HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball team opened up Big South Conference play with a 68-54 win over Longwood Friday night at the Millis Center. Freshman Kaylah Keys led the Panthers with 23 points and five assists.
“Longwood is a very good basketball team,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “They beat Xavier on the road and have gotten off to a very hot start. We came out with an improved focus and executed on the defensive end. We played 40 minutes of zone which isn’t typically our style but we knew it would be the best strategy against Longwood. We made the extra pass on the offensive side of the ball and got everyone involved.”
Keys led all scorers with 23 points while posting career highs with eight rebounds and five assists. Redshirt-junior Stacia Robertson grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, including seven offensive boards. Senior Tayler Tremblay scored 13 points and junior Latrice Phelps scored nine points with seven rebounds and three assists.
Daeisha Brown led the Lancers with 13 points, five assists and two steals. Jaclyn Regan scored 12 points off the bench and Kyndal Skersick added 11 points.
High Point outrebounded Longwood 53-27 in the game with nine different players grabbing a rebound. The Panthers also had 15 assists on 24 made field goals.
The Panthers are 5-3 overall and 1-0 in Big South play. Longwood drops to 3-4 with an 0-1 record in league play.
The Panthers pushed tempo early, taking a 13-9 lead on a basket by Keys with 15:55. The basket sparked a 16-0 run that saw five different Panthers score while the HPU defense kept the Lancers scoreless for over six minutes of play. Phelps grabbed an offensive rebound and found Keys for another basket to push HPU’s lead to 27-9 with 9:16 on the clock. At 8:53 Khalilah Ali scored a layup that marked Longwood’s first basket since 16:16.
Phelps’ free throw was good after getting fouled while scoring a layup to give High Point a 20-point lead, the largest of the first half (7:05). Longwood connected on two three pointers to cut HPU’s lead back to nine with three and a half minutes to go in the opening period. Freshman DeAnneisha Jackson laid in the ball and got a block and a rebound on the defensive end to give High Point back control of the game. HPU led 42-26 at the half.
Longwood and High Point played an evenly matched second half but the Lancers couldn’t get past HPU’s 16-point halftime advantage. Longwood outscored HPU 7-3 over the final four minutes but High Point held on the for the 68-54 victory.
Jackson finished the game with eight points and nine rebounds and sophomore Lexi Patterson added nine points, four rebounds and two assists.
High Point will have a week off for exams before facing Winthrop on Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. at the Millis Center. The Eagles are 5-2 on the season and ranked No. 24 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll.