HPU Pushes Past Radford at Home

Panthers improve to 34-22 all time against Highlanders

By: Megan Hovey

HIGH POINT, N.C.- It seems like the High Point University women’s basketball team is back on track.

The Panthers (8-10, 6-2) held off the Radford Highlanders (8-11, 4-4) 70-62 on Saturday inside the Qubein Arena. It’s the seventh straight win for HPU between the two teams.

The Panthers are now on a four-game winning streak, defeating Charleston Southern, Presbyterian and Winthrop in Big South Conference play earlier this month.

Jenson Edwards led the way for the Panthers, finishing with 17 points and five rebounds. Skyler Curran, who tallied her 1,500th career point on Jan. 18, posted 14 points (including 11 in the first half) and nine rebounds. Jordan Edwards turned in 13 points and six rebounds. Claire Wyatt finished with 10 points.

Panthers head coach Chelsea Banbury says that the win gets the team a little closer to where they want to be by the end of the season.

“We definitely needed this one because it gives us a little bit of an edge over them in the standings,” she said. “We executed our game plan. Our girls took that seriously.”

HPU outscored Radford in second-chance points (13-9), points from the paint (40-36) and the bench (14-6). The Highlanders topped the Panthers in points from turnovers (19-17), fast breaks (22-6) and rebounds (37-36).

HPU started off strong with two 6-0 scoring runs in the first quarter, bringing their lead to 22-12. They continued with an immediate 5-0 scoring run at the beginning of the second quarter (highlighted by a 3-pointer from Wyatt), bringing the score to 27-15. A pair of 2-pointers by Radford’s Vanessa Blake lessened HPU’s cushion as they headed into the locker room at halftime leading 35-31.

The Highlanders started hot in the third quarter with an 8-2 run, highlighted by Maci Rhoades’ successful 3-pointer off of a fast break, which tied the game at 39. Jenson Edwards responded with a 2-pointer less than one minute later. The Highlanders couldn’t recapture the lead, despite Ashlyn Traylor posting five 2-pointers combined in the third and fourth quarters.

Traylor was the top scorer of the afternoon for Radford, producing 21 points and nine rebounds. Blake turned in 15 points and seven rebounds, while Carmen Williams posted 10 points.

Jenson Edwards had a new set of objectives leading up to the game.

“Today I just told myself to attack more,” she said. “I feel like I haven’t been as aggressive as I have in the past.”

The Panthers head on the road to face Campbell on Jan. 25.

“We definitely have to show up and play the game,” Banbury said. “...Campbell does make you work for it and that’s what we’re going to work on in the next couple of days, how we can exploit their weaknesses and hopefully get some easy baskets.”