Lauren Bevis: all roads lead back to High Point
February 10, 2024
Lauren Bevis has been nothing short of spectacular for the Panthers thus far this season.
Her tremendous scoring ability has helped carry High Point University to numerous favorable
outcomes, but sometimes that scoring ability overlooks everything else she can do on the
basketball court that is helping lead the team. Sometimes it is her defensive instincts and
quick hands to swipe the ball on the defensive end of the court. Other times it is her
playmaking ability and vision to find an open teammate. Then other times it is her
leadership and accountability that is helping HPU stride toward greatness, and the end goal,
which is to win the Big South Conference and play in the NCAA tournament.
Bevis has been under the spotlight and on the big stage before. Last season, Bevis’
senior year, she helped lead her former team, Gardner-Webb University, to a 29-5 r
ecord and a bid to the NCAA tournament, which was Garner-Webb’s first bid to the
Big Dance since the 2010-11 season. The underdogs, Bevis and Gardner-Webb, faced off against the No. 2 seeded University of Utah in the first round of the tournament in a game that resulted in Utah defeating Gardner-Webb, 103-77.
Shortly after Bevis and Gardner-Webb’s loss to Utah on Mar. 17, Gardner-Webb’s head coach, Alex Simmons, stepped down after five seasons to accept the head coaching position at the University of Memphis on April 6, 2023.
Simmons as well as her entire coaching staff took the move to the American Atlantic Conference and joined the Memphis Tigers.
In Bevis’ four years under head coach Simmons, she helped lead Gardner-Webb to a 74-44 overall record and a 54-19 record in the Big South Conference.
As Simmons and her coaching staff left for Memphis, and the uncertainty of who was going to fill in the role of Head Coach at Gardner-Webb began to rise, Bevis decided her time at the university was coming to an end too, and decided to enter her name into the transfer portal.
The Spartanburg, S.C. native knew she did not want to follow Coach Simmons to Memphis because Bevis wanted to stay closer to home, and 558 miles separate Memphis and Spartanburg.
“There were a lot of schools that hit me up but I wanted to stay close by. I actually went to visit Furman and High Point. Those were my only two visits. I really wanted to go to Clemson actually, but by the time I had gotten in the transfer portal they had called me and were like ‘we have two girls coming to possibly visit your position and if they commit we have no other spots, if not then we want bring you on a visit’ but they ended up committing,” said Bevis.
Fortunately for HPU fans and the entire program, those two girls did commit to Clemson University. Panther fans would not have gotten an up close and personal look at the 38.5 percent career three-point shooter if they hadn't committed.
Bevis was already familiar with the High Point area when she took her visit because she had lived in the city during her high school years.
“So my dad is actually a pastor and he pastored a church in Jamestown so I had lived in High Point for six years during my high school years so I was already familiar with the area,” said Bevis.
Not only did living in High Point previously, the familiarity of the city, and only being 149 miles from Spartanburg help, but also Bevis played AAU basketball for the ‘Winston-Salem Stealers’ with fellow HPU graduate student Callie Scheier years before.
Bevis, the 5’5” guard who averaged 15.4 points per contest, which was second in the conference, and was named to the Big South All-Conference and All-Tournament team her senior season, decided to take her talents to High Point University, as a graduate student.
“I really wanted to also stay in the Big South just because my family could come to a lot of the games and if I went to another conference it maybe would not be like that. I also really loved all the coaching staff and all the girls,” said Bevis.
The Panthers were coming off a season last year in which they went 15-13 during the regular season, and advanced to the Big South Tournament Championship against Bevis and Gardner-Webb. Bevis and her squad got the upper hand as Gardner-Webb defeated HPU,
74-61.
With HPU losing two out of their top three scorers from last season, Bevis was a huge addition to the program to fill in that scoring void and be an immediate impact player for Head Coach Chelsea Banbury and the team.
“They recruited me to be a leader because I am so experienced now in the Big South, and also to be a scorer. They have done a really good job at showing me places that I am going to be able to score, and just teaching me the offense so I think that is a huge role of mine. I honestly think the biggest thing too is just to bring up the younger girls even though I do not know the system that well,” said Bevis.
It took less than two months from when Bevis announced her decision on May 30 to transfer to HPU for Bevis to get right to work with her new coaching staff and teammates.
“We are supposed to be here in the summer so we moved in the beginning of July and have been here pretty much since then," said Bevis. It took a couple weeks to get adjusted just because the program that I came from is a complete 180 to this program. Coach Banbury and the staff’s offense is way different than what I was used to but they are very good at explaining things. The way that practices run, the way game days are, it is totally different but I have gotten used to it. I love it and all the girls have been really helpful, especially Callie, Claire, like all the girls that have been here for years, they have been so patient, and have helped us a lot with teaching us things and all that so it’s been really good, it’s been a good adjustment."
