March 8, 2024
The No. 1 seeded High Point women’s basketball team advances to the 2024 Hercules Tires Big South tournament semifinals after a 70-57 overtime win over the No. 9 seeded UNC Asheville on Thursday afternoon.
The Panthers came out the gates hot as they started the game off draining three triples within the first 7:38 of the first quarter to help give HPU an early 9-2 lead.
Bukky Akinsola earned herself an and-one, three-point play before the end of the first quarter to give High Point a 16-13 lead at the end of the first 10 minutes.
HPU hit a cold streak from the floor in the second quarter after shooting lights out in the majority of the first quarter which allowed UNC Asheville to go on an 11-2 scoring run in the last 7:04 of the second quarter. The scoring run from UNC Asheville allowed them to jump out to a 28-23 lead over HPU at the end of the first half.
The Panthers shot a poor 3-15 from the court in the second quarter including going 0-4 from the three-point line.
HPU regained its first lead, 32-31, since the 5:34 mark of the second quarter thanks to a tough spin and finish from Cydney Johnson.
Nevaeh Zavala got the momentum back rolling for HPU as she recorded seven points in the third quarter including a three-pointer from near the top of the key.
“Nevaeh has gotten better every game I think. She has gotten a lot more comfortable, a lot more confident. She is a force inside when she wants to be… she is a tough person to go up against,” said head coach Chelsea Banbury.
High Point outscored UNC Asheville 18-9 to give the Panthers a 41-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Bevis made some huge plays down the stretch as she converted an and-one, three-point play and then found Faith Price up the floor as she finished an and-one, three-point play herself to give the Panthers a 53-50 lead with 1:10 remaining in the fourth quarter.
A pair of free-throws from UNC Asheville tied the game up at 55 to force an overtime period.
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Price gave the Panthers a boost to start the overtime period as she scored back-to-back baskets including a three-pointer.
As Bevis has done all year, she came up big in the overtime period as she scored seven points including a made three-pointer (her third of the game), and four game-sealing free throws.
The Panthers outscored UNC Asheville 15-2 in the extra period which helped High Point pull away with a 70-57 win in the quarterfinals of the 2024 Hercules Tires Big South tournament.
“Fortunately in overtime we made enough plays to separate a little bit. I think Faith was huge down the stretch. She attacked, she got that layup and then stepped up and knocked down a three with confidence and kind of opened up things for the rest of us, followed by Bevis hitting a three and then Nevaeh [Zavala] hit a big one with the shot-clock running down too. We have to do a better job on the boards. They had 18 offensive rebounds which can not happen. That has been a weakness of ours and if we are going to reach our goals we have to do a better job of that, but fortunately we only had seven turnovers and quite honestly I think that is why we were able to win,” said Banbury.
After shooting a poor 4-16 from the floor overall and 1-6 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter combined as a team, HPU shot 4-7 from the court overall and 3-4 from the three-point line in the overtime period.
“I think we started getting stops, started getting rebounds and so that boosted our offense and gave us more momentum. We got an and-one fastbreak layup from Faith Price that kind of got us going,” said Bevis.
Bevid led the way in scoring for High Point with a game-high 19 points including 16 points in the second half and overtime period combined to go along with seven rebounds.
Zavala finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. Faith Price added 10 points, six rebounds and three blocks.
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With the win, the Panthers pick up their 20th victory of the season and advance to the semifinals of the 2024 Hercules Tires Big South tournament against the No. 5 seeded Presbyterian College on Saturday, March 9 at 6 p.m.
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