Edwards Leads HPU WBB Panthers to Win Over Longwood

• Senior Lindsey Edwards scored 18 points to lead the Panthers.
• Edwards scored 1,000 points in her career with her 16th-point of the game.
• The Panthers shot a season-best 54.7 percent from the field.

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball team defeated Longwood, 70-47, in the Millis Center on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

High Point (19-7, 12-3) shot a season-high 54.7 percent (29-53) from the field, which is the highest since HPU made 57.4 percent of its shots against Radford on Feb. 28, 2015, and 55.6 percent (5-9) from three. Longwood (3-23, 2-14) was 33.3 percent (17-51) from the field and 30.8 percent (4-13) from three. The Panthers grabbed 35 rebounds and dished out 19 assists.

“It was a good team effort,” HPU head coach DeUnna Hendrix said. “I thought everybody contributed. It was fun to watch at times, obviously, we still have some work to do, but it is late February. I just thought that our kids really came in focused and ready to execute a game plan and had a fun night.”

Senior Lindsey Edwards led HPU with 18 points and five assists. Seniors Bria Gibson and Emma Bockrath were tops on the team in rebounds with six apiece. Edwards grabbed four rebounds, while Gibson and Bockrath added 14 and 11 points, respectively. Bockrath also had five assists and three steals.

Longwood led 5-2 in the first quarter before the Panthers went on a 13-0 run to take a 15-5 lead. The Purple & White led 17-12 after the first quarter. The Lancers made a 9-3 run in the second quarter to cut HPU’s lead to 27-23 with 3:13 left in the first half. HPU ended the half on an 8-0 run to take a 35-23 lead going into the break.

The Panthers shot 51.9 percent (14-27) from the field and 80.0 percent (4-5) from three in the first half, while Longwood was 38.1 percent (8-21) from the field and 20.0 percent (1-5) from three. HPU had 16 rebounds and 12 assists at the break. High Point logged seven steals in the first half.

The Purple & White opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run and never looked back. With 3:57 remaining in the game, Edwards made a three to give her 16 points in the game and 1,000 points in her career. Freshman Mikaela Johnson made her collegiate debut and scored the first points in her HPU career with 4:21 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“I’m just so proud of her because I think Lindsey [Edwards], obviously, has been a great player from day one,” Hendrix said. “I think the special thing about her is she’s bought into a role that a lot of kids wouldn’t want to buy into as a defender. She has sort of made her own way so it has been really cool to watch Lindsey produce her own accomplishments based on what she is really good at and that’s being a great defender. I’m really, really proud of Lindsey.”

The Panthers out-scored the Lancers in the paint (38-22), off turnovers (35-14), in second chance points (11-6), on fast break points (8-0) and in bench points (27-13). High Point forced 27 Longwood turnovers and grabbed 12 steals.

Up next, the Panthers will head to Norfolk, Va. to play Hampton on Saturday, March 2. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.