ATHENS — When Jasmine Hassell is struggling at the free-throw line, she thinks about shooting the ball a little higher.
Hassell did not have to think much Sunday as she hit eight of 10 free throws, including two with 8.9 seconds remaining, to lead Georgia to a 66-61 victory over High Point.

“I was just trying to put them in,” said Hassell, who scored a game-high 16 points for Georgia (8-2).

“Jasmine played great for us,” said teammate Jasmine James, who scored 13 points, including a key jumper as the shot clock wound to zero with 43.1 seconds to go.

“All I could hear was the countdown and the coach telling me to shoot,” James said. “I got a little lucky.”

James’ shot made it 64-59.

High Point’s Shamia Brown scored on a layup with 29.7 seconds left to close the gap to 64-61.

After Khaalidah Miller missed a free throw for Georgia, the Panthers missed two potential game-tying 3-point attempts.

Hassell drew a foul after she rebounded the second miss and hit her two clinching free throws.

Mackenzie Maier, Jurica Hargraves and Brown scored 13 apiece for High Point (6-6).

“I thought we did a really good job of guarding them inside,” said High Point coach Tooey Loy. “Georgia is such a big team, and we had to limit their second shots. We did a good job, considering our size compared to theirs.”

Georgia coach Andy Landers was relieved to escape with a win in the first game after a 12-day layoff for exams, but he reiterated that the Lady Dogs continue to make repeated mistakes.

“We did what we do,” Landers said. “The things you saw are the things that we are having trouble with. They are individual things that we need to work on. A lot of them are things that are not easy to mask with team play.”

High Point hit six of its first seven 3-point shots as Georgia played from behind much of the first half. The Panthers led by as many as eight after Hargraves’ 3-pointer made it 17-9 just five minutes into the game.

“They cashed in a high percentage in that first five minutes,” Landers said. “They got a lot of great looks because we didn’t transition well from the press to the half-court defense.”

But Ronika Ramsford’s 3-pointer for Georgia gave the Lady Dogs their first lead at 22-21 with 10:05 to go in the half.
Cheyenne Parker’s layup g
ave High Point a 36-35 lead with 1:38 remaining in the half, which was the Panthers’ last lead of the game. A 3-pointer by James and a free throw by Hassell helped the Lady Dogs build a 39-36 halftime lead.