• The Panthers assisted on 22 of their 30 makes on the night while shooting at a 51.7 clip (30-of-58).
• Junior Emma Bockrath paced the offense with 23 points after racking up 18 in the first half on 7-of-7 shooting.
• Nine different Panthers scored as redshirt-junior Kennedy Currie, junior Shea Morgan and senior Kat Harris all reached double figures.
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball executed its offense to perfection dishing out 22 assists on 30 makes in a 81-55 triumph over Presbyterian on Tuesday night in the Millis Center.
Sophomore Camryn Brown drilled a three-pointer 27 seconds into the contest and the Panthers (9-5, 3-0) never trailed as they shot 51.7 percent from the floor. On the defensive end, HPU forced the Blue Hose (3-11) into 17 turnovers and held its visitor to 34 percent shooting.
The victory extends High Point’s winning streak to five and gives head coach DeUnna Hendrix her second 3-0 Big South record in six years. Meanwhile, the Blue Hose fall to 0-3 in Big South play as HPU avenged its Big South Championship loss from last season.
“Tonight was fun because I thought we came out with some fire and intensity and forced turnovers early, which got us going,” Hendrix said. “We believe everybody is capable of scoring, so when we move the ball like we did tonight we are hard to guard. It’s fun to watch when we play HPU basketball like we did tonight.”
Junior Emma Bockrath led the offensive output making her first seven shots en route to 18 first-half points. The guard finished the night with 23 points, eight rebounds and three assists.
On the inside both starting forwards produced double-digit outings as redshirt-junior Kennedy Currie notched 12 and junior Shea Morgan added 10 points to go with four assists and two steals.
The Panthers dominated all facets winning the turnover battle 17-10, which led to a 20-5 margin in points off turnovers. Likewise, HPU outscored the Blue Hose 46-16 in the paint despite the rebounds being tied at 34.
Leading the unselfishness, Brown handed out five assists and scored eight points. Similarly, senior Kat Harris collected 11 points and four assists.
Rounding out the starters, junior Lindsey Edwards scored eight and grabbed six rebounds.
Off the bench, freshman Jiselle Thomas scored four points and added three assists before fouling out for the first time in her career. Meanwhile, senior Hunter Fleming chipped in with two points and sophomore Olivia VanSlooten corralled five rebounds and scored three.
The Purple & White started hot hitting 10-of-14 from the floor in the first quarter to vault out to a 32-9 lead after 10 minutes. The 32 points – anchored by 11 from Bockrath – were the most HPU has scored in a period against a D-I opponent this season.
From there, the Panthers maintained a lead between 33 and 23 the rest of the way to close out the 81-55 victory and move to 3-0 in Big South play for the first time since 2014-15.
HPU is on the road for the next two contests traveling to Winthrop on Saturday before continuing on to Campbell for a Tuesday night matchup in Buies Creek.