HPU’s Kaylah Keys Named Big South Women’s Basketball Freshman Of The Week For Fifth Time

HIGH POINT, N.C. – Kaylah Keys of the High Point University women’s basketball team has been named the Big South Freshman of the Week for a fifth time this season, the conference announced on Monday. Keys posted 26 points to lead HPU to a 94-89 win in double overtime at Liberty on Thursday and a season sweep of the Flames.

Keys shot 7-of-13 and went 8-of-8 from the charity stripe in her game-high 26-point performance. The guard took over in overtime shooting 2-of-3 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the foul line to score nine points while playing all 10 minutes of overtime. Keys came up clutch with the Panthers trailing by three in the first overtime when she shook a defender and knocked down a deep trey to send the game to a second overtime.

It was the second time this season that High Point defeated Liberty after beating the Flames 75-70 in the Millis Center on Dec. 30. With the win, HPU became just the third Big South team to sweep the season series against Liberty in the past 15 seasons. The Panthers also swept the Flames in 2006-07. HPU’s 94 points at the Vines Center were the most ever by a visiting opponent.

This is the fifth time this season that Keys has earned the Freshman of the Week honor. She currently leads all Big South scorers with 17.2 points per game and is shooting 82 percent from the free-throw line this season.

High Point now sits half a game out of first place and returns to the Millis Center on Thursday to host Campbell at 7 p.m. HPU leads the Camels by half a game in the Big South standings. The two teams matched up on Jan. 4 with the Panthers prevailing 76-62 on the road. Keys led High Point with 24 points in the win.