HPU Women’s Basketball Tops Coastal Carolina on Senior Day

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball team held off Coastal Carolina for a 58-53 win in the final game of the regular season on Saturday at the Millis Center. Redshirt-sophomore Stacia Robertson finished the game with 22 points, 13 rebounds, six blocks and five steals.

“It was great to end the regular season with back-to-back wins and send the seniors off on a high note,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “Stacia played really well, especially at the end of the game. She didn’t let foul trouble keep her from playing aggressive basketball. Tayler Tremblay came up with huge points in the second half. We are excited to head in the Big South Tournament on a two-game win streak.”

With the win, High Point secured the No. 4 seed in the Big South Conference Tournament. The Panthers will face No. 5-seed Campbell on Friday in the quarterfinals at The HTC Center in Conway, S.C. HPU and Campbell split the season series with each team winning at home.

HPU led the Chanticleers by two, 52-50, with just under a minute remaining in the game. Robertson grabbed an offensive rebound and the putback to make it a four-point lead with 37 seconds to go. Robertson came up with a block and defensive rebound on the other end of the floor and passed the ball out to Tremblay. Tremblay was fouled by Angelic Henry and made both free throws to give HPU a 56-50 lead with 25 seconds remaining.

Henry cut the lead to three with a tre from three steps beyond the arc with 14 second on the clock. HPU forced Coastal Carolina to turn the ball over twice in the final seconds and junior Cheyenne Parker iced the game with two made free throws to secure the 58-53 win.

Robertson led High Point with her third double-double of the season. Tremblay finished with 16 points, including 14 in the second half, and four assists. Parker added eight points, 15 rebounds and five blocks.

Coastal Carolina had three players with 11 points: Katelyn Connor, Henry and Kayla Cook. Connor and Henry grabbed eight rebounds each.

High Point stormed out to a 9-0 lead in the opening four minutes, capped off with a three pointer by redshirt-sophomore Lindsay Puckett with 15:42 on the clock. At 14:39, Coastal Carolina finally got on the board when Shatia Cole drained a three from Savannah Pippen. Henry drove the lane for a good layup and was fouled by Tremblay on the play. She hit the free throw to tie the game, 12-12, with 8:42 left in the half.

The score was tied three more times in the opening half, last at 20-20 after Alexx Puckett was fouled and hit both free throws for the Chanticleers. Robertson grabbed back-to-back offensive boards and scored both times to put HPU ahead 24-20 with 30 seconds left in the half. With five seconds on the clock AJ Jordan completed a three-point play with a layup and a free throw to get Coastal Carolina within one, 24-23 at halftime.

High Point pushed the lead to seven in the opening minutes of the second half. Ashante Richard made a free throw with 15:12 left in the game to make it a 34-27 lead. Cook scored five straight points for the Chanticleers and DJ Hunter capped the Coastal Carolina run with a layup at 12:04 to tie the game 34-34. Coastal Carolina tied the game three more times in the second half, the last time at 48-48 with 2:56 remaining, but was never able to take the lead. Parker went to the free-throw line with 2:42 remaining and hit both shots to give HPU its final lead, 50-48.

The Panthers forced three Coastal Carolina turnovers in the final two minutes to win the game 58-53.

Puckett finished the game with five points and seven rebounds and graduate student Kendra Wallace added four points and one block.