HPU WBB Panthers Surge Past Bulldogs for 58-45 Road Triumph

• Trailing 35-28 midway through the third, HPU flipped the script outscoring UNC Asheville 30-10 the rest of the way.
• Off the bench, freshman Jiselle Thomas recorded the most points she’s scored against a Division I foe with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
• Junior Emma Bockrath set a career high with six steals to go with 10 points and eight rebounds on the afternoon.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Despite falling behind by seven midway through the third the High Point University women’s basketball team closed the game with a 30-10 run to pull away for a 58-45 victory over UNC Asheville in Kimmel Arena on Saturday.

Entering the contest as the conference’s top scoring team, the Panthers (8-5, 2-0) leaned on their defense to defeat the Bulldogs (4-9, 1-1). Behind a career-high six steals from junior Emma Bockrath HPU collected 12 steals, which turned into a 26-9 edge in points off turnovers.

“I’m proud of our team because we’re usually an offensive team, so when we can’t score very well we don’t play well on the defensive end but we kept it up on the defensive end today,” head coach DeUnna Hendrix said. “If Emma’s not on the floor I worry about us defensively because she covers so much ground for us so to have a player like her helps us out because even if she’s not scoring she’s doing other things.”

On the defensive end, High Point clamped down limiting UNC Asheville to 2-of-12 in the fourth and a 32.1 percent mark overall. The Panthers shot 34.6 percent from the floor in the first half, but upped that to 57.7 percent after the break.

Freshman Jiselle Thomas posted her best outing of the year against a Division I foe. The wing came off the bench to hit 6-of-8 from the floor while leading the team with 15 points.

Along with her steals, Bockrath tallied a team-high eight rebounds while adding 10 points. Her backcourt mate, sophomore Camryn Brown, added three steals of her own while scoring eight points.

On the inside, the Purple & White held the Bulldog’s top scorer Bronaza Fitzgerald to eight points on 4-of-11 shooting. While performing well on the defensive end, junior Shea Morgan chipped in with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The team was credited with 11 assists with three more coming from redshirt-junior Kennedy Currie.

Rounding out the scoring, Currie notched six points and senior Kat Harris netted eight.

After a slow start on the offensive end, Morgan and Thomas drilled back-to-back three-pointers to give HPU its first lead at 12-9 with 1:50 left in the first. From there, neither team held a two-possession lead until Brown tallied consecutive baskets to make it 20-15 at the 6:45 mark of the second quarter.

Despite being held without a field goal for seven minutes, UNC Asheville outscored the Panthers 8-3 the rest of the way to even the score at 23-all at the break.

The Bulldogs kept the momentum early in the third building a 35-28 lead with 4:24 remaining in the third. However, the HPU defense kicked it up a notch forcing several turnovers in the midst of a 25-6 run to build a 53-41 advantage with 3:13 to play.

The rest of the way the lead swelled to 13 as High Point pulled away for the 58-45 victory.

The Panthers return home on Tuesday night to host Presbyterian with a 7:00 p.m. tip in the Millis Center.