HIGH POINT UNIVERSITY

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Panthers vs. No. 6 Winthrop: The High Point University women’s basketball team earned the No. 3 seed in the 2010 Big South Women’s Basketball Tournament and will play No. 6 Winthrop in the quarterfinals on Friday at 7:30 p.m., in the Millis Center. HPU went 1-1 against the Eagles this season, including a 69-60 win at home.

The Opponent: Winthrop finished in sixth place in the Big South with an 11-17 record overall and a 5-9 mark in the Big South. The Eagles won seven of their last 11 games including a 56-50 win over HPU in Rock Hill, S.C. In WU’s final game of the regular season, the Eagles pushed Charleston Southern to overtime in Charleston, S.C., before falling 66-62. Senior guard Jessica Fansler paced Winthrop with 14 points and junior Lacey Lyons added 13 points. Senior Shanice Cole is first on the team in both scoring, with 12.2 ppg, and rebounds, with 6.9 rpg. She is one of seven players in the top ten in the Big South in both categories, joining UNCA’s Lindsey Montgomery, Liberty’s Devon Brown and Avery Warley, GWU’s Margaret Roundtree, Coastal’s Sydnei Moss and Radford’s Kymesha Alston. Cole, a point forward is also first on the team in assists with 77. Fansler is second on the team in scoring with 9.2 points per game and sophomore Taquoia Hammick is second in rebounding with 5.8.

The Series: Winthrop leads the overall series against High Point, 16-15. The two squads split their meetings this season with both teams winning at home. The Panthers came out on top in the first meeting between the two teams, winning 69-60 in Millis behind 22 points, nine rebounds and seven blocks by junior Mackenzie Maier. The Eagles took the second meeting, 59-50, in Rock Hill, S.C. Cole scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds for WU while sophomore Shamia Brown (Raeford, N.C./Hoke County) led High Point with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Last Time Out: The High Point University women’s basketball team dropped its final game of the regular season, 73-48, to Liberty Monday night in Lynchburg, Va. Junior Frances Fields (Sumter, S.C./Sumter) and sophomore Shamia Brown each scored nine points to lead HPU. The Panthers struggled against the aggressive Liberty defense, shooting just 34 percent (16-47) from the field while being held to its second-lowest point total of the season. Five minutes into the game HPU trailed by just two, but coming out of a timeout LU gained control of the game with a 9-3 run over the next three minutes to take a 16-8 lead. Freshman Erin Reynolds (Beckley, W.Va./Woodrow Wilson) connected on three for the Panthers’ only basket. The Panthers still trailed by eight, 33-25 at the half with junior LaTeisha Dean (Virginia Beach, Va./Green Run) scoring six points to lead the way for HPU. A 7-3 spurt out of the break by the Flames pushed the LU lead to 12, 40-28, three minutes into the second half. High Point managed to cut the lead to eight with a layup and two free throws on consecutive possessions by Fields but LU continued to pull away, outscoring High Point 21-7 over the next nine minutes to open a 23-point lead, 64-41, with seven minutes left in the game. High Point stopped the LU run, trimming the Liberty lead to 19 in the final minutes, but ultimately fell, 73-48.

Samuels Becomes Games Played Leader
Monday’s game at Liberty marked the 118th game played for senior Ashlee’ Samuels (Wytheville, Va./George Wythe) in her career, moving her into first in the HPU Division I record book. The senior passed current HPU assistant coach Katie Ralls for first. Ralls had played in 117 games for the Panthers from 2003-07. Samuels is just the seventh HPU player to play in at least 100 games since High Point moved to Division I in 1999.

Block Party
Junior Mackenzie Maier (Charleston, W.Va./Charleston Catholic) has been re-writing the HPU Division I record book this season, setting new records for both career blocks and blocks in a season. Against Youngstown State in just the second game of the season, Maier blocked five shots to become HPU’s Division I career blocks leader, moving past former-Panther Mary Brewer, who set the record with 134 blocks from 1999-02. She currently has 219 blocks for her career, fifth most in Big South history. On Feb. 22, Maier blocked three shots against Presbyterian to set a new HPU Division I single-season blocks record with 85, one better than the previous record of 84 which she set last season. She currently has 88 blocks on the year, the second-best single-season mark in conference history. The Charleston, W.Va., native needs just 11 blocks to become the Big South single-season record holder, passing Kelli Darden of Radford.

