HPU WBB heads to Coastal Carolina for midweek clash

HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University women’s basketball team looks to complete the season sweep of Coastal Carolina on Tuesday night in the HTC Center at 7 p.m.

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The Panthers (8-13, 7-5) have moved into fifth place in the standings and are just one game out of third place. The Chanticleers (7-14, 2-10) are headed in the opposite direction with one win in their last eight outings.

Last Time Out
• HPU’s defense shut down the Blue Hose holding it to 27 percent shooting en route to a 61-47 win in the Millis Center on Saturday.

• Junior Kaylah Keys anchored the offense hitting three first-quarter three-pointers to give the Panthers a 18-9 lead early. The Southaven, Miss. native finished with 23 points highlighted by five trifectas.

• Led by senior Aariel Allen’s eight boards, the Panthers had six different players grab at least four rebounds as they posted a 44-24 edge on the glass.

• Freshman Emma Bockrath continued her solid play scoring 10 points while chipping in with four assists and four rebounds.

• HPU, the best free throw shooting team in the league, hit 16-of-19 (84 percent) from the charity stripe in the victory.

Key’s Climb
Junior Kaylah Keys is five points away from passing Katie O’Dell (2002-06) for third on High Points’ Division I scoring list. She leads all active Big South players with 1,319 career points.

Youth Movement
• HPU’s seven freshmen are logging 64 percent of the team’s minutes and are scoring 58 percent of HPU points and grabbing 59 percent of the squad’s steals this season.

• Freshmen Emma Bockrath, Haleigh Hatfield and Lindsey Edwards have all been named Big South Freshman of the Week this season.

Scouting the Chanticleers
• The Chanticleers pushed league-leading UNC Asheville to the brink going to overtime before falling 77-69. Junior Yasmin Miller led the team with 21 points by converting 7-of-9 attempts from the floor and 6-of-7 at the line.

• Coastal Carolina is tied for ninth in the conference and has lost seven of its last eight contests including the two-point setback to HPU.

• Redshirt-senior Nicole Isaacs is one of the top sharpshooters in the conference hitting 44 shots from beyond the arc while averaging 10.5 points per contest.

• Miller is tallying 9.1 points per outing while grabbing 4.5 rebounds a night.

• Redshirt-junior Ced Gibson is running the show for the Chanticleers averaging 3.3 assists and 9.4 rebounds per game.

All-Time Series with Coastal Carolina
HPU owns a 27-14 lead in the all-time series and have won 16 of the last 19 meetings and are 7-1 under head coach DeUnna Hendrix.

Last Time They Met
Freshman Emma Bockrath hit two free throws in the closing seconds to give the Panthers a 53-52 win over the Chanticleers on Jan. 12. Bockrath paced HPU with 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Next Up
The Panthers are back home on Saturday to host Gardner-Webb for a 4 p.m. contest aired on ESPN3.