SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Hampton University women's basketball team overcame a 10-point halftime deficit Tuesday night at The Thunderdome, but it wasn't enough as UC-Santa Barbara escaped with a 66-62 win.

The Lady Pirates fell to 3-2 on the season.

Senior forward Alyssa Bennett (Hampton, Va.) led the Lady Pirates with 23 points – 21 of which came in the second half – and a career-high 16 rebounds for her second double-double of the season. Freshman guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) added 14 points.

Senior guard Nicole Hamilton (Hampton, Va.) chipped in 10 points and had a team-high six assists, while redshirt-sophomore forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed 11 boards.

Bennett gave the Lady Pirates a 58-54 lead with 4:16 left to play after hitting a jumper, before UCSB scored the next four points to tie the game at 58-58 on a pair of Nicole Nesbit free throws with 2:27 left. Bennett hit another jumper with 2:14 left to put Hampton up 60-58.

Destini Mason gave the Gauchos a 61-60 lead with 1:15 left, converting a 3-point play, before Nesbit hit two free throws with 19 seconds left to put UCSB up 63-60. Bennett cut the lead to 63-62 with 14 seconds left with a jumper, but UCSB hit three of its next four free throws to clinch the win.

The Lady Pirates took a 16-9 lead with 12:39 left in the first half on a Bennett jumper – her only two points of the first half, before UCSB went on a 16-2 run to take a 25-18 lead on a jumper from Nesbit at the 5:19 mark.

Sophomore guard Blake Jenkines (Clarksville, Tenn.) ended the run with a layup at the 4:34 mark, cutting the lead to 25-20, before the Gauchos closed the half on a 9-4 run to go into the locker room with a 34-24 lead.

Tate-DeFreitas and Hamilton led the Lady Pirates with eight points each in the first half.

Hampton scored seven of the first eight points in the second half, closing the gap to 35-31 on a stickback from Ward. The gap hovered between four and six points for the next several minutes before Mason gave UCSB a 39-33 lead with a layup at the 15:39 mark.

An 8-0 Hampton run gave the Lady Pirates a 41-39 lead with 13:43 to play after a layup from Hamilton.

Bennett later hit a jumper at the 9:43 mark to put the Lady Pirates up 45-41, and she added a 3-pointer with 7:56 left to give Hampton a 49-45 lead. When Nesbit hit a trey with 6:28 left to put UCSB up 50-49, it kicked off a sequence that saw five lead changes and a tie.

The Lady Pirates shot 39.1 percent (25-for-64) from the floor and made five of their 18 3-pointers – but went just 7-for-14 from the free throw line. Hampton shot 45.7 percent (16-for-35) from the floor in the second half.

Hampton held a 46-30 edge on the glass.

UCSB (2-2) shot 42.0 percent (21-for-50) from the floor and went 20-for-25 from the free throw line. The Gauchos also turned 17 Hampton turnovers into 21 points.

Mason led UCSB with 23 points and eight rebounds, while Nesbit added 11 points.

The Lady Pirates will be back in action on Friday, when they open the Cal State-Northridge Thanksgiving Classic against Utah State at 8 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.