BUIES CREEK, N.C. – A layup by junior forward Roslyn Presley (St. Petersburg, Va.) with 22 seconds left helped lift the Campbell women's basketball team over High Point, 79-76, on Saturday afternoon at Gore Arena/John W. Pope, Jr. Convocation Center. Senior guard Tonisha Baker (High Point, N.C.) led four Lady Camels' scorers in double-digits with 24 points.
High Point rallied back after the Lady Camels pushed the lead to 75-65 at 2:51 and cut the home team's advantage to one, 77-76, with 50 seconds left. Campbell secured the victory in front of an announced crowd of 591 to improve to 12-4 overall and 4-1 in the Big South, while the Panthers fell to 10-7 and 4-2.
"We came out from the very beginning of the second half and made a statement early, defensively, we are here to play," said head coach Wanda Watkins. "It forced some turnovers for us and got our running game going. This was a great collective team-effort by our team."
The scoring for Campbell came from Presley with 18 points, sophomore forward Kiera Gaines (Mechanicsville, Va.) with 14 and freshman guard Zena Lovette (High Point, N.C.) with 10. Chipping in eight points was junior forward Ashley James (Round Rock, Texas).
As a team, the Lady Camels shot 46.0 percent from the floor and were 5-of-11 (45.5%) behind the arc. The 16-of-20 performance from the charity stripe was a key to the victory.
High Point was paced by Lindsay Puckett with a career-high 25 points. She was followed by Cheyenne Parker with 19 points and Stacia Robertson with 11. Parker, the NCAA leader in shot blocks and rebounding, was held in check for most of the afternoon, but converted all nine free throws into points.
She led the Panthers with 11 rebounds, two shy of her season average, but HPU still held a 40-35 advantage in rebounding. Gaines notched a team-best seven boards for the Lady Camels.
The Mechanicsville, Va., native also contributed seven assists, while Baker totaled five assists and six steals.
Campbell held a 32-26 advantage in the paint and 23-18 lead in points off turnovers. Besides the 18 points for Presley, junior forward Heather Beadle (Austin, Texas) provided the only other point off the bench with a made free throw.
High Point started the first half strong as it posted a 9-4 lead at 16:40 as it penetrated down low and kicked out to Puckett, who drained a trey and notched two layups by driving to the basket. A Baker layup and Gaines three-pointer knotted the contest at 11 with 15:16 left.
"Baker was really herself from the onset today," said coach Watkins. "Not only did she have a great scoring game, but she distributed the ball well. On many occasions, she draws two or three defenders, so that creates exterior buckets for Zena and others."
The Panthers posted an 8-0 run to take a decisive, 22-13 advantage at 10:05 as Tabitha Fudge made two layups and HPU drilled four shots from the charity stripe. Baker created space by driving to the bucket and found open players on the perimeter as Campbell fought back to within in one, 24-25 at 6:08, following an 11-3 run.
A layup from Presley with 2:41 remaining provided the Lady Camels with their only lead of the half at 30-29. HPU ended the frame on a 6-0 run to post a 38-32 advantage at the break.
"I thought that we got a little out-scrapped in the first half," said coach Watkins. "I told them at halftime that I felt that we did not play with the heart that we need to play with when wearing a Campbell uniform."
In the second half, Campbell found its legs and opened with a 28-8 run to post the largest lead of the game 11 points, 60-49 with 9:50 remaining. The final stretch of the spurt included a 14-0 rally, highlighted by back-to-back threes from Lovette, who made a season-best three, and a trey from Gaines.
Before those threes fell in for Lovette, she was held scoreless, but aided the Lady Camels in other areas by helping to open up space on the court for Baker.
In a span of three possession prior to the under four minute media timeout, Robertson hit consecutive three pointers for High Point and Lovette drilled one in between for the Lady Camles.
With Campbell holding a 10-point lead with 2:36 remaining, the Panthers made their charge as Parker hit two free throws and a layup and Tayler Tremblay and Puckett knocked in jumpers to close the advantage to one, 75-74, with 50 seconds left. The Panthers pressure defense forced two turnovers at half court during the stretch, leading to fast-break layups.
With time winding down on the shot clock, Presley received the ball on the left side of the three-point arc, drove past the defender to the right side of the rim and laid in a shot off the glass to put Campbell back up by three, 79-76.
Off a timeout, High Point missed a three-point attempt, but Parker grabbed a rebound down low to cut the advantage back to one with 22 ticks left. Two made free throws by Baker increased the cushion for the Lady Camels back to three and the final shot by Puckett at the top of the arc fell short, allowing Lovette to grab the rebound to clinch the victory.
During the contest, Baker moved into seventh on the Campbell career points list at 1,288 passing Rhonda Mueller (1978-82) with 1,276 points.
The Lady Camels are off on a road trip to play Longwood on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Liberty on Saturday at 2 p.m. Campbell comes back to Buies Creek on Jan. 24 for a matchup with Radford.
High Point plays its next contest on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Liberty.
