Women's Basketball MEAC Media Relations

Hampton Lady Pirates Draw Stanford In NCAA First Round

The Hampton University women's basketball team, fresh off its third straight conference tournament championship, will square off against Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at 1:40 p.m. at the Ted Constant Convocation Center.

The game will be televised live on ESPN2.

The Lady Pirates (26-4), winners of 11 straight, were given a No. 16 seed in the Fresno Region after beating Howard 54-53 on Saturday for their third straight MEAC Tournament crown - to go along with their second straight MEAC regular-season championship. Stanford (31-1) picked up the top seed in the region after sweeping the Pac-12 regular season and tournament titles.

This will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

This will be the Lady Pirates' sixth overall appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament; last season, Hampton traveled to Albuquerque, N.M. as a No. 13 seed, the best seed for a MEAC team in the 64-team era, and took No. 4 Kentucky into overtime before falling 66-62

In 2010, Hampton was a No. 15 seed, falling at Duke 72-37.

Stanford is ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today Coaches Polls, with its only loss of the season coming on Nov. 21 at Connecticut. The Cardinals have won 28 straight games, including a 77-62 win over Cal in Saturday's Pac-12 title game.

Senior forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike leads Stanford in both scoring (21.8 ppg) and rebounding (10.5 rpg), while younger sister Chiney Ogwumike, a sophomore forward, is second in both categories - averaging 15.8 points a contest and 10.3 rebounds per night.

Stanford is averaging 76.9 points per game on offense, while giving up 54.7 points a night.

No. 8 seed West Virginia and No. 9 seed Texas will also be in Norfolk, playing their first-round match-up at 11:10 a.m. The winner of that game will face either Stanford or Hampton on Monday in the second round.

For the complete story, visit www.hamptonpirates.com