Site: High Point, N.C. (Qubein Center)
Score: High Point 82, Mount Olive 68 (Exhibition)
HIGH POINT, N.C. – On their opening night in the Qubein Center, the High Point University Panthers picked up an 82-68 exhibition win over Mount Olive.
The contest featured the two universities of President Nido Qubein, pitted against each other for the opening weekend of the $170 million, state-of-the-art Qubein Center.
Chelsea Banbury: Well, I’m glad we got that one out of the way. I give a lot of credit to Mount Olive, they came out and played hard. They battled against us, they made us work for everything that we were going to get. They are a scrappy team, they crash the boards, they were physical with us and I thought they played pretty well. On our side of things, I am not really happy with our execution and we are going to have to get better and better quickly we have Elon here on Tuesday. I think our girls have the right mindset heading into practice these next three days. Our focus is now Elon and us getting better and just coming together as a team.
Panther Particulars
Mount Olive jumped out to a quick 6-3 lead in the first four minutes of the game, but Nakyah Terrell and Jenson Edwards hit back-to-back jumpers to take back a 7-6 lead.
Edwards drove coast-to-coast and powered in a contested layup to give the Panthers a 10-6 lead.
Cydney Johnson controlled a rebound and went coast to coast for two points before Terrell found Claire Wyatt in the opposite corner for a three-pointer that extended the lead, 17-10. The Trojans pressured the Panthers, but three-pointers on back-to-back trips from Skyler Curran and Terrell gave HPU the 27-23 advantage.
HPU stayed true to their nickname “H3U” by shooting 41.2 percent from three-point range in the first half with five different players hitting at least one triple.
Curran went off in the third quarter, scoring four of her team-high 18 points and dishing out two assists.
Callie Scheier got in on the action, hitting a three-pointer and a layup that gave HPU a 60-43 lead.
Scheier opened up the fourth quarter with another three-pointer from the corner.
Curran hit the triple from the opposite corner on the next trip after Wyatt forced the Trojan turnover on the defensive end of the court which forced a Trojan timeout.
Jaden Wrightsell worked for two points in the post to give HPU the 78-60 lead, their largest of the night.
UP NEXT
The Panthers are back in the Qubein Center on Tuesday, November 9th when they take on Elon at 5 p.m.