ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS – The Hampton University women's basketball team controlled much of Friday's game against DePaul in the 2012 U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam, but the Blue Demons came back to take a 68-67 win.

Senior forward Keiara Avant (Chesapeake, Va.) led Hampton with 21 points and 12 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season, while redshirt-freshman forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.) also had a double-double – the first of her career – with 12 points and a team-high 14 rebounds.

Junior guard Nicole Hamilton (Hampton, Va.) added 12 points.

The Lady Pirates (4-2) led by as many as 13 in the second half, and as late as the 9:38 mark, Hampton held a 59-46 lead after Hamilton sank a pair of free throws. DePaul answered to cut the lead to five, 61-56, with 6:50 to play on a 3-pointer from Brittany Hrynko.

Junior forward Alyssa Bennett (Hampton, Va.) hit a jumper with 4:57 to play to give Hampton a 65-58 lead, but DePaul used a 6-0 run to cut that lead to 65-64 with 3:08 to play, before the Lady Pirates regained a 67-64 edge at the 2:26 mark.

Chanise Jenkins tied the game at 67-67 with 1:13 left to play with a layup, before Anna Martin hit one of two free throws with three seconds left to give DePaul the final lead.

DePaul took an 11-4 lead at the 16:24 mark after a layup from Anna Martin, before the Lady Pirates went on a 13-2 run to take a 17-13 lead with 10:27 left in the half after Bennett converted a 3-point play. Hamilton later added a 3-pointer with 8:51 left in the half to put Hampton up 20-16.

An Avant layup at the 5:33 mark gave the Lady Pirates a 28-23 lead. The Bule Demons answered with five straight points to tie the game at 28-28 with 3:27 left in the half on a Megan Podkowa 3-pointer.

Avant got three the old-fashioned way 22 seconds later to give Hampton a 31-28 lead.

Hampton led 34-31 at the break, thanks to a layup at the buzzer from Ward. Hampton matched its point total from Friday's game against South Carolina in the first half against the Blue Demons.

The Lady Pirates had 26 points in the paint in the first half to just four from DePaul. Avant led the way with 13 points and nine rebounds at the break.

Hampton shot 41.4 percent (29-for-70) from the floor on the day, but made just one of 11 3-pointers and went 8-for-13 (61.5 percent) from the free throw line.

DePaul (5-1) hit 37.9 percent (25-for-66) of its shots from the floor, while also going 9-for-32 (28.1 percent) from behind the arc. The Blue Demons out-rebounded the Lady Pirates 42-39 and got 19 points off the bench.

Jasmine Penny led DePaul with 15 points.

The Lady Pirates will conclude the 2012 Paradise Jam on Saturday, when they square off against Florida Gulf Coast at 1:15 p.m. EST. 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.