HAMPTON, Va. – Thanks to a career night from senior guard Kyani White and freshman forward Kayla Lupoe, the Hampton University women's basketball team ran past rival Howard Monday evening at the HU convocation Center, taking the 80-61 win.
 
The Lady Pirates (12-11, 8-2 MEAC) have won 14 straight against the Bison.
 
White (Manassas, Va.) dropped a career-high 28 points on 11-for-16 shooting and a 4-for-4 effort from 3-point range, all while tying her career high with seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) added 21 points and five assists.
 
Lupoe (Phoenix, Ariz.) recorded her first career double-double, notching a career-high 10 points and grabbing a career-high 10 rebounds – all while blocking a career-high six shots.
 
Redshirt junior forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds.
 
The Lady Pirates shot 40.0 percent (30-for-75) from the floor and hit six of 17 3-pointers (35.3 percent). Hampton out-rebounded Howard 50-37, and the Lady Pirates turned 22 Bison turnovers into 16 points – while outscoring Howard 40-22 in the paint.
 
After the Lady Pirates opened the game on a 6-1 run, senior guard Kenia Cole (Silver Spring, Md.) later hit a 3-pointer to give Hampton a 15-5 lead. Howard fought back to cut the lead to 15-10, before the Lady Pirates went on an 11-0 run to lead 26-10 after a White layup at the 6:00 mark.
 
An 11-4 Howard run cut the lead to 30-21 with 1:06 left in the half, but the Lady Pirates went on a 6-0 spurt, taking a 37-21 lead into the half following a fastbreak layup from Lupoe.
 
White had 15 points at the break.
 
Howard managed to cut Hampton's lead to 41-26 with 17:42 left to play, before the Lady Pirates went on a 12-2 run to take a 53-28 lead at the 15:33 mark following a jumper from White. Howard answered with a 28-13 spurt, cutting the lead to 65-56 with 6:36 left after Victoria Gonzales hit a jumper.
 
Hampton responded with a 10-2 run, taking a 75-58 lead with 2:24 left to play on a fastbreak layup from Tate-DeFreitas. White later added a pair of free throws with 1:20 left to give the Lady Pirates a 79-61 lead.
 
Freshman forward Mikayla Sayle (Hampton, Va.) scored with seven seconds left to push the game to its final margin.
 
Howard (3-20, 3-7 MEAC) shot 35.8 percent (19-for-53) from the floor and went just 4-for-15 (26.7 percent) from behind the arc.
 
Gonzales led the Bison with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
 
The Lady Pirates will be in Baltimore, Md. on Monday, Feb. 16 to take on Morgan State at 5:30 p.m. 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.