Tuesday, February 25, 2014

HU Lady Pirates Suffocate Cold-Shooting UMES

PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland – With Maryland Eastern Shore largely unable to hit anything offensively Monday evening, the Hampton University women's basketball team cruised to a 90-62 win at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center.

The Lady Pirates (23-4, 14-0 MEAC), on top of recording their 13th straight win, finished their regular-season road slate with a 10-3 mark (including 8-0 in conference road games).

Hampton has won its last 28 straight MEAC road games.

Freshman guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) led three Lady Pirates in double figures with 26 points – 18 of which came in the first half – while senior forward Alyssa Bennett (Hampton, Va.) added 21 points and a team-high 11 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season.

Junior guard Kenia Cole (Silver Spring, Md.) added 18 points.

Jessica Long gave UMES a 3-2 lead with a trey at the 17:54 mark of the first half, but the Lady Hawks wouldn't hit another field goal until the 8:44 mark, when Long converted a fastbreak layup. In that span, the Lady Pirates went on a 23-6 run, and they led 25-9 after a Tate-DeFreitas trey at the 10:07 mark.

All told, UMES managed just three first-half field goals, shooting 9.1 percent (3-for-33) from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. After Long's layup at 8:44, Hampton ended the first half on an 18-4 run, taking a 43-15 lead into the half after a 3-pointer from redshirt-freshman guard Sade King (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) with nine seconds left.

UMES' cold streak continued well into the second half, as the Lady Hawks didn't hit a field goal until the 14:41 mark on a layup from Shanyce Stewart. Prior to that, the Lady Pirates held a 58-25 lead after two free throws from Bennett.

Even though UMES shot 32.5 percent in the second half (13-for-40), the Lady Pirates never lost control, maintaining a 28-to-33 point advantage for much of the latter frame. The Lady Pirates' largest lead of the game came with 6:19 left, when Tate-DeFreitas hit a layup to put Hampton up 78-42.

UMES could never get any closer than within 27, cutting Hampton's lead to 87-60 with 1:04 left after a free throw from Briana Mack. Redshirt-junior guard Lauren Johnson (Cairo, Ga.) added a trey with 31 seconds left to give Hampton a 90-60 lead.

Hampton has now scored 90 or more points five times this season.

The Lady Pirates shot 42.9 percent (27-for-63) from the floor and hit nine of their 26 3-pointers (34.6 percent). Hampton turned UMES over 17 times, resulting in 13 points.

UMES (7-18, 3-10 MEAC) shot just 21.6 percent (16-for-74) from the floor, but out-rebounded Hampton 61-47.

Long led UMES with 19 points.

The Lady Pirates return home on Saturday to take on Norfolk State at 4 p.m. 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 ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS

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