The Lady Pirates (10-3) led by just two at the half, but outscored the Bears 38-19 in the second half to pull away with their fifth straight win. Hampton will face either Alabama State or Georgia Tech in Monday's title game at 2 p.m.
Junior guard Kenia Cole (Silver Spring, Md.) led the Lady Pirates with a season-high 19 points, thanks to a career-high five 3-pointers and seven field goals. Freshman guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) added 16 points – 10 in the second half – seven assists, and six rebounds.
Senior guard Nicole Hamilton (Hampton, Va.) scored 13 points and dished out seven assists.
After the Lady Pirates scored the first four points of the game, Brown answered with five straight to take a 5-4 lead at the 17:05 mark after a layup from Lauren Clarke. Hampton then went on a 5-0 run of its own, going up 10-5 after a layup from senior forward Alyssa Bennett (Hampton, Va.) at the 15:33 mark.
Clarke hit a trey with 13:09 left in the half to cut Hampton's lead to 12-11, before Jordin Alexander added a layup at the 12:11 mark to give Brown a 13-12 lead. Brown led by as many as three, going up 21-18 with 9:41 left in the half after a Sophie Beutel 3-pointer.
But the Lady Pirates scored the next seven points to take a 25-21 lead at the 7:00 mark after a trey from Hamilton. Brown answered with an 8-2 run, taking a 29-27 lead with 2:41 left in the half on an Ellise Sharpe layup.
Jordin Juker hit two free throws with 1:18 left in the half to give the Bears a 31-29 lead, but the Lady Pirates closed the half with a layup from Tate-DeFreitas and a short jumper from redshirt-sophomore forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.) to take a 33-31 lead into the locker room.
Hamilton led the Lady Pirates with nine points at the half.
The Lady Pirates opened the second half with a 10-2 run, taking a 43-33 lead with 15:27 left to play after a layup from sophomore guard Ryan Jordan (Manassas, Va.). Cole added a layup, and then a 3-pointer, helping the Lady Pirates take a 48-38 lead at the 12:26 mark.
Beutel closed the gap to six, cutting Hampton's lead to 48-42 with a layup with 11:14 to play, but the Lady Pirates answered with nine straight points to break the game wide open, taking a 57-42 lead 8:11 left to play after a fastbreak layup from Cole.
Clarke hit a trey with 4:40 left to cut Hampton's lead to 62-48, but the Lady Pirates scored the next seven points to go up 69-48 with 2:26 left after a jumper from Bennett.
A layup from Tate-DeFreitas with 42 seconds left pushed the game to its final margin.
The Lady Pirates shot 40.5 percent (30-for-74) from the floor – including a 45.5 percent clip (15-for-33) in the second half – and made eight of their 26 3-pointers (30.8 percent). Hampton also held a 43-41 edge on the glass, and the Lady Pirates turned 16 Brown turnovers into 25 points.
Hampton also outscored the Bears (5-5) 38-22 in the paint.
Brown shot 32.8 percent (19-for-58) from the floor – hitting just eight of their 30 field goals (26.7 percent) in the second half – and went just 7-for-31 (22.7 percent) from behind the arc.
Clarke led Brown with 17 points.
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 ATHLETIC COMMUNICATIONS
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