From Setback to Surge Forward

Panthers look to win their sixth consecutive game

By: Megan Hovey

HIGH POINT, N.C.-Skyler Curran is no stranger to setback.

That feeling isn’t exactly foreign to the rest of the High Point University women’s basketball team, either.

The Panthers (9-10, 7-2 Big South), who are currently on a five-game winning streak, are still looking to overcome a rocky start to the season.

After losing 10 of their first 14 games, Panthers head coach Chelsea Banbury says that the team’s turning point was its win over Charleston Southern on Jan. 11, where the team came back from a 19-point deficit.

“I went into the locker room after that game and I said, ‘Thank goodness there’s not descriptions next to the wins in the win column,’” she said. “We played a lot of close games early on and that was the first one that we figured out how to win as a team. We worked together and we got good shots and we didn’t settle… I don’t think it was a pretty game… It was the start of us figuring out how to win and how to come together.”

HPU looks to continue its winning streak at 2 p.m. at home this Saturday against Big South leader Gardner-Webb University. The Panthers are now ranked No. 2 in the conference after defeating Campbell (11-9, 6-3 Big South) 57-49 on Jan. 25.

The Runnin’ Bulldogs aren’t walking into the Qubein Arena with their tails between their legs. Gardner-Webb (17-4, 9-0 Big South) is coming off an 81-56 win over USC Upstate on Jan. 25 (highlighted by a 25-0 scoring run). The team also beat the Panthers on Dec. 31, 67-61.

For Curran, it seemed like last season was hers to lose. The Clemmons, North Carolina native was named the 2021-22 Big South Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Player of the Year after helping the Panthers make the 2021 NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

All of that changed on Nov. 9, 2021, when a layup attempt caused a season-ending ACL tear during the home opener against Elon.

“It sucked really, really bad to have to sit there,” she said tearfully. “We all kind of felt like we had something to prove, and so not being able to go out and do that sucked.”

This season, Curran believes that she still has work to do in terms of getting back to her “old self.”

“I don’t feel like I’m where I left off quite yet,” she said. “We still have a lot of games to play, but I mean, I say to her (Banbury) all the time, I just don’t think I’m back to that player I was, so that can be frustrating at times… I think it’s just trusting my body again.”

Trusting the process seems to be working. Curran is leading the Panthers in points per game (17.0) and scored her 1,500th career point on Jan. 18. She’s now No. 4 on HPU’s all-time scoring list.

Gardner-Webb is a notoriously big team-but that isn’t stopping Banbury’s approach when it comes to shooting 3-pointers versus layups.

“I want to attack them,” she said. “We’re going to go at them…They have plenty of players willing to foul you when you attack the basket and I want them to foul us. I want to shoot free throws and I want them on the bench.”

Last season, the Panthers lost to the Runnin’ Bulldogs in the quarterfinals of the Big South Tournament. In her final season at HPU, Curran knows that this game is more than just another conference matchup.

“We all kind of know what it means,” she said. “I guess for me, it’s a little bit more because I had to watch last year, so it was tough to watch them go out there and we weren’t able to get it done. It could be my last time playing them, I guess. I want to go out with a win.”