HPU ROUNDUP: Reports: Austin, House enter transfer portal
Mar. 13—HIGH POINT — The new men's basketball coach at High Point University could have big roster holes to fill.
Zack Austin and Jaden House, the Panthers' top two scorers during the recently completed season, entered the NCAA transfer portal on Monday according to websites that track the portal.
Monday began the 45-day window the portal is open following the announcement of the NCAA tournament bracket.
A school spokesperson would not confirm the movement of Austin and House into the portal.
House was the Panthers' top scorer, averaging 17 points per game. Austin averaged 14.1 points and 5.2 rebounds, had 31 steals and was by far their best shot blocker with 64.
HPU WOMEN DRAW CLEMSON
The first-round game for the High Point University women's basketball team in the WNIT will be at Clemson, the tournament announced Monday.
The Panthers will face the Tigers on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Littlejohn Coliseum.
HPU earned an automatic bid as the highest regular-season finisher from the Big South that did not qualify for the NCAA tournament. The Panthers (17-14), who finished second, earned that distinction when they lost to regular-season champ Garnder-Webb in the Big South championship game.
Clemson (17-15) finished 10th in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which placed eight teams in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers posted their best victory in an upset of NCAA No. 1 Virginia Tech in December and logged lopsided wins over Gardner-Webb and two other Big South teams — Charleston Southern and Radford.
The Panthers have lost in the first round in all four of their previous WNIT appearances.
TRACK AND FIELD
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Rachel Vesper finished seventh as the top finisher for HPU in the pole vault at NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships late Friday.
Vesper, who earned first team All American honors. cleared 4.35 meters on her first attempt then failed to clear 4.40 meters.
Sydney Horn, a junior who finished in the top three in two previous trips and had the second best clearance this season among those competing, cleared just 4.2 meters and finished 12th.
BASEBALL
MONROE, La. — High Point University's baseball team picked up one win against Louisiana during a three-game series that ran Friday through Sunday.
The Panthers (6-9) won 5-1 in the middle game on Saturday as Brett Wozniak tossed a complete-game seven-hitter.
The Ragin' Cajuns prevailed 8-6 on Friday and 6-5 on Sunday.
MEN'S LACROSSE
HIGH POINT — High Point University edged Robert Morris 16-14 in nonconference men's lacrosse Saturday at Vert Stadium.
Jack Vanoverbeke scored four goals for the Panthers. Michael Ippolito and Brayden Mayea had three each. Nick Rizzo added one, and Coline Cooke, Isaiah Moran-Weeks, Hunter Vines and Nick Murphy one each.
HPU (6-2) returns to action on Saturday at Georgetown.
