BUIES CREEK, N.C. - In a game that featured 10 ties and 12 lead changes, senior Kiera Gaines blocked High Point's (15-11, 11-6 BSC) three-pointer at the buzzer that would have forced overtime to send Campbell (16-9, 11-5 BSC) to a 64-61 victory inside Gore Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Campbell maintained its perfect 8-0 mark against conference opponents at home this season and moved to 12-1 overall inside Gore Arena. The Lady Camels are also unbeaten (13-0) when leading at halftime in 2014-15.
As a team, the Lady Camels shot 24-of-62 (38.7 percent) in the contest, while High Point posted a 40 percent (24-of-60) mark. The Panthers held Campbell to just 1-of-13 (7.7 percent) from beyond the arc, but a 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) mark from the charity stripe helped to buoy Campbell to the victory.
Redshirt junior RaeChaun Edwards led the Lady Camels with 13 points and was joined in double figures by Gaines (11), Amanda Coffer (11) and Juli Osborne (11).
Gaines stuffed the stat sheet with nine rebounds, seven assists, seven steals and a pair of blocks on the afternoon.
With a pair of blocks in the first half, Coffer broke her own single-season block record that she set as a freshman with 41 last season. After finishing with three blocks on the day, the sophomore now has 43 during the 2014-15 season.
High Point's Stacia Robertson led all scorers with 20 points and also added 20 rebounds. Lindsay Puckett also reached double figures with 10 points for the Panthers.
After Campbell opened with the first four points of the matchup, High Point responded with six unanswered to grab its first lead of the game after Robertson's jumper at the 17:26 mark. Just over two minutes later, however, the Lady Camels tallied a 6-0 run of their own, punctuated by an Edwards layup at 14:59, to take an early 12-9 lead.
Two quick layups from Robertson sparked a three and a half minute 11-0 run for the Panthers as they gained the largest lead of the first half by either side. Kat Harris' heave from the right side of the arc finalized the run and gave High Point a 20-12 advantage with just over 10 minutes remaining in the first frame.
Despite falling into the eight-point hole, Campbell fired back with six unanswered over the next three minutes, four of which came off the hands of Edwards. The redshirt junior's jumper with 6:31 left cut High Point's lead to just two, 20-18, and a bucket from Gaines just over one minute later brought the sides level at 22-22.
Down 27-22 with 4:04 remaining, the Lady Camels finished the first half on a 12-4 run led by five points apiece from Edwards and Osborne. Campbell carried a 34-31 lead into the halftime break on the strength of the burst.
High Point opened the second half with eight unanswered points, including six scored by Robertson, to regain a 39-36 lead with 16:17 remaining. The Panthers' lead grew to as many as seven, 45-38, after a bucket by Puckett two minutes later, but an 11-0 run by the Lady Camels erased that lead completed and left Campbell leading by four, 49-45, with 11:30 to play. Five points from Coffer sparked the run, and Gaines also contributed four of her own.
The final 10 minutes featured five ties and six lead changes as the two teams battled back and forth, and neither side could gain an advantage of more than two points. Campbell's decisive basket came with only 14 seconds remaining as Coffer found Leverette open on the left side for a long jumper. The senior's bucket put the Lady Camels ahead by three and set up Gaines' block at the buzzer to seal the win.
Campbell will return to action on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m. with a trip to Gardner-Webb. In the first meeting this season, the Lady Camels claimed a 75-74 nailbiter on Education Day inside Gore Arena on Jan. 13.