Samuels Sets New Career High on Senior Night
Senior Ashlee’ Samuels went out with a bang in her final regular season appearance at the Millis Center. The center shot 8-11 from the floor to lead HPU with 16 points, a new career high. Samuels’ previous career in scoring was 15 points which she accomplished twice, including earlier this season against Mercer. She also tied her career high with four blocks against the Blue Hose.

Hargraves Goes Over 1,000 Points
Junior Jurica Hargraves (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) scored 11 points in the win over UNC Asheville on Feb. 20 to go over 1,000 for her career. She is only the third HPU player to eclipse the 1,000 point mark since the Panthers moved to Division I in 1999. Hargraves recently improved to third on the HPU Division I scoring list with her 13 points against Charleston Southern on Feb. 8. She currently has 1,022 career points and sits 36 points shy of second on the career scoring list. Her 419 points scored last season was the highest single-season total in High Point’s Division I history. Hargraves is also fifth in High Point’s Division I history with an 11.4 points per game career average.

Return to Sender
The High Point defense has been piling up the blocks in conference play this season with 108 in 16 games. The Panthers blocked at least 10 shots in four games, including an HPU Division I single-game record 13 blocks against Charleston Southern on Jan. 2. HPU has compiled 168 blocks so far this season, the most in the Big South. The Panthers are 11th in the nation in blocked shots per game with 5.9 blocks per game. High Point is led by junior Mackenzie Maier who has tied her own HPU single-game record with seven blocks in five of the Panthers’ 13 conference games. She currently leads the Big South and is eighth in the nation with 3.1 blocks per game.

Dean Ties Career High With 20 Points
Junior LaTeisha Dean tied her career high with 20 points in the Panthers’ 88-74 win over Radford. It was the second time this season that the Virginia Beach, Va., native has reached 20 points in a contest. On Dec. 4, Dean scored 20 in a 76-57 loss at George Mason. Dean is currently fifth on the team in scoring with 7.6 points per game and is ninth on the HPU Division I career scoring list with 724 points.

Samuels Tops 500 Rebounds
Senior Ashlee’ Samuels grabbed nine rebounds against the Highlanders on Feb. 15 to move over 500 for her career. The senior is currently fourth in the HPU Division I record book with 524 career rebounds. Samuels has had the best season of her career on the boards this season. She is averaging 6.8 rebounds per game and she set a new career-high with 15 rebounds against Mercer on Dec. 28, tying her for the fourth-highest single game total in HPU DI history.

Reynolds Named Freshman of the Week
Freshman Erin Reynolds was named Freshman of the Week on Feb. 9 after scoring a career-high 18 points in High Point’s 66-60 loss at Charleston Southern on Feb. 8 to lead the Panthers. The freshman also had a career-high five steals and a team-best four assists in the contest. Reynolds has become a force in conference play, leading HPU in scoring in four of its Big South games this season, scoring at least 14 points in each of the four games. The Beckley, W.Va., native has led the team in scoring five times and is averaging 7.0 ppg and 2.4 apg since the start of conference play.

Dodd Goes for 28
Junior Amy Dodd (Apex, N.C./Apex) went off for a career-high 28 points in the win over UNC Asheville on Jan. 22, blowing away her previous career-high of 18. Dodd shoot 10-15 from the floor and 4-6 from behind the arc. The junior also had a team-best four steals in the contest as well as five rebounds. The 28 points is the most scored in a single game by any active HPU player and is tied for the sixth highest single-game total in the team’s Division I era. Dodd has been a key player for the Panthers this season and is currently second on the team in scoring (9.2 ppg), assists (2.7 apg) and steals (1.3 spg) and third in rebounding (4.9 rpg).

