High Point women’s basketball had plenty of celebration when its men’s team upset Wisconsin in the first round of March Madness.
The High Point women’s team, a 15-seed playing in Nashville and preparing to take on No. 2 seed Vanderbilt (27-4) in its first-round game on March 21 (6 p.m. CT, ESPNews) at Memorial Gymnasium, was able to watch as the men’s team, a No. 12 seed, pulled off the win. The March 19 game happened as the team was preparing to travel to Nashville.
“My roommates and I, we were watching the game on my phone, and I don’t think I’ve ever screamed at a game before,” said High Point guard Aaliyah Collins on March 20. “I was so excited, so happy for them.”
Panthers assistant coach, Katie Clayman, is married to Flynn Clayman, the High Point men’s coach. High Point coach Chelsea Banbury allowed Katie Clayman to travel to Portland to watch the men play, even though it meant that she would be late getting to Nashville.
Clayman watched film remotely and on March 20, as the women’s team was doing media sessions the day before the opening game, flew back from Portland to Nashville, a route for which there were no direct flights. She had a list of tasks from Banbury to complete before she got to Memorial Gymnasium.
“I was packing my stuff, getting ready to come here, but we had the game on,” Banbury said. “My son and I were watching the game. He’s jumping on the couch, getting excited.
” … But one thing that I honestly believe in, my son’s here with me in practice. Family is first. Family is important to us. Our families are around. We want them to be around the sport. … She should be there supporting Flynn. This was his first NCAA Tournament as head coach. I couldn’t imagine what she’d be going through if she missed it. It was incredible. She was 100% where she needed to be. She’ll be here with us and she’ll be where she needs to be tomorrow.”
A 15-seed has never beaten a 2-seed in the Women’s NCAA Tournament, but High Point believes it can be the first.
“I think if we stop a lot of their key players, just on the defensive side, that we’ll have a pretty good chance of winning,” Collins said.
Among those players are SEC Player of the Year and national leading scorer Mikayla Blakes, who averages 27 points per game, and SEC Freshman of the Year Aubrey Galvan.
“They’re really good offensive players, but every offensive player has a weakness,” Collins said. “So capitalizing on that, and then also just, we need to play defense on a string because we can’t really be on an island, but we have to be able to guard without help.”
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
Our team of savvy editors independently handpicks all recommendations. If you purchase through our links, the USA TODAY Network may earn a commission. Prices were accurate at the time of publication but may change.