A lot of expectation was thrown Bevis’ way before she even stepped foot under the bright lights on the Qubein Center court as she was named Preseason Big South Player of the Year heading into the season.
Bevis did a great job of handling that expectation from the moment the ball tipped off in her first game of the season against the No. 8 team in the AP Top 25 poll, Virginia Tech, as she recorded 15 points and then 26 points on 9-13 shooting from the court overall and 5-9 from the three-point line in the team’s next game against Lees-McRae College.
However, despite Bevis’ spectacular play to start the season, the Panthers struggled in a difficult opening non-conference schedule, going 3-7 in their first 10 games, which included the team going on a six-game losing streak during that stretch.
“We always say you learn more from losses than you do from wins. Especially since our end goal is to get to March Madness and to win the Big South Championship, we have to prepare to play those big teams. It was a good challenge for us because it just prepares us for conference play too. Even though the competition is weaker in the Big South, it is always better to play those harder teams to prepare you for the Big South,” said Bevis.
The preseason poll’s favorite to win the Big South, HPU, headed into its first conference matchup with a record of 4-8 against Radford University. Despite recording 15 points in 31 minutes played, Bevis and HPU lost their first conference matchup, 65-61.
From there the Panthers knew they had to come into every game with a new and changed mindset so a loss like the one against Radford would not happen again.
“Right now it is just to get better and better every single day. In practice we had a couple of wasted days especially in the last couple of months. Our mindset right now is no more wasted days even if it is a light day in practice. We have to go in, be vocal, and just try to get one percent better every single day. Especially after that first loss to Radford, we were up by 11 points at one point and so we know now we can never settle even if we are up. Even though the loss sucked, we can definitely learn from it,” said Bevis.
That new and changed mindset helped HPU find its groove as they won its next four games including a road win in Bevis’ first matchup against her former team, Gardner-Webb, 74-64, in a game that Bevis was lights out shooting all night as she recorded a season-high 32 points on 12-18 shooting from the court overall and 6-9 from the three-point line.
“It was so much fun first of all. A lot of the team transferred but I still have a couple friends on the team so going back, you know that’s my home so I felt at home. I have shot who knows how many shots on those rims and I was just comfortable there. I also had a little bit of extra motivation just because I know that a couple people were not happy that I came to High Point, but it was so much fun. Especially in the fourth quarter when we kind of made a little bit of a run and then they kind of came back, I was like ‘alright we have to get this thing up’ because I would never hear of the end of it from my friends if they beat us so I could not let that happen,” said Bevis.
Not only was Bevis incredible offensively against her former team, but she was also making hustle plays on the defensive end of the court too as she recorded four steals.
“I have honestly never been a good defensive player but I know that right now our team needs somebody to step up in that role and kind of lead the charge so that is what I am trying to do. I am trying to be in my gap a little bit more, and then hopefully once the girls see me doing that, it will motivate them even more on the defensive side,” said Bevis.
HPU has won seven out of its last eight games, and Bevis has recorded at least 13 points in each of those eight games, which included her recording 22 points in back-to-back games against Winthrop and Longwood.
The Panthers are rolling at the moment as they are currently tied for first place along with USC Upstate and Radford in the Big South standings with a 7-2 record in the conference.
“Obviously the end goal is to win the Big South and go to March Madness, but also I think right now that we think that we should not lose another game in the Big South to be honest. We should not have lost the first one and that is just a little bit more motivation. I think we know if we can set it up on defense, and play our offense the way we are supposed to, I do not think anybody can touch us in the Big South,” said Bevis.
Bevis is trying to help lead the Panthers to a Big South Championship and NCAA tournament bid for the first time since 2020-21 in a year in which HPU defeated Campbell University, 62-46, to win the Big South championship, but would, however, lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament to the No. 1 seeded UConn Huskies, 102-59.
“Callie, Marie, Sydney and Claire were on that team so they have experience as well. I think their experience combined with my experience, if we just bring it together I think it will be a perfect fit. Just reiterating to the team that it is a day by day process and that March is going to be here before we know it, but that you just have to keep growing, and never settle even on the wins, never settle, and always look for improvement,” said Bevis.
Bevis currently leads the conference in free-throw percentage at 91.5 percent while being second in the conference in points per game at 16.3 a game, field goal percentage at 44.1 percent, and made three pointers per game at 2.4 a game.
“A lot of it just goes to the offseason work and then the work that happens behind the scenes of not just going to practice two hours a day, but getting there two hours before, shooting, doing rehab, and getting extra lifts in, so just the behind the scenes stuff that people do not normally see. Then also this is the fifth year for me now so I kind of know what to expect, I kind of know how my body feels and if I need a rest day or if I do not need a rest day.”
That offseason and behind the scenes work has obviously paid off for Bevis, and HPU is hoping that work will continue to pay off and show in the team’s future games.