Hit Your Free Throws
High Point’s performance from the free throw line played a big role in the both the Panthers’ wins over Radford. HPU connected on 26-31 free throws in the two teams’ first meeting and 25-31 free throws in the second on Feb. 15. The 26 free throws were the most for HPU since they sank 34 vs. UNC Asheville in 2006. For the season, HPU is shooting 71.6 percent from the free throw line, first in the Big South. Junior Jurica Hargraves is first on the team from the line, shooting .898 (44-49) and Junior Shamia Brown has qualified for fourth in the conference with a .735 free-throw percentage (75-102).

Finding Their Balance
The High Point offense has been a testament to balance this season. Eight different HPU players currently average between 6.2 and 10.1 points per game. Sophomore Shamia Brown leads the team with 10.1 points per game and is followed by junior Amy Dodd (9.2 ppg), junior Mackenzie Maier (9.1), junior Jurica Hargraves (8.6), junior LaTeisha Dean (7.6), junior Frances Fields (7.3), freshman Erin Reynolds (6.3) and senior Ashlee’ Samuels (6.2). Despite not having a player in the top 10 in scoring in the conference, HPU enters the weekend third in the conference in scoring, averaging 66.8 ppg.

Gator Hunting
The Panthers win over Florida is the team’s first win over a BCS Conference team since joining Division I in 1999. HPU had been 0-23 against BCS teams including losses at Wake Forest and South Carolina earlier this season.

Dodd Named Tournament MVP
Junior Amy Dodd was named Tournament MVP at the 2009 Gator Holiday Classic after averaging 10 points, five rebounds and 5.5 assists in the two-game tournament. In the Championship game against Florida, Dodd set a new career high with nine assists. Also named to the All-Tournament team were junior LaTeisha Dean and senior Ashlee’ Samuels.

En Fuego
High Point shot a sterling 61.1 percent (11-18) from three-point range in the game against Florida, setting a new team record for three-point percentage in a game. The team’s previous high from behind the arc in a single game came against Winthrop on Jan. 21, 2002, when the Panthers shot 58.8 percent (10-17). The Panthers followed the performance against Florida by shooting 50 percent (8-16) in the win over Mercer, giving them a two-game three-point percentage of 55.9 percent (19-34). Against Presbyterian, High Point matched its season high with 11 three pointers on 23 attempts.

Fields Named Big South Player of the Week
Junior Frances Fields earned Big South Player of the Week honors on Dec. 15 after hitting the game-winning shot in the 67-66 win over UNC Wilmington. Fields tied her career high against the Seahawks with a team-best 17 points. She also came away with three assists and two steals in the win. Earlier in the week against Campbell, Fields dished out nine assists to go along with a career-high 10 rebounds. The nine assists tied a season high for the junior. She is currently third in the High Point Division I era in career assists with 361. Fields has led the Panthers in assists 46 times in her career, including 16 games this season.

The Long Bomber
Junior Jurica Hargraves has hit a team-best 46 three pointers this season to move into first in HPU’s Division I record book for career three-pointers with 164, breaking the previous record of 138, set by Candyce Sellars from 2003-07. The junior’s .361 career shooting percentage from behind the arc is the second-best mark in High Point Division I history behind only teammate Mackenzie Maier (.392) and her 454 career attempts are second most.

Movin On Up
Junior Mackenzie Maier has moved up in both the career scoring and rebounding lists this season. Maier is currently in fifth place on the career scoring list with 862 points and in fifth on the career rebounding list with 453. The junior is on pace to become just the second player in HPU Division I history to score 1,000 points and grab 500 rebounds in her career, joining HPU’s Division I leader in both categories, Katie O’Dell (2002-06).

Home Sweet Home
The Panthers loved playing at home the season, posting a 10-3 record in games played at the Millis Center. HPU is averaging 73.2 points per game and has outscored its opponents by an average of 10 (73.2-63.2) points at home. The success this season is a continuation of the past few seasons as the Panthers are now 66-14 in the Millis Center since the start of the 2004-05 season.