HAMPTON, Va. – Former Hampton University basketball standouts Alyssa Bennett and Nicole Hamilton will continue their playing careers, as both have signed professional contracts to play overseas.

Bennett will play for Division I Waregem in Belgium, while Hamilton will play for CS Phoenix Galati in Romania.

Bennett was named MEAC Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season in 2013-14, on top of earning First Team All-MEAC honors after helping the Lady Pirates win 28 games and collect their fourth straight MEAC regular-season title and unprecedented fifth straight MEAC Tournament title.
 
She was second in the MEAC with 9.4 rebounds per game, and her 17.7 points per game ranked fifth in the conference and second on the team. Bennett was also fifth in the MEAC in field goal percentage at .456, and she had 14 double-doubles on the season.
 
The MEAC Tournament's Most Outstanding Player – who averaged 22.3 points and 15.0 rebounds during the tournament – also became the 25th Lady Pirate to eclipse the 1,000-point mark for her career, doing so on Feb. 22 at Howard.

She also grabbed her 500^th rebound on Jan. 11 at Delaware State.

Bennett finished her career at Hampton with 1,154 career points, ranking her 17^th in program history. She is also seventh in program history in career blocks with 86 – an average of 0.9 per game.

Hamilton was a First Team All-MEAC selection this past season after ranking second in the MEAC in blocked shots (2.2 per game) and third in assists (4.7 per game). She averaged 13.1 points per game in 2013-14, and she was sixth in the MEAC in assist/turnover ratio (1.2).
 
She reached the 1,000-point mark for her career on Feb. 1 at Coppin State.

Hamilton is 16^th on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,158 career points. She is also fifth in program history with 364 career assists, averaging 3.2 per contest. The guard is also Hampton’s all-time leading shot blocker, tallying 149 blocks over her four-year career, averaging 1.3 per game.

She is also seventh in program history with 136 career made 3-pointers.

Bennett and Hamilton are the latest Lady Pirates to play professional basketball overseas; prior to last year’s turmoil in Ukraine, Keiara Avant was playing professionally for Dynamo Kiev.