HIGH POINT, NC—Erin Reynolds three-pointer at the buzzer forced overtime and High Point pulled out a 68-65 victory, ending the season for the Winthrop women's basketball team Friday evening in the quarter-finals of the 2010 Advanced Auto Parts Big South Conference Women's Basketball Championship at the Millis Center on the campus of High Point University.
Winthrop led 60-57 with three seconds remaining in regulation after Shanice Cole hit two free throws. High Point called timeout and set up a play to take the ball the length of the court. Mackenzie Maier caught the inbounds pass around half court, shuffled it over to Reynolds as she sprinted by and after a couple of dribbles she heaved the 35-foot shot near the sideline and it banked off the glass and in as the horn sounded.
"I couldn't be more proud of this team," said Winthrop head coach Bud Childers. "I feel this team left everything it had on the floor tonight and feel this might have been the best game we've played in the conference tournament since I've been here."
Winthrop trailed 51-48 with 4:06 remaining after a Shamia Brown lay-up. Brown was fouled in the act of shooting, but missed the free throw on the three-point play opportunity. With 3:15 remaining the Lady Eagles tied the game at 51-51 after Jessica Fansler knocked down a tough jumper in the lane. Winthrop built a three-point lead with 1:36 to go as Cole hit a short jumper in the lane. Amy Dodd made two free throws to cut the lead to one with 1:13 left. Again, Cole came through for the Lady Eagles with another short jumper in the lane for a 56-53 lead with just under a minute to play. Winthrop held the Panthers on their next possession and TaQuoia Hammick rebounded the ball, kicked it to Cole but a pass down court to Shelly Hankins was intercepted. The turnover gave new life to High Point as LaTeisha Dean knocked down a jumper to cut it to one point with 27 seconds remaining.
In the extra period the Lady Eagles stood their ground and tied the game at 63-63 after Fansler drilled a three from the wing. After forcing a couple of misses on the other end of the court, Winthrop came back and a lay-up by Cole put Winthrop in front 65-623 with 2:25 to go, but Jurica Hargraves answered with a straight away three and High Point held on.
It is the first time the Lady Eagles have lost a first round conference tournament game since 2005.
Cole finished with a career-high 30 points as she also hauled in 12 rebounds and dished out four assists. Fansler chipped in with 13 points while Hammick finished with six points and 10 rebounds.
Brown led three Panthers in double-figures with 15 points while Maier and Hargraves each had 10. Brown also pulled down 14 rebounds for the double-double.
The first half belonged to High Point as it built a 33-26 lead at the break thanks to 46 percent shooting and a 9-3 run that started with 5:25 to go in the half and stretched a little over three minutes. Hargraves hit a three at the end of the run to put High Point up 29-20.
Winthrop shot 42 percent in the first half, but allowed High Point 11 offensive rebounds that led to nine more shots.
The Lady Eagles finish the season 13-18 overall while High Point improves to 17-13 overall.
It was only the second time that the 3/6 match-up had gone to overtime in the history of the conference tournament. In that game it was the three seed that prevailed as well. Third seeded teams are now 15-8 all-time in this match-up.
