HIGH POINT, N.C. – A late rally by Radford fell short as in a loss at High Point, 65-55, Saturday evening at the Millis Center. In the first half of the game, senior Johnette Walker (Columbia, S.C./Irmo) became the Big South's all-time steals leader.

The Highlanders cut a 10-point deficit to three with just over a minute to play, but Mackenzie Maier drained a three-pointer with 56 seconds on the clock to seal the victory for the Panthers.

Walker, needing just one theft to break the record held by Liberty's Sharon Wilkerson (1996-00), recorded her record-breaking steal at 12:29 of the first half. It was the 305th of her career. She finished the game with a team-best three.

Box Score

Maier finished with a 12-point, 13-rebound double-double and also had six blocks. Andrea Tucker also had a double-double for the Panthers with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

Senior Vandy Pullen (Arlington, Va./Maine) paced Radford with her first collegiate double-double, netting a game-high 14 points to go along with 11 rebounds. Junior Kymesha Alston (Arlington, Va./Manhattan) helped the Highlanders on the glass with a career-best 14 caroms.

“We have to do a better job of maintaining our consistency and effort for a full 40 minutes”, said head coach Tajama Ngongba. “When we put those two pieces together, good things happen for us/”

Trailing 32-30 early in the second half, High Point went on a 13-2 run to claim a 43-34 at the 12:07 mark. The Highlanders battled back and trimmed it to 49-45 on senior Johnette Walker's (Columbia, S.C./Irmo) triple at 7:23.

The Panthers extended their lead to 57-47 at 4:55 on a layup by Ashlee Samuels. But an 8-1 Radford spurt to cut the lead to 58-55 on a pair of free throws from sophomore Taleia Moton (Fort Washington, Md./Suitland). Moton finished a perfect 6-for-6 from the line. On High Point's next possession, Maier was left alone on the right wing and she drained her second three of the game.

Both teams struggled shooting for the entire game. The Highlanders shot a season-low 27 percent (18-66) from the field and shot just 24 percent (5-21) from three-point land and 58 percent (14-24) from the charity stripe. High Point improved in the second half (36 percent) and finished the game at 33 percent (23-70) from the floor, but only shot 48 percent from the free throw line.

Moton chipped in with 13 points for the Highlanders.

Radford won the battle on the glass, out-rebounding HPU, 59-53. Sophomore Denay Wood (Bailey's Crossroads, Va./Annandale) was the third Highlander in double-figure rebounds with a career-high 10.

“We improved on the boards tonight, but we still need to keep our opponents from getting second and third chances,” said Ngongba.

Junior Davida Dodson (Silver Spring, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) hit a pair of threes to start the game, giving the Highlanders an early 7-0 lead. High Point went ahead, however, when Frances Fields scored four straight points during an 11-1 run to give the Panthers an 11-8 lead at 13:17.

High Point pushed its lead to four points on two occasions, the last at 24-20, with 4:04 left it the half. Radford outscored High Point, 5-2 the rest of the way to get within one (26-25), going into the locker room.

Radford travels to Winthrop on Monday, Jan. 12 for its next game. Tip time is 7 p.m.