HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point women's basketball team shot 51.6 percent from the floor and 57.9 percent from the 3-point line en route to an 83-51 victory over Norfolk State inside the Millis Center on Saturday afternoon. The Panthers (5-4) made 11 of their 15 shots in the first quarter, including five 3-pointers, giving themselves enough cushion to hold off the comeback-minded Spartans (4-6).
 
The Panthers become the first team to shot 50 percent or better from the floor against NSU since Coppin State made 58.5 percent of its shots in a 78-54 win over the Spartans in the MEAC Tournament on March 7, 2016.
 
Four HPU players scored in double figures, led by Lindsey Edwards' game-high 20. Camryn Brown (18), Miya Bull (13) and Skyler Curran (11) also broke double digits for the Panthers.
 
Raven Russell paced the Spartans in scoring with a season-high 17. The senior made five of her 10 shot attempts and was 6-of-7 at the foul line. Khadedra Croker netted a season-best 13 points and grabbed six rebounds. The Suffolk, Virginia native also made an impact on the defensive end of the floor, where she blocked three shots and became just the sixth Spartan to record 100 or more rejections in her NSU career.
 
High Point came out of the blocks hot, opening the game on a 12-2 run. The Panthers made each of their first five shots and did not miss from the floor until the 4:47 mark of the quarter.
 
Russell blunted the run on a trey with 4:33 left to play, and the two teams proceeded to trade 3-pointers, with the next three baskets coming from long range.
 
Both sides shot a combined 7-for-11 (63.6 percent) from beyond the arc in the first quarter. The Panthers made five of their six treys in the period, led by Brown's 3-for-3 showing.
 
Russell cut the lead to nine, 20-11, inside the final two minutes of action with an old-fashioned three-point play, but HPU closed out the period on a 7-0 run.
 
NSU turned the ball over seven times in the first quarter and 19 times for the game. The Panthers gave the ball away 18 times on Saturday. Both teams scored 16 points off turnovers.
 
Norfolk State out-scored High Point 17-10 in the second quarter and trimmed the deficit to single digits at the intermission.
 
Alexys Long scored eight points in slightly over two minutes as the Spartans pulled to within 11 points. Long hit 3-pointers with 7:38 and 6:02 showing on the clock, then finished her outburst with a jumper at the 5:23 mark that made the score 32-21.
 
Edwards scored the next five points to restore High Point's lead to 37-21, but those would be the Panthers' final points of the quarter as NSU closed out the half on a 7-0 run. Kendrea Dawkins started the run with a layup at the 2:59 mark. The Spartans then received a pair of foul shots from Russell and a Croker jumper. De'Janaire Deas split a pair of free throws to make the halftime score 37-28.
 
Norfolk State entered the break shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from downtown. However, the Spartans allowed HPU to shoot 53.6 percent from the floor and make seven of its 10 attempts from deep.
 
The Spartans gave the Panthers their best shot in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to five points late in the period before the Panthers rallied to restore their nine-point advantage.
 
Both offenses cooled down significantly to start the second half. NSU made only four of its 14 shots in the third quarter and failed to knock down a 3-pointer. The Panthers shot 31.6 percent in the period.
 
Norfolk State buoyed its struggling offense in the third quarter with a heavy dose of free throws, going to the line 12 times in the quarter and making eight foul shots. Russell and Croker both turned in 3-for-4 performances at the charity stripe in the quarter.
 
For the game, NSU made 13 free throws on 19 attempts (68.4 percent), breaking a string of five-straight games of shooting 70 percent or better at the line.
 
The two sides wrestled back-and-forth to start the third quarter, with the lead swinging between seven and nine points. Russell netted four-unanswered points to make the score 41-36 with 6:03 to play in the quarter, but Big South Preseason Player of the Year Emma Bockrath responded with a trey to drive HPU's lead up to eight.
 
After being held to just two points in the first half, Bockrath scored seven in the third quarter alone.
 
Less than a minute later, Bockrath answered two free throws by Croker to keep the Panthers ahead by eight, but NSU scored the next three and trailed by five, 46-41, with 3:42 to go. Once again, HPU responded in a big way, this time with a trey by Brown. That shot effectively ended NSU's comeback bid as the lead would not dip below seven points for the rest of the contest.
 
Leading by nine to start the fourth quarter, High Point built a 20-point advantage within the first five minutes of the period. NSU scored just two points in the final five-plus minutes of the contest, a layup by Danyael Goodhope, and the Panthers ended the game on an 8-0 run.
 
High Point held a significant 42-28 edge in the rebounding battle and collected 13 offensive boards. Dana Echols and Shae Morgan shared the game-high with eight boards apiece.
 
Norfolk State looks to rebound on Tuesday, when it welcomes longtime CIAA rival St. Augustine's to Joseph Echols Hall for a 6 p.m. tilt.