MIAMI, Fla. – The defensive presence that has become a staple of the David Six era was on full display Monday afternoon at FIU Arena, as the Hampton University women’s basketball team held off Wake Forest 47-42 on the opening day of the FIU Surfing Santa Classic.
The Lady Pirates (2-9) have now won 10 games against “power conference” schools under Six.
Hampton, which set a season low in points allowed, will take on Rhode Island in the championship game of the FIU Surfing Santa Classic on Tuesday at 12 p.m. The Lady Pirates are looking to win this tournament for the second straight year.
Despite shooting 6-for-24 from the floor, junior guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas kept her double-digit scoring streak alive with a game-high 17 points. She also grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.
Sophomore forward Kaylah Lupoe added eight points, while senior guard Ryan Jordan chipped in seven points and seven rebounds. Senior guard Kristine Rose tied her career high with eight points.
Rose also grabbed a career-high five rebounds.
Hampton shot just 26.7 percent (16-for-60) from the floor and made four of 15 3-pointers (26.7 percent). But, thanks in large part to the Lady Pirates’ defense, Wake Forest committed 18 turnovers.
The Lady Pirates scored 12 points off of those turnovers.
A free throw from Lupoe had given the Lady Pirates a 39-33 lead in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, but Wake Forest used a 9-4 run to pull within one, cutting the lead to 43-42 with 3:28 remaining in the fourth quarter following a jumper from Elisa Penna.
But Tate-DeFreitas hit three of four free throws in the final 1:25, and Jordan added a free throw of her own, to push the game to its final margin. Tate-DeFreitas’ largest impact, though, came with 20 seconds left, when she skied for the offensive rebound on a layup that Jordan missed.
Tate-DeFreitas also blocked an Ariel Stephenson 3-point try with three seconds left.
Wake struggled from the get-go, missing its first five shots. In fact, the Demon Deacons’ first three points of the game came from the free throw line, and their first field goal didn’t come until the 3:11 mark of the first quarter, when Amber Long hit a trey.
Wake was held to single digits in both the first and fourth quarters.
Despite that, Milan Quinn gave the Demon Deacons a 14-13 lead with a layup at the 7:20 mark of the second quarter. It was Wake’s second lead of the first half, but the Lady Pirates answered with a 14-3 run, taking a 27-17 lead, their largest of the game, after a trey from junior guard Chanel Green with 36 seconds left in the half.
Hampton led 27-20 at the half.
Wake opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run, tying the game at 29-29 after a pair of Stephenson free throws. Stephenson also tied the game at 31-31 with a jumper at the 5:39 mark, but that was Wake’s last field goal of the quarter.
Hampton went on a 6-2 spurt to end the quarter, taking a 37-33 lead after a Tate-DeFreitas layup.
Wake Forest (8-4) struggled to a 25.5 percent effort (12-for-47) from the floor and made just two of its 12 3-pointers. The Demon Deacons also struggled at the charity stripe, going 16-for-27 (59.3 percent).
But Wake did hold a 45-44 edge on the glass.
Ataijah Taylor led the Demon Deacons with 11 points.