MIAMI, Florida – It took an extra five minutes, but the Hampton University women's basketball team defended its FIU post-Christmas tournament crown on Tuesday, defeating Rhode Island 59-54 at the FIU Arena in the FIU Surfing Santa Classic title game.The Lady Pirates (3-9) have won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Junior guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas dropped a season-high 33 points to lead the Lady Pirates, going 10-for-33 from the floor and making five 3-pointers. She was also a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line, on top of grabbing six rebounds and registering two steals.
Senior guard Ryan Jordan added a season-high 14 points on 5-for-11 shooting. Sophomore forward Kaylah Lupoe tied her career high with 13 rebounds.
Tate-DeFreitas was named Tournament MVP for the second straight year, while Jordan was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Hampton struggled from the floor, shooting just 27.4 percent (20-for-73) from the floor for the game. The Lady Pirates made eight of their 24 3-pointers (33.3 percent), and they were a season-best 11-for-12 (91.7 percent) from the free throw line.
The Lady Pirates out-rebounded Rhode Island 44-38 and scored 16 points off of 22 Ram turnovers.
Symone Bullard sank a layup with 44 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 50-50, and the Lady Pirates had two looks in the final second – one from Tate-DeFreitas and the other from Lupoe. But both shots were off the mark, sending Hampton into its second overtime game of the season.
The Rams scored the first four points of the overtime, including a trey from Charlise Wilson, to take a 54-50 lead. But that was Rhode Island's only field goal of overtime, and the Lady Pirates scored the last nine points of the game.
Tate-DeFreitas scored seven of those points, including four free throws in the final 20 seconds to ice the game.
Lupoe's stickback layup with 59 seconds left gave Hampton its first lead of the extra session.
Rhode Island opened up an 11-3 lead in the first quarter after a 3-pointer from Kallie Banker, and Morgan Johnson hit a trey at the 2:44 mark to give the Rams a 16-5 lead. A layup from Samantha Tabakman at the 1:39 mark put Rhode Island up 18-7.
The Rams led 20-9 after the first quarter, but the Lady Pirates scored the first five points of the second quarter to cut the lead to 20-14 after two free throws from Tate-DeFreitas. Rhode Island built the lead back up to 24-14, before Hampton went on an 11-1 run to tie the game at 25-25 after a fastbreak layup from Tate-DeFreitas.
The Rams closed the half on a 7-0 run to take a 32-25 lead at the break.
Tate-DeFreitas had 15 points at the half.
Hampton held Rhode Island to nine points in both the third and fourth quarters, and the Lady Pirates opened the third quarter with an 8-2 run – cutting the lead to 34-33 at the 4:26 mark with a jumper from Tate-DeFreitas.
Hampton's first lead came with 2:54 left in the third quarter, when redshirt-junior forward Shaleise Boyd converted a putback to give the Lady Pirates a 37-36 lead.
A jumper from Jordan at the 2:10 mark put Hampton up 39-38.
Kiara Palmer converted a 3-point play with 1:01 left in the quarter to give Rhode Island a 41-39 lead, but that was the Rams' last field goal until the 3:44 mark of the fourth quarter. An 8-3 Hampton run ensued in the interim, giving the Lady Pirates a 47-44 lead with 4:08 left in regulation following a Jordan jumper.
A 6-3 Rhode Island run closed the fourth quarter and forced overtime.
The Rams (6-6) shot 36.7 percent (18-for-49) from the floor, despite making just seven field goals in the second half and only one in the overtime session. Rhode Island went 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) from behind the arc and made just 13 of 19 free throws (68.4 percent).
Wilson and Tabakman each had 14 points for the Rams.
The Lady Pirates will be in DeLand, Fla. on Friday to take on Stetson at 2:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN3. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the officialwww.hamptonpirates.com.
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