ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball team held off Asheville, picking up a 71-66 Big South Conference road win on Thursday at Kimmel Arena in Asheville, N.C. Redshirt-junior Stacia Robertson scored a season-high 23 points in the win.
“This game came down to the final four minutes and I thought we outworked them down the stretch,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “Our post players are very good and this is the first game in a while we got them involved. Stacia had a great game and Latrice Phelps and DeAnneisha Jackson were really solid.”
Robertson led all scorers with a season-high 23 points. She also had four rebounds, thee assists and two steals. Junior Latrice Phelps added 14 points and five rebounds and freshman DeAnneisha Jackson chipped in 10 points for the second straight game.
Paige Love led Asheville with 19 points, scoring 17 of them in the first half. Shonese Jones added 11 points for the Bulldogs.
High Point improves to 9-8 overall and 5-3 in Big South Conference play. The Panthers are tied with Gardner-Webb for third place in the league standings and the two teams face off on Saturday at 3 p.m. Asheville drops to 7-10 on the season and 4-4 in league play.
Love hit a three-pointer, her first shot of the night, to give Asheville a 3-0 lead. Asheville kept the lead for the first nine minutes of the game until Robertson scored two straight layups to give the Panthers a 21-20 lead with 10:35 on the clock. The Bulldogs responded with a 10-2 run to open up a nine-point lead, 35-26 with just over five minutes remaining in the opening half.
High Point forced the ball inside, in the final minutes of the half. Phelps, Jackson and Robertson combined to score HPU’s next 10 points. Robertson drove the baseline and scored a layup to tie the game 37-37 with 58 seconds left in the half. Love answered with a layup for Asheville and Maja Michalska made one free throw with two seconds left to make the halftime score 39-38 in favor of the Bulldogs.
The Panthers went back to the perimeter to start the second half as Vincent drained two shots from beyond the arc to swing the lead in HPU’s favor, 44-39. The Panthers extended the lead to as much as eight, 54-46, on a layup by Robertson with 12:21 on the clock.
Asheville battled back, taking a brief 60-59 lead on a layup by Brittany Gwyn with 6:36 left in the game. Ashante Richard went to the free throw line and made both, giving HPU back the lead, 61-60. With 3:54 on the clock KJ Weaver was fouled by Lexi Patterson and made both free throws to tie the game for the seventh time, 64-64.
Vincent scrambled for a lose ball and was fouled on the floor. She also made both free throws, giving HPU its final lead of the night, 67-64, with 2:56 to play.
Robertson and Love traded layups to keep High Point in the lead with a minute to play. Asheville got off three shots in the final 47 seconds but was unable to convert them before Kaylah Keys grabbed the rebound. She made two free throws to secure the 71-66 win.
Keys finished with nine points, six rebounds and three assists. Vincent finished with eight points.
High Point will face Gardner-Webb on Saturday in Boiling Springs, N.C. at 3 p.m. The Runnin’ Bulldogs are 5-3 in Big South play after defeating Campbell on Thursday. HPU and Gardner-Webb are tied for third place in the league standings.