{"id":521192,"date":"2026-03-05T22:37:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521192\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T22:37:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T22:37:08","slug":"womens-basketball-battles-no-1-seed-high-point-as-season-comes-to-a-close-at-the-air-force-reserve-big-south-womens-basketball-championship-university-of-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521192\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s Basketball Battles No. 1 Seed High Point as Season Comes to a Close at the Air Force Reserve Big South Women’s Basketball Championship – University of South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. \u2013 Advancing to the quarterfinal round of the Air Force Reserve Big South Women’s Basketball Championship after its victory in the opening round Wednesday evening, USC Upstate women’s basketball displayed its resolve in its matchup with No. 1 seed High Point. Ultimately, the Spartans’ season came to a close in its 32nd contest of the year, falling 71-52 Thursday afternoon to the Panthers.
\n\u00a0
\nLeading the Spartans, redshirt sophomore guard Cassie Gallagher<\/a> capped her campaign with her 10th straight double-figure scoring game, offering 17 points behind 5-of-13 shooting, including a perfect 6-of-6 mark from three. Joining her in double-figures, freshman guard Kinley Paterson<\/a> dropped in 11 markers, the most in her career against a Division I opponent and one point shy of her career high.
\n\u00a0
\nNearly joining Gallagher and Paterson in double-figures, redshirt junior guard Aubrie Kierscht<\/a> recorded eight points while redshirt junior forward Vera S\u00f6derblom added six. On the glass, graduate student forward Aijah Palmore<\/a> corralled a game-high eight rebounds.
\n\u00a0
\nGame Information
\nScore: No. 1 High Point 71; USC Upstate 53
\nRecords: USC Upstate (12-20; 6-10 Big South); High Point (25-5; 13-3 Big South)
\nLocation: Freedom Hall | Johnson City, Tenn.
\n\u00a0
\nHow It Happened
\nFirst Quarter<\/p>\n


\n\tBeginning the game, the two sides traded buckets as High Point struck first with a triple before a pull-up jumper from Cassie Gallagher<\/a> provided Upstate’s answer. The Panthers reeled off a 7-0 run following Gallagher’s basket, opening up their advantage.
\n\tUpstate retorted with a 5-0 scoring run of its own, drawing within three behind an Aubrie Kierscht<\/a> triple and Kinley Paterson<\/a> layup. High Point lengthened its advantage to double-figures for the first time, outpacing Upstate 10-2 as the quarter waned.
\n\tGallagher trimmed the deficit back into single digits with the final six points for the Spartans in the frame, a trey and a traditional three-point play conversion. <\/p>\n

Second Quarter<\/p>\n


\n\tBuilding its advantage, High Point began the second frame with a 13-2 scoring run, extending the lead to 19. Kierscht made the lone Upstate field goal in the stretch while Vera S\u00f6derblom snapped the stretch-ending 9-0 run with the first of two consecutive field goals for Upstate.
\n\tThe Panthers added a second 9-0 scoring run in the final minutes of the half, pushing their advantage to 26. Kierscht, driving the baseline, hit a wrap-around layup at the buzzer to snap the run. <\/p>\n

Third Quarter<\/p>\n


\n\tStarting the third stanza in a similar fashion to the game’s opening quarter, the two sides traded buckets, the Spartans’ field goal sunk by Gallagher. The two teams also traded 4-0 scoring spurts, Upstate’s spurt fuelling a 7-2 scoring stretch, seeing markers from Paterson, Emma Blair<\/a>, and Gallagher.
\n\tHigh Point countered the 7-2 Upstate stretch with the following five markers. Upstate closed the quarter with a trio of free throws, snapping the Panther run. <\/p>\n

Fourth Quarter<\/p>\n


\n\tFeeling one another out to open the final frame, neither side notched a field goal until High Point hit a layup with 6:56 remaining. The Spartans answered with the next three markers, kickstarting a 12-2 scoring stretch, including the team’s longest run of the day, 9-0. The stretch featured scoring from Aijah Palmore<\/a>, Paterson, Kierscht, S\u00f6derblom, Madison Miller<\/a>, and Lexi Castator<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u00a0
\nNotable<\/p>\n


\n\tDropping 17 markers, Cassie Gallagher<\/a> registered her 25th double-figure scoring game of the season, closing the year with a 10-game streak of double-figure scoring efforts. <\/p>\n

\u00a0
\nConnect with the Spartans\u00a0
\nFacebook.com\/UpstateAthletics\u00a0
\nTwitter | @UpstateWBB | @UpstateSpartans\u00a0
\nInstagram | @UpstateWBB | @UpstateSpartans\u00a0
\nYouTube.com\/UpstateSpartans<\/p>\n

INVEST IN CHAMPIONS\u00a0–\u00a0Join the Upstate Athletic Fund (UAF) and enjoy enhanced benefits for your support of all USC Upstate programs! Make your gift today,\u00a0click here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. \u2013 Advancing to the quarterfinal round of the Air Force Reserve Big South Women’s Basketball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521193,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-521192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521192\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}