HIGH POINT – Although only eight points separated the High Point University women and Gardner-Webb on Saturday, the afternoon ended with no doubt as to who had become the Big South Conference’s top dog.
Behind a superior all-around effort from junior point guard Dominique Hudson, the Runnin’ Bulldogs dashed to a dominant 23-point lead at the Millis Center and warded off a late Panther run to prevail 74-66.
Gardner-Webb (21-3, 10-1), now with nine straight wins, cemented its status atop the conference standings by sweeping the season series from High Point (13-11, 6-5) and sending the Panthers to their fourth straight loss.
Ironically, as has been consistent throughout their skid, inconsistency plagued the Panthers. High Point made nine of its first 15 field goals to start strong while also converting nine of its final 15 field goals to finish with a flurry. In between, though, a 20-20 tie became a 63-40 Gardner-Webb lead as the Panthers scuffled to just five makes in 32 shots through the middle stretch.
“We’ve gotta have that effort for 40 minutes,” said HPU coach Tooey Loy. “We had some people diving on the floor. We got some offensive rebounds tonight. We’ve got to work on our ball movement a little bit more. We’re too easy to guard at times.”
When junior forward Amy Dodd buried a huge 3-pointer with seven seconds to go in the first half, a nine-point deficit was cut to six. But not to be outdone, Hudson rushed across midcourt and drained a desperation 40-foot answer at the buzzer to remove any Panther momentum.
After the intermission, the Runnin’ Bulldogs quickly raced on a 9-3 run that mushroomed into a 23-9 onslaught, combining tenacious defense and steady offense, triggered on both ends of the floor by Hudson. The Rocky Mount-native continuously disrupted the Panthers’ sets, recording seven steals to go along with her game-high 19 points, five rebounds and five assists.
“It was a stretch in the game where I believe we had defensive breakdowns,” explained High Point sophomore forward Shamia Brown. “I felt we could have stuck with them, but our defense wasn’t on as well as it should have been.”
Brown and Jurica Hargraves each tallied 11 for the Panthers, while senior center Ashlee’ Samuels achieved her fourth double-double of the year with 10 points and 14 boards.
High Point’s 26-11 rally to end the game did not decrease the magnitude of the win for the Bulldogs, who are hoping for more success here when the Panthers play host to the conference tournament.
“I’m just really pleased with this victory,” coach Rick Reeves said, “and I hope it gives us a lot of confidence that we can come in here and win the tournament.”
HPU plays host to Radford on Monday.
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