RADFORD FALLS TO HIGH POINT IN BIG SOUTH SEMIFINALS

BOX SCORE HIGH POINT, N.C. – In the 1,100th game in program history, Radford women's basketball fell to High Point, 85-70, Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the Advance Auto Parts Big South Tournament at the Millis Center.

Cheyenne Parker led the way for High Point (20-11) with her 19th double-double of the season, charting a game-high 22 points and 17 rebounds to go along with six blocks. Erin Reynolds finished with 22 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, while Tayler Tremblay recorded 18 points.

Radford (16-15) was led by Ayana Avery, who finished with 19 points (16 second half), including five 3-pointers.

Ashley Buckhannon tallied 16 points and finished the season with 66 3-pointers, one shy of tying the Radford single-season record. Da'Naria Erwin Spencer scored 15 points and is four shy of breaking into Radford's career Top-10.

Victoria Hamilton had a valiant effort on the boards, collecting 10. It stood as her seventh double-digit rebounding performance of the year.

Avery hit back-to-back 3-pointers with just over three minutes left to reduce the deficit down to 15, 74-59. One last trifecta with 50 seconds remaining cut it down to 13, 83-70, but that is as close as it would get.

High Point opened the second half on a 10-2 run over the first 3:13 to pull ahead, 47-31. The Panthers would stretch the lead out to as many as 25 and paved its way into the Big South Championship to face No. 1 overall seed Liberty.

“It's disappointing not to get past the semifinal round,” said head coach Tajama Abraham Ngongba. “I thought our team did a great job of grinding it out this year. We lost our back-up point guard four games into the season and that's something we didn't expect. We were shorthanded with key players being out and through it all, our players exceeded expectations and showed their RU pride.”

In the first half, Avery shook a defender and dumped a pass down to Jordynn Gaymon, who converted from the block to put Radford up, 15-13. In response, High Point reeled off seven unanswered points to regain the lead, 20-15.

Erwin Spencer nailed a trey to pull the Highlanders within two, 20-18. High Point would answer nearly every Radford basket and keep the margin within three on four occasions before outscoring Radford 9-4 to end the first stanza.

Parker recorded her double-double in the first half alone, leading the Panthers with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Erwin Spencer and Buckhannon each tallied seven points in the first half.

The first half featured two ties, six lead changes and High Point held the advantage at intermission, 37-29.

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