HPU Women’s Basketball Panthers Beat Coastal Carolina 81-73 For Seventh-Straight Win

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball team won its seventh-straight contest defeating Coastal Carolina on Saturday afternoon 81-73 at the Millis Center. The Panthers had four players score in double-digits, led by redshirt-junior Stacia Robertson, who matched her career-high with 28 points.

“At some point winning seven games in a row comes down to effort,” said head coach DeUnna Hendrix. “I have been so proud of the effort we have shown during the streak. We played as well in transition as I have seen all season and it allowed us to build an early lead. We still have some lulls and we can’t relax with the lead but we will learn from it and keep getting better.”

Robertson finished with 28 points, matching her career high, to go with nine rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. She shot 11-of-14 from the floor. Junior Ashante Richard scored a career-high 14 points on 7-of-9 shooting and dished out four assists. Freshman Kaylah Keys added 13 points and four assists and junior Latrice Phelps finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Keys’ 13 points gives her 389 for the season and she passed Charlena Martin as the program’s freshman scoring leader. Martin scored 385 points in 2003-04.

High Point improves to 15-8 overall and 11-3 in the Big South with its seventh-straight win. Coastal Carolina drops to 11-13 for the season and 7-8 in league play.

High Point built up a 21-point lead midway through the second half. Richard scored with 13:37 to play to spark an 13-4 run for the Panthers. Keys followed with a three-pointer in transition and Robertson scored HPU’s next six points to build the lead to 70-49 with 9:24 to play.

Coastal Carolina fought back in to the game, cutting the lead to eight, 77-69, with 3:03 to go in the game on a free throw by Katelyn Connor. Robertson pushed the lead back to 10 with a layup on the other end. Alexx Puckett scored with a layup and Angelica Henry made two free throws to pull Coastal Carolina within six, 79-73, with 40 seconds remaining. Robertson had a block and a rebound on the Chanticleers next two possessions to keep them from scoring. She was fouled with 11 seconds to go and made both free throws to seal the 81-73 victory.

High Point shot 53.2 percent from the floor in the game and had 18 assists on 33 made field goals.

Keys was 2-for-2 from the free-throw line and has made her last 19 free-throw attempts going back to HPU’s win at Longwood on Jan. 25.

HPU’s seven-game win streak is the longest win streak for the Panthers since winning nine in a row during the 2011-12 season.

High Point will travel to Charleston Southern on Thursday for a 7 p.m. game. CSU is the last opponent to beat High Point, handing the Panthers a 56-53 loss at the Millis Center on Jan. 11.