Bennett Leads Hampton Lady Pirates Past Southern Miss

COURTESY HAMPTON UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

HAMPTON, Virginia --  Senior forward Alyssa Bennett had a career day against Southern Miss on Saturday the HU Convocation Center, as she led the Lady Pirates to a 74-58 win.

Dating back to last season, the Lady Pirates (2-0) have won 21 of their last 22 games, and they have won 16 straight games at home.

Bennett (Hampton, Va.) scored a career-high 25 points on 11-for-14 shooting, while also grabbing six rebounds and a team-high four steals. Senior guard Nicole Hamilton (Hampton, Va.) added 16 points, while sophomore guard Ryan Jordan (Manassas, Va.) poured in 11 points off the bench.

Redshirt-sophomore forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.

Freshman guard Malian Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) tied the game at 5-5 with a 3-pointer at the 17:28 mark of the first half, before Bennett hit a layup at the 16:55 mark to put the Lady Pirates up 7-5. Junior guard Kenia Cole (Silver Spring, Md.) hit a trey with 14:56 left in the half to put Hampton up 14-9.

Southern Miss scored the next five points to tie the game at 14-14, before the Lady Pirates answered with an 8-0 run, going up 22-14 on a Hamilton jumper at the 11:24 mark.

Hampton's largest lead of the half came with 4:58 left, when Bennett scored on a breakaway layup to give the Lady Pirates a 33-22 lead. The Golden Eagles scored the next six points, cutting the lead to 33-28 at the 3:34 mark.

A Bennett layup with 1:50 left in the half put Hampton up 39-30, but Southern Miss closed the gap to 39-34 heading into the intermission. Bennett had 17 points at the break.

Brittany Dinkins cut Hampton's lead to 39-37 on the first basket of the second half, a 3-pointer with 19:36 left, but the Lady Pirates scored the next 12 points, taking a 51-37 lead with 13:20 left in the contest after a jumper in the paint by Jordan.

Hampton later led 53-42 with 12:09 left after Bennett hit a pair of free throws, but Southern Miss answered with an 8-0 run, cutting the lead to 53-50 with 8:49 to play after a jumper from Ashley Folsom. The Golden Eagles closed within three again, 55-52 at the 7:55 mark, after Kierra Jordan hit two free throws.

A 6-0 spurt from the Lady Pirates grew the lead to 61-52 after sophomore center Shaleise Boyd (Virginia Beach, Va.) scored in the paint. Boyd later scored on a layup with 4:00 to play to put Hampton back up by double digits, 63-53.

Jordan hit a jumper with 2:01 left to put the Lady Pirates up 67-53, and a fastbreak layup from Tate-DeFreitas with 1:29 remaining gave Hampton a 69-55 lead.

Five made free throws down the stretch put the game out of reach.

The Lady Pirates shot 44.1 percent (26-for-59) from the floor, and Hampton out-rebounded Southern Miss 47-37. Hampton also scored 24 points off of 19 Southern Miss turnovers.

The Golden Eagles (2-1) shot just 35.5 percent (22-for-62) from the floor and hit just four of 19 3-pointers.

The Lady Pirates will kick off a five-game road trip on Wednesday, when they head to Baton Rouge, La. to take on LSU at 8 p.m. EST. 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