• Sophomore Camryn Brown’s last-second three-pointer rolled around the rim and wouldn’t go down as Radford held on for a 50-47 win.
• Brown led the offense with 12 points including three of the games five made three-pointers.
• High Point opened the game 6-of-11 from the field and led 14-2, but shot just 11-of-46 the rest of the way.
RADFORD, Va. – The High Point University women’s basketball team started hot, but couldn’t hold on as Radford fended off HPU for a 50-47 victory in the Dedmon Center on Tuesday night.
The Panthers (12-6, 6-1) opened the game 6-of-11 building a 14-2 lead six minutes into the contest. However, the Highlanders’ (12-6, 5-2) defense responded holding HPU to 11-of-46 shooting the rest of the way to pull out a three-point win.
Despite the uncharacteristic offensive night, a steal by junior Shea Morgan with 5.6 seconds remaining gave the Panthers one possession to attempt to tie the game. Radford defended the Purple & White’s first option forcing sophomore Camryn Brown to attempt a deep three-pointer. The guard’s heave went halfway down, rolled around and popped out denying HPU a shot in overtime and ending the team’s eight-game winning streak.
“I didn’t think anything was fluid for us offensively tonight even though we were pretty good defensively holding a talented Redford team to 50 points,” head coach DeUnna Hendrix said. “We didn’t come out of the half with the right intensity because I thought our press was doing some good things in the first half, but we didn’t play with that same fire in the second. I didn’t feel like we executed like we needed to. We didn’t set screens or use screens like you have to against good defenses.”
Brown led the Panthers with 12 points on the strength of three three-pointers in a game that featured just five made three’s all night. Junior Lindsey Edwards gave High Point two in double figures with 10 points and two steals.
The Panthers keyed on rebounding and trailed 18-16 on the glass at halftime, but finished the game minus-14 (41-27) in rebounds. On the other hand, HPU dominated the turnover battle forcing 18 miscues while surrendering the ball just seven times.
Junior Emma Bockrath did a little bit of everything for the Purple & White scoring six points while leading the team with seven rebounds and four assists. Off the bench, senior Kat Harris tallied nine points of the 11 the HPU reserves posted in the contest.
Overall, the Panthers shot 29.8 percent (17-of-57) while the Highlanders hit at a 44.9 percent clip (22-of-49).
The High Point defense started out on fire forcing five turnovers on Radford’s first eight possessions while building a 14-2 margin six minutes into the contest. However, the Panthers would only double that output over the next 14 minutes as the Highlanders settled in and cut their deficit to five, 28-23, at halftime.
Out of the break, Brown drilled a deep three-pointer to up the lead to eight, 37-29, with 6:20 on the clock. But the home team responded with an 11-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 40-37 edge.
From there, the Radford lead grew as large as five, 46-41, before Brown answered with a three and Harris added two free throws to knot the score at 46-all with 5:18 to play.
Brown’s three-pointer was High Point’s only made field goal in the fourth quarter as Radford led by three in the closing seconds. HPU battled to get the final possession, but couldn’t convert as the Highlanders earned the win.
The one-possession outcome was the fourth straight one-possession game between the two teams in the Dedmon Center. It also kept the Panthers from tying their Division I program record winning streak.
The Panthers are back on the road on Saturday for a 3:00 p.m. tip at Charleston Southern in the Buc Dome.