ROCK HILL, SC – The Winthrop lacrosse team dropped its regular-season finale Saturday afternoon, 17-6 to the High Point Panthers.

Winthrop closes the regular season with a 7-10 overall record and a 4-2 mark in the Big South while High Point improved to 13-4 overall and 6-0 in the conference.

HOW IT HAPPENED
High Point jumped on the Eagles early, going up 3-0 in the opening six minutes of the contest.  Mia Creighton got the Eagles on the board but the Panthers followed that with two more goals, increasing their lead to 5-1.  Winthrop responded, scoring three of the next four goals go get within 6-4 with just over 12 minutes remaining in the half.  The Eagles couldn't grab another as High Point scored the final four goals of the half to take a 10-4 lead into the break.

The Panthers pushed their lead to 12-4 in the first three minutes of the second stanza.  Winthrop tried to gain some momentum, scoring the next two goals to get within 12-6 with 20 minutes to play but couldn't keep the scoring going as the Eagles were shut out for the rest of the game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Lauren Morris led the Eagles with three goals and one assist while Olivia Deaver added two goals and an assist.  Mia Creighton grabbed the other tally for Winthrop and Lauren Asher recorded two assists.  Senior Alaina Girani finished with 17 saves in the loss.

WHAT'S UP NEXT
Winthrop now prepares for the Big South Tournament.  Winthrop enters the tournament as the third seed and will face second-seeded Longwood on Friday at 7 p.m.  The top seed, the High Point Panthers, will host the tournament.  The Panthers will face Campbell Friday at 4 p.m. with the championship slated for Sunday at 2 p.m.