HAMPTON, Va. – A pair of career performances helped the Hampton University women’s basketball team withstand a second-half run on Wednesday, as the Lady Pirates bounced back with a 70-60 win over Virginia Tech at the HU Convocation Center.
It was the program’s eighth win over a “power conference” school in head coach David Six’s four-plus years at the helm.
Junior guard Kenia Cole led the Lady Pirates (11-4) with a career-high 30 points on 7-for-13 shooting – and a 12-for-14 effort from the free throw line – for her third straight double-digit scoring effort.
Redshirt-sophomore forward Brielle Ward grabbed a career-high 23 rebounds – 10 on the offensive end – and set a new school record for most rebounds in a single game in program history. Chinyere Ukoh, Keisha Beard, and Venise Frazier each held the previous mark of 22 rebounds.
Senior forward Alyssa Bennett added 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. Freshman guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas added 12 points.
Hampton held control for much of the first half, despite the Hokies holding an early 6-4 lead. The Lady Pirates responded with an 8-0 run, taking a 12-6 lead on a Ward free throw at the 13:26 mark of the first half. Hamilton then hit a trey at the 13:07 mark to give Hampton a 15-8 lead.
Monet Tellier cut that lead to 15-12 with a free throw with 12:09 left in the half, before the Lady Pirates scored the next nine points and took a 24-12 lead with 8:50 left in the half after Tate-DeFreitas hit a jumper in the paint.
The Lady Pirates led by double figures for the rest of the half, and they held their largest lead of the opening 20 minutes at the 3:36 mark, when a trey from Tate-DeFreitas put Hampton up 33-16.
Hampton led 38-23 at the half, holding the Hokies to 26.9 percent shooting (7-for-26) in the opening 20 minutes. Cole had 13 points at the half, while Ward had already grabbed 14 rebounds – which by itself would’ve been a season high.
Bennett converted a 3-point play with 14:38 left in the second half, giving Hampton a seemingly commanding 49-30 lead, continuing the momentum the Lady Pirates had carried into the intermission. But the Hokies fought back, led by Monet and Uju Ugoka, going on a 20-3 run to cut Hampton’s lead to 52-50 with 6:18 left.
But Cole answered with a 3-pointer with 5:48 left, giving the Lady Pirates a 55-50 lead and halting the Hokies’ momentum. Ugoka hit a layup with 5:02 left, cutting Hampton’s lead to 57-54, but Cole answered again – this time with a layup with 3:42 left.
Vanessa Panousis hit two free throws with 3:13 to play to make it a one-possession game, leaving Hampton with a 59-56 lead. But Bennett scored on back-to-back possessions, giving the Lady Pirates a 63-56 lead.
The Lady Pirates led by multiple possessions from then on, leading 68-58 with 52 seconds left after a pair of Tate-DeFreitas free throws. Cole added two free throws with 39 seconds left to put the Lady Pirates up 70-60.
Cole had 17 points in the second half.
The Lady Pirates shot 32.3 percent (21-for-65) from the floor and hit seven of their 21 3-pointers – four of which came from Cole. Hampton was also 21-for-35 (60.0 percent) from the free throw line and out-rebounded the Hokies 54-46.
Virginia Tech (10-3) shot 36.1 percent (22-for-61) from the floor and hit just three of 15 3-pointers (20.0 percent). The Hokies also struggled at the free throw line, going 13-for-26 (50.0 percent).
Ugoka led the Hokies with 16 points, while Tellier added 14 points.
The Lady Pirates will return to the court on Saturday, Jan. 11, when they resume MEAC play in Dover, Del. against Delaware State.