MIAMI, Fla. – The opening 20 minutes of Monday night's game against Bowling Green in the FIU Sun & Fun Classic was typical Hampton University women's basketball, as the Lady Pirates held Bowling Green to just three first-half field goals en route to a 64-53 win.
 
The Lady Pirates (4-8) snapped a three-game losing streak and will face Auburn on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in the tournament championship game at FIU Arena.
 
Sophomore guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) led the Lady Pirates with 26 points, registering her eighth 20-point effort of the season on 11-for-21 shooting and a 4-for-11 effort from behind the arc. Senior guard Kyani White (Manassas, Va.) added a season-high 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting.
 
White also had a team-high six assists, while senior guard Kenia Cole (Silver Spring, Md.) added five assists.
 
Junior guard Ryan Jordan (Manassas, Va.) grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
 
The Lady Pirates shot 44.6 percent (25-for-56) from the floor and made five of 21 3-pointers. Hampton out-rebounded Bowling Green 34-30, and the Lady Pirates turned 18 Falcon turnovers into 23 points.
 
The Falcons shot just 3-for-16 from the floor in the first half, on top of committing 14 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. In fact, Bowling Green went from the 13:26 mark to the 4:08 mark of the first half without a field goal.
 
Prior to Deborah Hoekstra's 3-pointer that ended that drought, the Lady Pirates had built up a 31-14 lead, taking that edge after a 3-pointer from Tate-DeFreitas at the 5:06 mark. Her long-range basket wrapped up a 16-8 Lady Pirates run over that span.
 
Another Tate-DeFreitas trey with 29 seconds left in the half sent Hampton into the locker room with a 36-18 lead.
 
Hampton shot 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from the floor in the first half.
 
White hit a jumper at the 18:40 mark of the second half to give the Lady Pirates a 40-18 lead, before Bowling Green went on a 14-5 run to cut the lead to 45-32 with 11:35 left to play.
 
Tate-DeFreitas ended that run with a 3-pointer at the 10:58 mark.
 
A layup from Tate-DeFreitas with 7:21 left gave Hampton a 50-36 lead, before the Falcons responded and scored the next four points to cut the lead to 50-40 after Haley Puk hit two free throws with 6:25 left to play.
 
Bowling Green cut the lead to 10 on five different occasions, including with 36 seconds left after a layup from Rachel Konieczki.
 
But White hit three free throws in the closing seconds to seal the win.
 
The Falcons (7-3) shot just 34.9 percent (15-for-43) from the floor.
 
Hoekstra led Bowling Green with 13 points.
 
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.