Cheyenne Parker Scores 34 in HPU Women’s Basketball 79-72 Win at Longwood

FARMVILLE, Va. – Junior Cheyenne Parker scored a career-high 34 points to goalong with 20 rebounds to lead the High Point University women’s basketball to a 79-72 win at Longwood. Parker was one of four Panthers to score in doubledigits in the Big South win Thursday at Willett Hall in Farmville, Va.

Parker’s 34 points came on 14-of-19 shooting from the floor. She also had 20 rebounds, two blocks and one steal in the win. She finished two points shy of the HPU Div. I single-game record set by Erin Reynolds. Reynolds scored 36 against Pittsburgh last season.

“Cheyenne was dominant tonight,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “She battled the entire game and showed a lot of maturity. Lexi Patterson was huge for us in her first career start. She played physical defense and stepped up when we needed her tonight. This was a good road win and hopefully gives us momentum heading in to Saturday at Radford.”

Redshirt-sophomore Lindsay Puckett added 12 points and sophomore Lexi Patterson scored a career-high 11 points. Redshirt-sophomoreStacia Robertson finished with 10 points, six assists, three blocks and three steals.

Daeisha Brown led the Lancers with 20 points and eight steals and Crystal Smith added 15 points.

The Panthers scored the first six points of the game on twobaskets by Parker and a jumper by Patterson. Longwood answered with a 9-2 run, capped by a three pointer by Crystal Smith. It was the 1,000th career point for Smith, who had been sitting at 999 since the Lancers played at High Point on Jan. 24.

Raven Williams drained a three for Lancers and Longwood led12-9 with 13:12 to play in the opening period. Longwood kept the lead for the next seven minutes but HPU stayed within four points the entire time. The Panthers did a good job of moving the ball and Parker found Robertson open on the outside for a tre which gave HPU back the lead, 23-21 with 6:36 on the clock.

On the next possession Robertson dished the ball in to Parker for a layup. As Longwood attempted to inbound the ball, Parker stole the ball and laid it in to open up a 27-21 HPU lead with 5:43 on the clock. ThePanthers held the lead for the remainder of the half, taking a 35-32 advantage in to the locker room.

High Point led for the entire second half. Senior Jazmin Cromartie gave Parker a brief rest and came up with a big three-point play. She was fouled while scoring a layup from the left side of the basket. She hit the free throw to give HPU a 50-40 lead.

Puckett intercepted a pass and went coast to coast for a fastbreak layup that pushed High Point’s lead to 62-49 with 7:42 to play. High Point took its biggest lead of the game, 74-60, with 2:18 left in the game.Puckett made a layup and was fouled on the play. She completed the three-point play with a good layup.

Longwood kept up the defensive pressure in the final minutes and Smith hit a three with five seconds left to bring the Lancers within seven. High Point held the lead and won 79-72.

High Point improves to 13-9 overall and 7-4 in Big South play with the win. The loss is Longwood’s fifth in a row, dropping the Lancers to 9-14 overall and 6-6 in league play.

High Point will travel to Radford, Va. on Saturday for a 4:30 p.m. matchup with the Radford Highlanders. The Panthers lost to Radford, 55-64, on Jan. 26 at the Millis Center. Robertson had 20 points in the game.