Liberty Rallies Past High Point Women’s Basketball In The Second Half

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Junior Cheyenne Parker recorded her 17th double-double of the season and junior Tayler Tremblay scored 20 points but the High Point University women’s basketball team couldn’t hold off a second-half run by Liberty, falling to the Flames 67-59 Saturday at the Millis Center.

“We came out in the first half and played the best basketball we have all season,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “We just didn’t sustain that in the second half. Liberty has a championship mentality. It doesn’t matter if they are down two or 20, they believe they will win. We need to bring that same attitude to the floor. We will make adjustments, stay aggressive and go back to work on Monday.”

High Point led Liberty by 15 at the half, but the Flames outscored HPU 44-21 in the second half to win the game, 67-59. Tolu Omotola led the Flames with 22 points and 12 rebounds while Devon Brown added 16 points. The Flames improve to 17-6 overall and 9-2 in the Big South while High Point moves to 12-9 on the season and 6-4 in the league.

High Point played great defense in the first half, with six steals and seven blocks to limit the Flames to 8-for-37 shooting in the opening period. With 12:06 on the clock sophomore Lexi Patterson scored on a layup to cap a 13-2 High Point run and put the Panthers ahead 28-16. Tremblay scored five points during the run and dished out three assists. Parker pitched in six points of her own.

The Panthers finished the first half on a 6-0 run, including the final four points of the half by Tremblay. High Point went into the locker room up by 15, 38-23.

Liberty started the second half quickly, opening up the period with a 25-4 run. Brittany Campbell hit a wide-open three pointer at 13:16 to give the Flames their first lead of the afternoon, 43-42. High Point briefly took the lead back, 49-48, on a layup by Jazmin Cromartie with 9:33 to go. Ashley Rininger scored for the Flames to give them back the lead for good with 9:12 to play. Liberty outscored High Point 15-9 in the final stretch of the game to seal the win.

Parker added six blocks and two steals to her double-double. Robertson finished the game with eight points and six rebounds.

High Point will hit the road on Thursday for a matchup with Longwood in Farmville, Va. at 7 p.m. The Lancers have lost four in a row after starting the season 7-1 in the Big South. Longwood’s losing streak started with an 83-66 loss at the Millis Center on Jan. 24.