CLINTON, S.C. – The Presbyterian College women's basketball team scored 13 of the final 14 points of regulation with a chance to win at the end but were unable to sneak past High Point as the Panthers held on for the 82-80 victory on Saturday afternoon inside the Templeton Center. PC was led by junior Laila Grant, who scored 20 points off the bench with five rebounds, as junior Núria Cunill added 17, going 8-of-8 from the field in the defeat.
FINAL SCORE: High Point 82, Presbyterian 80
LOCATION: Templeton Center (Clinton, S.C.)
RECORDS: Presbyterian (7-10, 3-3) | High Point (6-10, 4-2)
Scoring the Game
- High Point used the three-point shot in the early going as the guests connected on their first five from beyond the arc to get the 15-6 lead with 5:34 to play, which forced a PC timeout. Grant helped the Blue Hose fight back with five straight points that got it to a 15-11 PC deficit with 4:38 to play in the quarter. High Point kept its offense up with a 9-4 burst over the final three minutes to take a 24-15 lead after one.
- The Blue Hose came out of the gates in the second fast with the first seven points of the quarter to cut it to a 24-22 deficit with 7:32 to play in the half. The Panthers responded with four threes on the heels of a 12-2 run to push it to a 36-24 lead with 4:35 to play in the half. Bryanna Brady tallied a quick four points to cut it to 36-28 before five straight from the guests pushed it to 41-28. Brady connected on a late bucket to make it 41-30 at the intermission.
- The Panthers connected on four quick free throws to extend it to 45-30 before Cunill made back-to-back layups to pull it to 45-34 with 7:53 to play in the quarter. The guests quickly pushed it back to 47-34, but the two teams traded threes to make 50-37 with 4:11 to play in the quarter. PC used an 8-3 burst to cut it to 53-45 with 2:20 to play in the quarter. After a Panther three with 2:05 to play, Presbyterian scored six in a row to cut it to 56-51 before a late triple gave HPU a 59-51 lead after three.
- High Point quickly pushed the lead to 10, 63-53, with 8:13 to play in the final quarter before a quick 5-0 answer from PC cut it to 63-58 with 6:36 to play in the fourth. The Panthers used a 12-4 run to extend the advantage to 75-62 with 4:17 to play in regulation. The guests pushed it to 81-67 with 3:17 to play before the Blue Hose went on a run. Cunill got the deficit down to 12 with a layup before Grant's free throw made it 81-70 with 1:30 to play. Tilda Sjökvist connected on a layup of her own to cut the margin to nine, 81-72, with 51 seconds to go. Aubrie Kierscht, Cunill, and Grant each helped cut the deficit to one, 81-80, on the heels of a 13-0 run to make it a one-point deficit with four seconds to go. HPU connected on one late free throw, and the Blue Hose got off a shot at the buzzer, but it didn't fall, and the Panthers hung on for the 82-80 victory.
Players of the Game
- Grant led the Blue Hose with a season-high 20 points as she went 8-of-14 from the field, pulled down five rebounds, and dished out three assists. Cunill added 17 points, going a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor and eight rebounds in the contest. Kierscht added 14 points connecting on three from beyond the arc. Brady added 12 points, while Sjökvist finished with 10 points. Christina Kline pulled down six rebounds in the defeat. Kierscht, Cunill, and Grant each distributed a team-high three helpers. Claire Wyatt paced the Panthers with a game-high 27 points as Wyatt connected on seven threes and pulled six rebounds. Lalmani Simmons added 18 points off the bench, while both Nakyah Terrell and Skyler Curran tallied 10 points for High Point on Saturday. Curran led the Panthers with seven rebounds. Jordan and Jenson Edward each had a team-high six assists for High Point.
Stats of the Game
- Presbyterian shot 48.5% (33-of-68) from the floor compared to 50.9% (27-of-53) from High Point. The Panthers connected on 19 threes compared to nine from the Blue Hose. HPU shot 9-of-15 from the line, while PC scored 5-of-10 at the charity stripe. Presbyterian outrebounded the Panthers by seven, 35-28. Both teams limited the turnovers on Saturday, with PC only giving away 11 and High Point tallying 12 giveaways. PC's bench outscored the Panthers' bench by 18, 39-21, led by 20 from Grant and 17 from Cunill. HPU totaled 23 assists compared to 17 from the Blue Hose.
Notables
- Grant totaled her best offensive day as a Blue Hose on Saturday with 20 points as she connected on eight field goals in the contest.
- Cunill tallied a career-high 17 points as she went a perfect 8-of-8 from the field in the defeat. She also pulled down eight rebounds for her most in a conference matchup this season. Cunill's eight made field goals were also a career-high.
- Kierscht continued her hot three-point shooting in league play with three more from beyond the arc as she tallied 14 points in her first start in conference play.
- The Blue Hose freshman has made 22-of-39 threes (56.4%) in six conference matchups for PC thus far this season.
- Kierscht also tied her career-high with three steals which led the team on Saturday.
Up Next
- The Blue Hose wrap up their brief two-game home stretch on Wednesday with a 6:30 p.m. tip against USC Upstate, with that matchup against the Spartans slated for ESPN3.
