Game Notes

HAMPTON, Va. – The Hampton University women's basketball team, fresh off its second straight Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament championship, will face No. 4 seed Kentucky on Saturday in Albuquerque, N.M. in the first round of the 2011 NCAA Div. I Women's Basketball Tournament.

The game is scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m. EST and will be televised live on ESPN2. The games will be played in "The Pit" on the campus of the University of Mexico. Session ticket booklets, that include all three games over the weekend, are $28 for adults and $18 for students.

Single-session tickets are $17 for adults and $10 for students. Tcikets are available through the New Mexico ticket office at 1-800-965-HOWL or online at https://www.unmtickets.com/ncaa_2011.aspx.

The Lady Pirates erupted in jubilation when their name was unveiled on the ESPN broadcast in the Student Center Ballroom. Hampton (25-6) earned a No. 13 seed in the Spokane Region, the highest-ever seed for a MEAC school in the 64-team championship format.

For second-year head coach David Six, the seeding was validating.

“It shows the committee noticed our body of work,” he said. “They saw that we were strong all year, that we had strong wins. They saw that we can win at home, win on the road. They saw how we dominated our conference (going 15-1 in the MEAC).”

The Lady Pirates, winners of 13 straight, boast regular-season wins over Colonial Athletic Association champion James Madison (a 69-64 decision to open the season in Harrisonburg, Va.) and a convincing home win over Florida.

It was the Lady Pirates' first win over a school from the Southeastern Conference, but they promised to not let it be the last.

“Let's get us some Wildcat,” senior forward Quanneisha Perry (Decatur, Ga.) said to raucous applause.

Hampton is making its second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament; the Lady Pirates were a No. 15 seed last season, falling to No. 2 seed Duke 72-37 in Durham, N.C. The Lady Pirates beat Howard 61-42 on Saturday in Winston-Salem, N.C. to win their second straight MEAC Tournament title and earn the automatic NCAA bid.

Perry, the MEAC Defensive Player of the Year, was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, while junior guard Jericka Jenkins (Lancaster, Texas), a Second Team All-MEAC selection who is second in the nation in assists, was also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Six, the MEAC Coach of the Year, was the tournament's Most Outstanding Coach.

Kentucky (24-8) earned an at-large bid out of the SEC. The Wildcats had their five-game winning streak snapped on March 6 in the SEC title game with a 90-65 loss to Tennessee. Kentucky is led by senior forward Victoria Dunlap, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, who leads the conference in scoring (17.0 points a game), field goal percentage (43.3 percent) and steals (3.2 per game). Dunlap also pulls down a team-high 8.8 rebounds per game.

Sophomore guard A'dia Matheis is second on the team in scoring, pouring in 13.0 points a game.

The Lady Pirates have never faced Kentucky and are 1-6 all-time against schools from the SEC.

The seeding was balanced by the distance the Lady Pirates have to travel – bracket projections beforehand had Hampton traveling to Charlottesville, Va., College Park, Md. or Durham, N.C. – but Six gladly accepted the trade-off.

“It's all about changing the culture,” Six said. “People look at me like I'm crazy when I say this, but I see a day when Hampton knows it's in (the NCAA Tournament) before the MEAC Tournament begins.

“This is another step in that process.”

For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.