Score: High Point 70, Gardner-Webb 59
Records: HPU 10-4 (7-1 Big South), GWU 4-8 (4-3 Big South)
Next HPU Event: Saturday, January 16, 2021 -- vs. Gardner-Webb (Millis Center, High Point, N.C.) 4 p.m.
HIGH POINT, N.C. -- Redshirt sophomore Jenson Edwards finished one assist shy of notching the second-triple double in High Point University women's basketball history in a masterful performance to lead the Panthers to a 70-59 victory over Gardner-Webb University Friday evening (Jan. 15) in the Millis Center.
Edwards finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists, narrowly missing out on joining Chyenne Parker as the only Panthers to hit double digits in three different categories in a single game.
"I've learned this the last few days, Jenson Edwards is tough - apparently that means you're really good," head coach Chelsea Banbury said with a smile after the win. "Jenson was outstanding today. She filled the stat line all the way across and was one assist away from a triple-double. It was an excellent performance and I know she honestly doesn't care about individual awards or anything like that. She fills the stat sheet because she knows that's what we need to win. I've said it before that she's a huge part of what we do and she holds the team together. Sky [Curran] had another solid game for us, scoring at the basket and in a variety of ways. If she can continue to do that she's going to be hard to guard. Those two contributed a lot tonight and also Claire [Wyatt] came out and had a good game, scoring on cuts and drives and knocking down shots. I'm happy to get this win despite giving up 19 offensive rebounds. That's too many, but fortunately we were able to make plays down the stretch and come out ahead."
The win was HPU's eighth in a row and 10th overall on the season, making the Purple and White the 15th team in all of Division I to reach double-digit wins in the 2020-21 season. High Point is one more consecutive win away from matching the program's best winning streak of nine games - which has been done twice before, most recently in the 2011-12 season.
Junior Skyler Curran set the pace for the Panthers right away, scoring nine of her team-high 28 points in the opening quarter. She scored the first five points for HPU before freshman Claire Wyatt dropped in a three. After trailing by a pair four minutes into the game, High Point scored the next 10 to take an eight-point, 18-10 lead with two minutes to play in the quarter.
Cydney Johnson found her way inside for two to start the run, followed by a layup and pair of free throws from Curran. Edwards saw what Curran did and decided to match it, following suit with a layup and two free throws of her own. Gardner-Webb flipped the script in the final two minutes of the first, scoring six of the final eight points to cut High Point's lead down to four, 20-16 at the end of the quarter.
The Runnin' Bulldogs kept the pressure on in the second, outscoring the Panthers by five - the only quarter in which the visitors outscored the Purple and White. Curran hit a triple in the opening minute to get to double digits but Gardner-Webb scored the next 10 to erase the deficit and take a three-point lead, 26-23. Edwards tied it up with a three, but GWU kept coming, scoring eight of the next 10 to build a lead of six, 34-28 with three-and-a-half left in the first 20 minutes.
High Point fought back with seven straight to retake the lead, with Edwards, Curran, Courtney Meadows, and Zaria Wright all scoring in the run, but Gardner-Webb was able to hit a shot as time expired to lead by one at halftime, 36-35. Curran and Edwards carried the majority of the weight for the Purple and White in the first half, combining for 27 of the team's 35 points at the break. Curran led the way with 15 and Edwards was well on her way to a double-double with 12 points and seven rebounds, along with five assists in the half.
Neither team could seize the momentum early in the third quarter, with the lead changing hands four times in the first three minutes of the second half. The Panthers turned on the gas just under four minutes into the quarter, playing out the final six-plus minutes of the third on an 8-2 run to take the lead and take it for good.
Edwards knocked down a runner on the break to put HPU within one and a pair of free throws from Wyatt tied it and gave High Point the lead. Curran knocked down a jumper in the paint to push the lead to three and connected on a free throw to make it a two-possession game after a two-minute scoreless stretch from both sides. Gardner-Webb finally scored again with just over 90 seconds on the clock after going five minutes without a point to cut the lead to two, but Edwards sank the second of a set of free throws to bump the lead back up to three, 49-46, heading into the fourth.
High Point continued its run in the first half of the fourth, stretching it to a 16-2 run with six minutes left in the game when the Panthers held an 11-point lead at 57-46. Wyatt and Curran comprised all eight of HPU's points in the fourth-quarter portion of the run, trading layups until the Runnin Bulldogs' answered.
The Panthers scored four more after the GWU bucket to take their largest lead of the day at 13, 61-48, thanks to points in the paint from Johnson and Jordan Edwards. The lead hovered around the 10-point mark for the remainder of the contest, hitting 13 once more and never dipping below nine.
Gardner-Webb tried fouling to come back, but High Point was efficient enough from the line to keep the game out of reach, scoring 21 points in the final frame to secure the double-digit victory, 70-59. Wyatt was one of the Panthers that went to the line in the final minute and sank both of her shots to give her 13 points on the night for a career-high.
HPU's 21 points in the fourth quarter are the third-most points the team has scored in the fourth while the Purple and White's 61.5% shooting percentage in the quarter was the most-efficient the Panthers have shot in the final 10 minutes all season long.
High Point and Gardner-Webb will meet again in the Millis Center tomorrow afternoon (Jan. 16) for a 4 p.m. contest before the Panthers head back to South Carolina for a pair of games at Presbyterian next Friday (Jan. 22) and Saturday (Jan. 23).
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Edwards' Near Triple-Double Powers Panthers to Victory - HPU Panthers
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