HPU Women’s Basketball Falls to Furman In The Final Seconds

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball dropped a close contest to Furman, 64-62, on Tuesday in Greenville, S.C. The Palladins won the game on a pair of free throws in the final seconds. Stacia Robertson and Tayler Tremblay had 13 points each to lead HPU.

Teshia Griswold was fouled with 20 seconds left in the game. She made both free throws to put the Palladins ahead, 64-62. High Point had the ball with time remaining but a steal by Brigid Morrissey sealed the game for Furman.

“We had a few stretches in the game where we didn’t play with the intent and purpose you need to win games,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “Those few moments cost us the game tonight. We just didn’t execute in those stretches. We need to find that purpose for the entire game.”

Robertson finished the game with 13 points and eight rebounds. Junior Cheyenne Parker had 10 rebounds, nine points and five assists in the game. Senior Erin Reynolds and freshman Tori Cook each contributed eight points.

Sarah Durdaller led the Palladins with 26 points and six rebounds and Teshia Griswold finished the night with 20 points.

High Point is 1-1 on the season while Furman remains perfect at 2-0.

The Panthers took an early 10-4 lead with Parker scoring six of HPU’s first 10 points. The Palladins came back to tie the game up 11-11 on a layup by Brittany Hodges with 15:40 remaining.

Furman led by five, 27-22, midway through the first half on a layup from Alexis Patterson. Robertson hit a pair of free throws at the 4:48 mark to cut Furman’s lead to two, 30-28. Tremblay checked in to the game in between Robertson’s shots and scored five of HPU’s final 10 points to give the Panthers a 38-34 lead heading in to the locker room.

Tremblay hit a jumper from the free-throw line to tie the first half 30-30. She hit one free throw to give HPU back the lead with 2:33 remaining in the half. On the next play Tremblay dished to freshman Tabitha Fudge who scored her first collegiate points with a layup under the basket to push HPU’s lead to 33-30. Graduate student Kendra Wallace had a three-pointer and Tremblay another jumper to send High Point to the locker room with a 38-34 lead.

The Panthers opened up their biggest lead of the game, 49-42, on a free throw by Parker. Furman scored the next eight points with five coming from Griswold to lead HPU 50-49 with 9:02 remaining.

HPU took the lead back second later on a pair of free throws by Tori Cook. High Point remained in the lead, 62-60, with just over a minute left in the game. Griswold scored the final four points of the game on free throws to win the contest for Furman.

The Panthers out-rebounded Furman 45-31 and had seven blocks in the game, four by Parker.

High Point will continue the three-game road stand this Saturday with a game at No. 6 Kentucky. HPU and Kentucky have met once before with the Wildcats winnings 83-45 on Jan. 6, 2004.