HIGH POINT, N.C. — The High Point University women's basketball team took on the East Carolina University Pirates in a Sunday afternoon matchup inside of the Qubein Center. The Panthers defeated the Pirates 84-68.
High Point was led by Aaliyah Collins who set a career-high 27 points. She also dished out another seven assists. Junior Macy Spencer recorded 20 of her own, her second 20-point game as a Panther.
Site: Qubein Center
Score: High Point 84, East Carolina 68
Records: High Point (4-0), East Carolina (2-2)
Head Coach Chelsea Banbury: "I'm really, really proud of our win today. It was definitely a good team win, we had a better start coming into this one. The other day I was in here talking about how we can't start like we did and we have to compete for 40 minutes and today our girls came out and we jumped on them. We had a big first quarter, you know, I hate, I hate seeing Lexi [Fleming] go down like she did. I love the kid. I hate those injuries and as unfortunate as it is, I'm really proud of how our girls responded and we were able to weather the storm. We were able to maintain our lead and I mean Aaliyah [Collins] was huge for us. Every time we needed a big play she was the one to step up and make it, and she got to the rim and had some really tough finishes. They killed us on the boards, but you know we were able to make enough plays to come away with a win, and I'm just really proud of our girls."
The Panthers started off the game almost as dominantly as you can be going up 5-0 before the Pirates found their first field goal of the game. The Panthers then went on a 14-0 run behind three-pointers from Spencer and Lexi Fleming. Both players also hit free throws during the scoring run. Aaliyah Collins then secured herself a three-point play after getting fouled on a layup.
Chana Paxixe then got herself on the scoreboard with a layup assisted by Collins. High Point held the Pirates scoreless for over six minutes. Brecken Snotherly drained a three-pointer to give the Panthers a 22-6 lead. Fleming exited the game late in the first quarter.
Despite being down 24-8 to open up the second quarter, the Pirates went on a 7-0 run before Collins hit two free throws, Spencer made a basket, and Collins did the same as the Panthers led 30-18 with just over five minutes left in the half. HPU and ECU traded baskets before Nevaeh Zavala drained a three-pointer right before the buzzer taking a 39-24 lead into halftime.
In the first half the Panthers led the Pirates in points off turnovers 16-2 and points in the paint 14-8. Through the first 20 minutes of play the Panthers scoring was spread out. Collins recorded 11, Spencer had eight, and Zavala had six.
Spencer opened up the Panthers scoring in the second half with a jumper and a three-pointer which was assisted by Zavala. After some physical play, Spencer drained another three, assisted by Paxixe. Collins then secured her fourth basket of the game and Paxixe followed it up with her own jumper. The Panthers went back up 52-34.\
Collins found Peyton Gerdes for her first points of the game on a beautiful play. East Carolina started to come back and was able to bring the game within eight points with just under 90 seconds left in the third quarter. However, High Point held a 61-51 lead going into the final 10 minutes.
The Pirates brought the game within seven before Collins scored. The Pirates matched the basket, but Collins then converted a three-point play to bring her total to 22. The point guard then found Dom Nesland with an off-balanced pass to bring the score to 68-56. Anna Hager drilled a three-pointer of her own and a layup off of a cut with 5:27 left.
With back-to-back baskets, Collins tied her career high (26) on a layup. The Panthers led by nine 77-68 with a little over three minutes remaining. Collins then set her new game-high on a free throw to make the score 80-68. Hager reached double-digits with a dagger in the corner as time winded down. The Panthers won 84-68.
The Panthers shot 53.7% from the floor, 45% from three, and outscored the Pirates in points off turnovers 21-4. High Point forced 16 total turnovers.
Up Next: High Point will host University of Vermont on Wednesday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m.
#H3U x #GoHPU
