Hampton hangs on for third straight MEAC women's title

JERICKA JENKINS
MEAC TOURNAMENT MVP
HAMPTON UNIVERSITY LADY PIRATES

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — It came down to one last rebound, and Keiara Avant wasn’t letting anyone else have it.

Avant, Hampton University’s junior forward, secured the game’s final possession when Howard’s Tamoria Holmes missed a last-second runner as the top-seeded Lady Pirates held off No. 2 Howard 54-53 to win their third straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament championship on Saturday.

The Lady Pirates (26-4), the first Hampton team to win three consecutive women’s tournament titles and the first MEAC team to do so since Howard in 1998, will learn their NCAA tournament destination in Monday’s selection show.

“It means a lot to me and to my team, and it means a lot to my university,” said Hampton senior point guard Jericka Jenkins, named the tournament MVP. “It was great for us. We did a wonderful thing. We just made history.”

Saturday’s history was hard-fought. After Holmes’ miss, Avant wrapped both arms around the ball as Howard players tried in vain to wrest it away for the game’s final two seconds. Then she sank to the court, where she lay until celebrating teammates pulled her to her feet.

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