HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point Univerity women’s basketball team battled back from a 17-point deficit to cut Winthrop’s lead to one in the final three minutes but couldn’t complete the comeback, falling to the Eagles 67-62. Redshirt-sophomore Lindsay Puckett had 14 points, including a three to get HPU within one late in the game.
“I am very pleased with the fight we showed in the second half,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “We need to be more proactive and not reactive. If we played with the same energy for the entire second half we would never have been down by 17. We spent too much energy on the come back. Winthrop is a great team in our league and they played a great game.”
High Point outshot Winthrop 42.4 percent to 36.5 percent for the game, and four different Panthers scored in double figures. High Point was led in scoring by junior Tayler Tremblay with 16 points. Puckett added 14 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Lexi Patterson added 11 points.
Junior Cheyenne Parker posted her 20th double-double of the season with 13 point and 11 rebounds. She also had a season-high eight blocks to give her 309 for her career. She passed former Panther Mackenzie Maier for the Big South and HPU career blocks record.
Winthrop freshman Aliyah Kilpatrick led all scorers with 20 points. The Eagles were led in rebounds by freshman Schaquilla Nunn with 11.
The loss drops High Point to 15-10 overall and 9-5 in the Big South. Winthrop moves to 16-10 for the season and 10-4 in the conference.
The Panthers jumped out to an early 10-4 lead thanks to High Point’s stingy defense that held Winthrop to just 2-for-10 shooting in the opening minutes.
The Eagles battled back and claimed their first lead of the game, 13-12, with 10:34 remaining in the first half. Kilpatrick came up with a steal and dished it forward to Samiya Wright for the fastbreak layup.
The teams traded the lead four more times through the next four minutes. A bucket by Winthrop junior Dequesha McClanahan with 6:17 remaining gave them the lead that they would retain going into the break.
With nine seconds left in the half, HPU redshirt-sophomore Stacia Robertson scored her only two points of the period on a layup that brought the Panthers within five, and High Point went to the locker room down 28-23.
Winthrop opened up a 17-point lead, 46-29, through the first six minutes of the second half. The Panthers responded with an 18-4 run of their own to cut the lead to three, 53-50 with 7:35 remaining. Over the six-minute run, Tremblay had eight points and two assists while Parker included two points of her own along with three blocks and a steal.
With 2:21 left in the game, Puckett drained a three from the right corner to cut the lead to one, 61-60.
The Panthers kept it close, drawing back within one, 63-62, on a layup by Robertson with just 32 seconds remaining. However, High Point was unable to get any closer and trailed by five at the final buzzer.
Patterson has scored in double figures for the last four games, the first four starts of her collegiate career. Robertson finished the night with eight points, nine rebounds and two blocks.
High Point travels to the Paul Porter Arena in Boiling Springs, N.C. for a matchup with Gardner-Webb on Thursday at 7 p.m. The Panthers beat the Runnin’ Bulldogs 64-42 on Jan. 5 at the Millis Center.