Saturday, February 16
Hampton, VA
4 p.m.
Hampton University
61
vs
64
South Carolina State
LADY PIRATES FALL TO S.C. STATE, 64-61
2.16.08 | Women's Basketball
HAMPTON, Va. – After two consecutive weeks on the road, the Hampton University Lady Pirates basketball team was back at home to take on the Lady Bulldogs of South Carolina State on Saturday, in a game designated as “Think Pink Night.” Unfortunately for the home team, they came up on the short end of a 63-61 game that went down to the wire.
The loss dropped HU’s record to 13-10 overall and 7-4 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, while S.C. State jumped to 9-13 overall and 6-5 in the MEAC.
“Think Pink Night” is a national campaign in support of breast cancer awareness. It was started by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association two years ago and Hampton is one of more than 900 schools nationwide participating in the campaign this year.
In their game against the visiting SCSU Lady Bulldogs, the Lady Pirates were hopeful of meeting the same fate that they had on January 19, when they defeated S.C. State on its home turf in Orangeburg. This time around, however, they wouldn’t be so fortunate.
The Lady Pirates jumped out to an early 8-0 lead before enjoying their biggest lead of the game, a nine-point advantage at 15-6 with 14:05 left before halftime. But S.C. State steadily chipped away at the Lady Pirates’ lead, ultimately taking their first lead of the contest at 21-20 when Brittany Baity hit a jumper at the 7:08 mark.
The Lady Bulldogs went on to lead by as many as five points at 29-24, but Hampton went on a 6-to-2 run to narrow their deficit to one point at 31-30, which was the score at halftime.
The Lady Pirates then started the second half as hot as they did the first, scoring the first seven points of the half and taking what would be their biggest lead of the period, a six-point advantage at 37-31 with 17:53 to play. HU’s surge was keyed by Rachel Butler, who scored four quick points in that span.
The Lady Bulldogs then mounted a streak of their own, outscoring Hampton 15-to-6 and taking regaining the lead for the first time in the second half at 45-43 with 12:56 on the game clock. SCSU led until the 6:25 mark, when Ashlee Finley scored on a layup, giving the Lady Pirates their final lead of the night at 52-51.
SCSU quickly increased their lead to five again with less than three minutes to play, but the Lady Pirates mounted a rally that cut the Lady Bulldogs’ lead to one point at 62-61 with 0:49 on the clock. Then, trailing 64-61 and in possession of the ball with two seconds left, a desperation three-point shot by Butler was no good.
HU head coach Walter Mebane said that despite the loss, his Lady Pirates are still not out of the MEAC championship hunt.
“We just have to take it one game at a time,” said Mebane. “We certainly thought at the beginning at the season that we’d be in championship contention and even today were not out of it.
“We have to put an exclamation point on Monday’s game and worry about the rest of the games as they approach,” added Mebane, looking ahead to Monday’s home game against Winston-Salem State University.
Leading the way for the Lady Pirates were Chinyere Ukoh, who scored 17 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, and Quanneisha Perry, who added 14 points. Butler scored nine points on the night.
Four players scored in double-figures for SCSU, including Jenell Moore and Marie Reid, who netted 16 points apiece. Sophilia Hipps added 15 points for the Lady Bulldogs and Baity added 13.
The Lady Pirates’ Monday night game with Winston-Salem State will tip off at 6 p.m., with a game between the schools’ men’s team following at 8 p.m.
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