HIGH POINT, NC – Candyce Sellars converted two free throws in the final 1:32 of overtime to send High Point to a 65-63 victory over UNC Greensboro in non-conference women’s basketball action Tuesday night at Millis Athletic Center.
Neither team was able to convert a field goal in the extra session. However, High Point (3-1) was able to drain three free throws to take a 63-60 lead, but UNCG’s KaLeah Latham knocked down a pair from the charity stripe and Meghan Chamberlain tied the score, 63-63, for the ninth and final time of the evening with 1:47 to go. Sellars then went 1-for-2 from the line on two separate occasions to give the Panthers their second straight win.
Junior Irene Otamiri led UNCG (1-3) with 10 points, six rebounds and four steals. Senior Ashley Current had a season-high nine points, while junior Jasmine Byrd had eight points, but was limited to the bench for a majority of the second half with an ankle injury. Latham ripped down a game-high 10 rebounds.
Katie O’Dell, the pre-season Player of the Year in the Big South Conference, scored a game-high 22 points for the Panthers, while Raven Truslow added 19 points.
With UNCG leading 60-58 with less than a minute left in regulation, Truslow converted two free throws with 37 ticks left on the clock to tie the game 60-60 and ultimately send the game into overtime. Before that, UNCG had taken its largest lead of the game, 60-56, on a jumper by Otamiri with 1:37 left in the second half.
Neither team led by more than four points in the entire second half and featured four ties and four lead changes.
Byrd buried a 3-pointer in the opening seconds of the second half to tie the game, 35-35, but O’Dell scored all eight of the Panthers points in the first five minutes of action to give them a 43-39 lead with 13:43 remaining.
In the first half, Truslow drained a jumper at the 9:07 mark to give the Panthers a 17-10 advantage. UNCG showed some resiliency by running off an 11-2 spurt to take its first lead of the night, 21-19, with 5:21 left. Current started the run with a put back layup and Otamiri capped it with a jumper.
The lead was short lived though as Ayonna Thompson drilled the games first 3-pointer moments later to regain the lead, 22-21, in favor of High Point. It was a tight affair from that point on until halftime with the Panthers leading by as many as four points, before going into intermission with a 35-32 lead.
First half scoring leaders included junior Brittany Frazier and senior forward Caroline Blair for the Spartans with six points apiece, while Byrd and Current both chipped in with five points. Truslow paced High Point with 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while O’Dell had eight points of her own. The difference in the half may well have come from the free throw line, where UNCG struggled to a 1-for-6 showing from the charity stripe.
UNCG will continue its non-conference portion of the schedule with a home date with West Virginia on Saturday beginning at 2 pm at Fleming Gym. Meanwhile, High Point will take on Stephen F. Austin at the U.S. Air Force Academy Tournament on Friday in Colorado Springs, CO at 9:30 pm.
GAME NOTES: Junior guard Jasmine Byrd played in her 60th consecutive game at UNCG, she has not missed a game in her career... It was the first overtime game for UNCG in six games, with the last a 70-67 loss to East Tennessee State on February 19 of last season... All 13 healthy players saw action and all but two players scored on the night... UNCG has had a different leading scorer in all four games this season.
AGATE
HIGH POINT 65, UNC GREENSBORO 63
UNC GREENSBORO (1-2)
OTAMIRI, Irene 4-9 2-3 10; CURRENT, Ashley 4-7 1-1 9; BYRD, Jasmine
3-7 0-0 8; FRAZIER, Brittany 3-9 0-1 6; CHAMBERLAIN, Meghan 2-5 2-4
6; LATHAM, KaLeah 2-5 2-2 6; BLAIR, Caroline 3-6 0-0 6; GRIMSLEY,
Gini 2-11 0-1 5; MULLINS, Ashley 1-2 1-1 3; JACKSON, Shanika 1-8
0-2 2; DIXON, Jasmine 1-2 0-0 2; BROOKS, Kemena 0-3 0-0 0; LING,
Ashley 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-75 8-15 63.
HIGH POINT (2-1)
O'DELL, Katie 9-15 4-5 22; TRUSLOW, Raven 7-12 4-6 19; TRIPP, Tonya
3-4 1-2 7; SELLARS, Candyce 2-13 3-5 7; RALLS, Katie 2-5 1-2 5;
THOMPSON, Ayonna 2-3 0-0 5; HAAK, Sarah 0-2 0-0 0; BROCKMYER, Erica
0-1 0-0 0; MANUEL, Amber 0-0 0-0 0; LONG, Jennifer 0-2 0-0 0; THYS,
Caitlin 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 25-60 13-20 65.
Halftime: High Point 35-32. 3-point goals-UNC Greensboro 3-10 (BYRD, Jasmine 2-3; GRIMSLEY, Gini 1-4; JACKSON, Shanika 0-2; BROOKS, Kemena 0-1), High Point 2-11 (THOMPSON, Ayonna 1-2; TRUSLOW, Raven 1-1; SELLARS, Candyce 0-4; RALLS, Katie 0-1; O'DELL, Katie 0-3). Fouled out--UNC Greensboro-None, High Point -None. Rebounds-UNC Greensboro 52 (LATHAM, KaLeah 10), High Point 40 (THYS, Caitlin 9). Assists-UNC Greensboro 14 (JACKSON, Shanika 3; FRAZIER, Brittany 3; LING, Ashley 3), High Point 15 (SELLARS, Candyce 9). Total fouls-UNC Greensboro 18, High Point 18. A-441
- UNCG -