Saturday, November 30, 2013

Career Days Lead Hampton Lady Pirates Past Utah State

NORTHRIDGE, California  Freshman guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas and senior forward Alyssa Bennett each had career days on Friday, as the Hampton University women's basketball team outlasted Utah State 98-88 in the Matadome to open the Cal State Northridge Radisson Hotel Chatsworth Thanksgiving Classic.
Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) poured in a career-high 36 points on 12-for-25 shooting (and 6-for-11 from distance), while Bennett (Hampton, Va.) set career highs in points (26) and rebounds (17) in recording her third double-double of the season.

Senior guard Nicole Hamilton (Hampton, Va.) added 14 points and 12 assists.

The Lady Pirates (4-2) handed Utah State its first loss of the season. Tate-DeFreitas is the first Lady Pirate to score 30 points or more in a game since Keiara Avant netted 32 at Morgan State last season.

She also set career highs in field goals made, field goals attempted, and 3-pointers made.

Hampton led 6-3 after a Tate-DeFreitas trey – Hampton's first two baskets were 3-pointers from Tate-DeFreitas – at the 18:37 mark, but Utah State battled back to take a 15-11 lead on a 3-pointer from Stephanie Bairstow.

Lynette Johnson put the Aggies up 20-16 at the 13:58 mark with a layup, but the Lady Pirates answered with a 7-0 run to take a 23-20 lead with 11:50 left in the half following a layup from sophomore guard Ryan Jordan (Manassas, Va.).

Utah State clawed back, taking a 32-30 lead at the 7:25 mark on a layup from Franny Vaaulu, but Hampton responded with a 16-4 run, taking a 46-36 lead with 3:33 left in the half on a layup from Hamilton.

The Lady Pirates went into the half with a 51-42 lead – marking the first time since 2009 they had scored 50 points or more in the opening 20 minutes of a game.

Tate-DeFreitas had 20 points at the break.

Hampton scored the first four points of the second half, taking a 55-42 lead at the 19:10 mark of the second half on a Bennett layup. An 11-3 Utah State run cut that lead to 58-53 with 17:11 left to play, before Hampton went on an 11-2 run to take a 69-55 lead on a trey from Tate-DeFreitas with 14:16 to play.

Bennett gave Hampton its largest lead of the game with 11:53 to play, when she converted a layup to put the Lady Pirates up 76-57.

The Lady Pirates led by double digits for much of the second half, though the Aggies cut the lead to 91-82 with 1:52 left to play after a 3-pointer from Vaaulu. Hampton answered by making three of its next four free throws, as Utah State started fouling, to take a 94-82 lead with 1:04 remaining.

Another Vaaulu trey cut Hampton's lead to 96-87 with 49 seconds left, but Tate-DeFreitas hit a pair of free throws with 46 seconds left to put the game away.

Utah State missed its three field goal attempts in the final 34 seconds.

The Lady Pirates shot 46.7 percent (35-for-75) from the floor and made 11 of their 25 3-pointers (44.0 percent). Hampton also held a 50-40 edge on the glass, while also scoring 27 points off of 16 Utah State turnovers.

Hampton's 98 points were the most scored in a game in the David Six era.

Utah State (4-1) shot 43.8 percent (32-for-73) from the floor and made 12 of its 29 3-pointers (41.4 percent). Vaaulu led four Aggies in double figures with 27 points.

The Lady Pirates will play for the CSUN Thanksgiving Classic title on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. EST, taking on either Santa Clara or Cal State Northridge. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.

Box Score

COURTESY HAMPTON UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION

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