Final Stats

CONWAY - The Coastal Carolina women's basketball team trailed by only four points with just under seven minutes remaining in regulation, but High Point managed to pull away as the Panthers (7-5, 3-0) downed the Chanticleers (7-4, 1-1) 79-64 Tuesday night at The HTC Center.

The loss is the first to a Big South opponent for the Chants this season. High Point, meanwhile, remains unbeaten in conference play.

High Point's Kaylah Keys, the Big South's leading scorer, led all players offensively with 19 points while shooting 9-21 from the field, one of which was a 3-pointer. After scoring just four points in the first half, Stacia Robertson finished the game as the Panthers' third-leading scorer with 17 points and added 16 rebounds for the game's lone double-double. Latrice Phelps checked in as the second-leading scorer for High Point with 18 points on 8-18 from the floor and two free throws.

Stephanie Isaacs led the Chants in scoring for the fifth time this year, knocking down 6-12 from the floor, including 2-7 from beyond the arc, and all three shots from the free throw line for 17 points. She also led the Chants in steals with three.

Alira Mihocic led Coastal with nine rebounds, and tied Ced Gibson as the team's second-leading scorer as each player finished with 10 points. AJ Jordan finished with nine points, and led the Chants with four assists.

Isaacs scored the game's first points with a jumper on the fast break, but it was High Point who held the advantage early, pouring in 12 points in the opening three-and-a-half minutes to take a quick 12-2 lead. The Chants continued to battle, however, scoring on their next four possessions and keeping HPU off the board to cut the Panthers' lead to just three.

High Point again strung together a quick run, and built an 11-point lead at the midway point of the first half. The Panthers were once again countered by the Chants, who outscored HPU 15-6 during a four-minute period to cut the deficit to 30-28 with just over four minutes remaining in the first. The teams continued to trade points for the remainder of the half, resulting in a 37-34 High Point lead at the break.

Coming out of the locker room, High Point improved its shooting to 50 percent while hitting eight of its 12 free throw attempts, five of which came from Robertson.

The Chants trailed by as many as 15 points during the early stages of the second half, but a free throw from Anna Vogt and 3-pointer from Isaacs coming out of the third media timeout cut High Point's lead to 66-62 with 6:43 remaining. That was as close as the Chants would come to tying the Panthers for the remainder of the game, as High Point closed the contest on a 13-2 run.

Coastal's 36.5 field goal shooting percentage for the game was outdone by High Point's 48.5 percent, and each team finished with 41 rebounds. It was the first game this season that the Chants did not win the rebound battle outright.

The Chants take to the road for their next two conference games, traveling to Gardner-Webb on January 3 for a 3 p.m. game before tipping at Longwood at 7 p.m. on January 5.