HIGH POINT, N.C. - Despite 14 points from
Faith Price and 12 from
Nakyah Terrell, the High Point University women's basketball team fell short to Presbyterian, 59-50, on Saturday night in the semifinals of the 2024 Hercules Tires Big South Championships
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Site: Qubein Center
Score: High Point 50, Presbyterian 59
Records: High Point (20-11, 14-2), Presbyterian (19-14, 8-8)
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Head Coach Chelsea Banbury: "This one hurts that is for sure. You start working for this in the summer and the girls worked really hard. We had goals and unfortunately, we fell short of those goals. But hats off to Presbyterian. They came out, and they played hard. Their girls were fired up and I think they did have more energy than us to start the game. They made more plays than we did, especially down the stretch so hats off to them."
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Nevaeh Zavala converted a tough bucket inside to give High Point its first points of the game.
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Price got in the groove early as she drained a three-pointer from near the top of the key to cut the Panthers' early deficit.
Lauren Bevis found her shot rhythm as well as she splashed home a triple herself.
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Callie Scheier hit a contested jumper with the shot clock running down to close the team's deficit, 20-10.
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The Panthers trailed at the end of the first ten minutes, 22-10.
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Bukky Akinsola got the team rolling at the start of the second quarter as she made High Point's third three-pointer of the game. Terrell was attacking and finishing at the basket the entire quarter as she brought Presbyterian's lead down to two points, 26-24, with 3:39 remaining until halftime.
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Scheier gave the Panthers their first lead of the game, 27-26, after swishing a bucket from the perimeter.
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Despite outsourcing Presbyterian 17-8 in the second quarter, the Panthers trailed heading into the third quarter, 30-27.
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Terrell continued to drive and finish at the basket as she scored the team's first points of the second half and her 10th point in the game. Price nailed her second and third three-pointers of the game to tie the game up at 37.
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Amaria McNear made her presence known on the defensive end with a big-time block on the first possession of the fourth quarter. Bevis rattled down a much-needed and-one jumper for her first basket since early in the first quarter. Price's hot hand continued as Scheier found her in the corner for three points right out of the timeout break.
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With 28 seconds to play, Bevis knocked down a huge three-pointer and a foul for the four-point play to cut High Point's deficit to seven points, 57-50.
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The Panthers came up short as Presbyterian would seal the win, 59-50.
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"In March all teams want it badly," Terrell said. "We just kind of settled and continued doing what we did during the regular season which yet ended up eating us today."
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Price recorded a team-high 14 points while shooting 80 percent, 4-for-5, from the three-point line.
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Terrell added 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. Bevis contributed with 11 points and three steals.
"The girls worked hard," Banbury said. "They set the goals. They came together and did something that I do not know people really thought we were going to do because we graduated a lot from last year's team. I would say we probably graduated 70 percent of our scoring, brought in a lot of new faces, and had a lot of moving parts in this season. We did not start the year well… but to turn it around and have a 20-win season I think these girls should be proud of themselves and proud of what they accomplished in conference. I am proud of them for coming together. I have really enjoyed coaching them and I loved being around them. I am not happy with how today went but I am still proud of what they did this year"
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Despite the loss, the Panthers completed an excellent season in which High Point finished with an overall record of 20-11 and 14-2 in Big South conference play.
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#H3U x #GoHPU
