High Point Women’s Basketball Comeback Falls Short At Coastal Carolina

CONWAY, S.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball team cut a 19-point Coastal Carolina lead to two points but couldn’t complete the comeback, falling to the Chanticleers 83-75 on Thursday at The HTC Center in Conway, S.C. Freshman Kaylah Keys led HPU with 21 points and redshirt-junior Stacia Robertson had a double-double in the game.

“This was a battle of two very similar teams and Coastal Carolina executed better than we did,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “We didn’t come out ready to fight and they dominated us in the first four minutes. That proved to be the difference in the game. I am proud that we came out and played harder in the second half but we didn’t play smarter.”

Latrice Phelps scored to pull High Point within three with 1:42 to play. Lexi Patterson grabbed a defensive rebound and was fouled but couldn’t convert her first free throw, giving Coastal Carolina back the ball with 1:28 to play. Angelica Henry drained a three pointer to push Coastal Carolina’s lead back to 79-73 and the Chants held on for the 83-75 victory.

Keys scored 21 points, including 14 in the second half to lead all scorers in the game. Robertson finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks. Junior Latrice Phelps finished one rebound shy of a double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds. Freshman DeAnneisha Jackson chipped in 10 points.

AJ Jordan led five Chanticleers in double-figure scoring. Jordan had 19 points and 15 rebounds to go with three assists. Alexx Puckett also registered a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Megan Pittman (16), Henry (15) and Karsen Sims (14) scored in double figures.

High Point drops to 6-7 overall and 2-2 in Big South play. Coastal Carolina remains perfect against league opponents at 4-0 and improved to 8-5 overall.

It was a slow start for High Point as the Chanticleers jumped out to a 20-5 lead due in large part to seven turnovers by the Panthers. Coastal Carolina took its biggest lead of the game, 19 points (28-9) on a fast-break layup by Jordan. High Point scored the next five points on two baskets by Phelps and one made free throw from Ashante Richard to cut the lead to 28-14 with 5:38 on the clock. High Point kept working away at the lead, getting within 11, after a layup by Robertson and a free throw from Keys with nine seconds left in the half (35-24). Megan Pittman made both her free throws to end the half with Coastal Carolina ahead 37-24.

Keys scored seven straight points early in the second half to jump start the High Point offense and cut Coastal Carolina’s lead back to eight (41-33) with 17:23 on the clock. Patterson scored with 11:59 to play to get High Point as close as they would come all night, down 53-51. The Chants went on a 10-0 run with Sims burying two shots from beyond the arc to push the lead back to double digits, 63-51 with just under 10 minutes remaining.
Once again HPU battled back, this time getting within three points on Phelps’ jumper with 1:42 to play. Henry drained the three pointer and made free throws down the stretch to seal the win for Coastal Carolina, 83-75.

High Point will head to Buies Creek, N.C. on Saturday to face Campbell at 2 p.m. The Camels are 8-4 on the season with a 3-1 record in Big South Conference games.