57 (OT)
Records: High Point (20-10), UNC Asheville (11-20)
Head Coach Chelsea Banbury: "Fortunately in overtime we made enough plays to separate a little bit. I think Faith was huge down the stretch. She attacked, she got that layup and then stepped up and knocked down a three with confidence and kind of opened up things for the rest of us. Followed by Bevis hitting a three and then Nevaeh [Zavala] hit a big one with the shot-clock running down too. We have to do a better job on the boards. They had 18 offensive rebounds which can not happen. That has been a weakness of ours and if we are going to reach our goals we have to do a better job of that, but fortunately we only had seven turnovers and quite honestly I think that is why we were able to win."
The Panthers came out firing early as Bevis drained a three-pointer to give the Panthers an early 3-0 lead. High Point was unable to miss from beyond the arc as
Faith Price and
Cydney Johnson knocked down three-pointers to help the Panthers start the game off on a 9-2 run.
Nakyah Terrell was attacking the basket early as she scored a pair of drives to the basket.
Bukky Akinsola earned herself an and-one, three-point play before the end of the first quarter to give High Point a 16-13 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes.
Shakira Baskerville got the Panthers going in the second quarter with a euro-step finish for a bucket. High Point was outscored 11-2 in the final 7:04 of the second quarter to give UNC Asheville a 28-23 lead at halftime.
Terrell got the momentum rolling for High Point with a layup, and then a pick-and-roll dime to
Nevaeh Zavala for the easy basket. Zavala brought UNC Asheville's lead to within a single-point, 31-30, after she drained a triple from near the top of the key. A tough spin and finish from Johnson gave the Panthers their first lead, 32-31, since the 5:34 mark of the second quarter.
Bevis advanced High Point's lead to four points, 37-33, after she earned herself an and-one, three-point play from a euro-step finish at the basket. Zavala's hot hand in the third quarter continued as Johnson found her down low for a turnaround finish.
"Nevaeh has gotten better every game I think. She has gotten a lot more comfortable, a lot more confident. She is a force inside when she wants to be… she is a tough person to go up against," Banbury said.
High Point outscored UNC Asheville 18-9 to give the Panthers a 41-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Bevis hit her second three-pointer of the game with 7:22 remaining in the game to give High Point a 46-41 lead. Akinsola put the moves on with a crossover that resulted in a layup to put High Point back on top, 48-46, with 4:49 left in the fourth quarter.
Bevis got High Point fans on their feet with another and-one, three-point finish to extend the Panther's lead to three points, 51-48. Bevis found Price up the floor as she converted an and-one layup to give the Panthers a 53-50 lead with 1:10 remaining in the game.
UNC Asheville tied the game up at 55 after converting two free-throws to force an overtime period.
Price scored back-to-back baskets to start the overtime period including a made three-pointer. Bevis' shooting prowess continued as she splashed a three-pointer from the top of the key to push High Point's lead to six points, 63-57.
Zavala drained a three-pointer herself to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game, nine points, 66-57 with 1:21 remaining in the overtime period. Bevis swished four free-throws in the last 49 seconds of the game to help High Point seal a 70-57 win in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Hercules Tires Big South tournament.
"I think we started getting stops, started getting rebounds and so that boosted our offense and gave us more momentum. We got an and-one fastbreak layup from
Faith Price that kind of got us going," Bevis said.
High Point outscored UNC Asheville 15-2 in the overtime period which included the Panthers shooting 4-7 from the court overall and 3-4 from the three-point line. Bevis led the way in scoring for High Point with a game-high 19 points including 16 points in the second half and overtime period combined to go along with seven rebounds.
Zavala finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Faith Price added 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
With the win, High Point advanced to the 2024 Hercules Tires Big South Championship semifinals.
Up Next: High Point will play No. 5 Presbyterian College on Saturday, March 9 at 6 p.m. in the semifinals of the Big South Championships.
#H3U x #GoHPU
