HIGH POINT, NC—Winthrop's women ran into a hot-shooting High Point team that connected on 51 percent of its field goals and used a fourth quarter three-point barrage to down the Eagles 80-60 on Saturday afternoon at the Millis Center.
 
Winthrop remains winless on the road as its overall record is now 4-21 and the Eagles drop to 3-13 in Big South Conference action.  High Point, which swept the regular season series, improves to 10-15 and 9-7 as the Panthers placed four players in double figures led by Kat Harris with 16.
 
High Point shot 63 percent from the floor in the first half (14-22) and finished the game by making 29 of 57 shots, including 8 of 14 from behind the 3-point line.  Winthrop had one of its better shooting performances on the season as the Eagles connected on 43 percent (27 of 63).
 
The Eagles, who dressed only eight players and five scholarship players for the game, were plagued by foul trouble.  Leading scorer Aliyah Kilpatrick, who led Winthrop with 15 points, picked up her third foul with five minutes left in the second quarter and was forced to sit the remainder of the first half.  Without her in the lineup, High Point was able to build a 38-27 lead at intermission.  Winthrop finished the game with four players with four personal fouls, but nobody fouled out.
 
In addition to Kilpatrick, junior forward CiiCii Buford had her third straight career-high scoring performance as she had 14 points on a 6 for 11 shooting performance.  Joining Harris in double figures were Kayla Keys and Emma Bockrath with 15 each while Haleigh Hatfield added 13.
 
"The foul trouble had a major effect on the game," said Winthrop head coach Kevin Cook.  "When you are short on numbers as we are, you can't be as aggressive as you would like on defense."
 
High Point was able to take advantage of Winthrop's foul trouble by connecting on five of ten 3-pointers in the second half.  The biggest shots came in the fourth quarter after Winthrop had trimmed an 11-point deficit to six after a layup and free throw by Kilpatrick with 8:23 left in the game. Keys answered with back-to-back triples and Harris connected on a third to balloon the lead back to 11 at 66-55 with 5:24 remaining.
 
Winthrop was never able to get the deficit back to single digits as High Point scored nine straight points over a two-minute stretch to go up by 20 at 75-55 at the 2:11 mark. 
 
Winthrop's largest lead of the game came in the opening 2:24 when a bucket by CiiCii Buford made it a 6-2 game. Winthrop led 14-11 and 16-15 late in the first quarter, but trailed 18-16 after one quarter and never was able to tie or take the lead again.
 
The Eagles still trailed by only two points in the second quarter at 22-20 before Lindsey Edwards' layup started a 9-2 run to give the Panthers a 31-22 lead with 4:04 remaining in the first half.  High Point extended the lead to as much as 11 points at 36-25 and the Panthers closed the half with a 38-27 advantage.
 
Winthrop's next game will be on Tuesday, Feb. 25, when the Eagles host Radford at 7 p.m.