LYNCHBURG, Va. – Trailing by one in the closing seconds High Point University women's basketball sophomore Camryn Brown hit a 30-foot trifecta at the buzzer to clinch a 62-60 victory over Presbyterian on Friday in the Big South Championship quarterfinals.
The Panthers (17-13) led by eight, 53-45, with 8:41 to play before the Blue Hose (12-18) fought back with a 12-0 run and held a one-point lead with 40 seconds to play. In the final defensive possession, redshirt-junior Kennedy Currie blocked PC's shot and grabbed the board giving HPU one final chance.
After the Blue Hose ran the clock down giving two fouls, HPU inbounded from the wing getting the ball to Brown with 2.3 seconds left. Brown sized up her defender and launched a shot fading to her right and hit nothing but net giving HPU the 62-60 win.
The victory sends High Point to the semifinals for the first time in three years where they will meet host and top-seed Liberty at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.
Overall, the Panthers controlled the glass earning a +17 margin (43-26) and outshot the Blue Hose 42.3 percent to 37.9. However, it was PC's ability to knock down long-range shots that kept the team close hitting 12-of-33 from three-point land. The Panthers, on the other hand, were 4-of-14 before Brown's late-game heroics.
Senior Cortney Storey led PC with 22 points on 8-18 (.444) shooting, going 4-4 from the free throw line and dishing out five assists. Storey, Kacie Hall and Janie Miles all played the full 40 minutes.
Bockrath scored the contest's first five points before PC's 9-0 run gave the Blue Hose a 9-5 edge with 2:54 left in the first. From there, Bockrath stayed hot as Morgan joined her in double figures as the Panthers built a 28-21 advantage. However, PC fought back closing the half on a 14-2 run to enter the break up 35-30.
After the Blue Hose extended its lead to eight, the Panthers responded with an 11-0 run that featured a clutch three-pointer from senior Hunter Fleming to take a 46-43 advantage last in the third. But once HPU's lead reached eight, Presbyterian answered taking a 57-53 lead with 4:18 to play.
