SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The High Point University women's basketball team clinched the Big South Regular Season Championship for its second year in a row as they defeated USC Upstate, 72-47, on Wednesday night. For the third time in five seasons, HPU will stand alone with the No. 1 seed heading into the Big South Tournament.
Head Coach Chelsea Banbury: "I'm really proud of our team. We came in on the road and were able to complete our first goal for the season with the regular season title. Again it was fueled by our defense and they did a great job of executing the game plan."
Site: G.B. Hodge Center
Score: High Point 72, USC Upstate 47
Records: High Point (18-11, 13-3), USC Upstate (8-20, 5-10)
Three Panthers scored in double figures as they were led by
Chana Paxixe tying her season-high 14 points in the dominant win over the Spartans. Right from the start High Point took the lead and never looked back. Maintaining a double-digit lead for most of the night pushed High Point to a 25-point win to clinch the regular season title.
High Point started on fire from beyond the arc going 3-for-3 to start the night. Paxixe,
Nakyah Terrell, and
Nevaeh Zavala all shared points from three. Anna Hager also went a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc tonight.
The Spartans slowly made a comeback in the second quarter as they closed the gap to nine points before the break. High Point quickly changed that to start the second half as they brought its lead up to 21 points after five minutes. The Panthers went on a 15-0 run late in the third quarter to extend its lead to 27 before the Spartans connected on a jumper.
High Point's lead dwindled down to 16 after the Spartans started the fourth quarter on a 11-4 run before HPU turned around and went back up 20 after a good layup from
Jaleesa Lawrence. Two three pointers from
Shakira Baskerville and Hager put the cherry on top for High Point as the clock hit zeros.
High Point sealed the deal on being the No. 1 seed heading into the Big South Tournament and have now won the regular season championship three times in the last five years.
Up Next: High Point will have a week off before heading to Johnson City, Tenn. for the Big South Tournament. HPU will play in the quarterfinal game on Thursday, March 6 against the winner of the 8/9 seed game. Tip-off is set for 11:30 a.m.
#H3U x #GoHPU
