Game Notes

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Hampton University women's basketball team will continue its run in the Women's NIT in second-round action on Tuesday, taking on West Virginia at 7 p.m. in the WVU Coliseum.
 
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Last Time Out: The Lady Pirates (19-12) opened the WNIT with a 45-42 win over Drexel on Thursday in the Daskalakis Athletic Center. Junior guard Ryan Jordan (Manassas, Va.) led the Lady Pirates with 19 points and nine rebounds, while sophomore guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) added 13 points and redshirt junior forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.) grabbed 13 rebounds.
 
The Opponent: West Virginia (19-14), in its 14th season under head coach Mike Carey, opened the WNIT with an 84-61 win over Buffalo on Thursday. Bria Holmes leads the Mountaineers in scoring, averaging 19.2 points per game, while Averee Fields is averaging 13.0 points and 6.6 rebounds a contest. Lanay Montgomery is the team's top rebounder with 7.4 boards a game.
   
The Series: This will be the first-ever meeting between Hampton and West Virginia.
   
Lady Pirates Against the Big XII: on is 2-4 all-time against schools currently in the Big XII. The Lady Pirates are 0-1 against Iowa State, 1-1 against Kansas, 1-1 against Kansas State (including a 66-46 loss earlier this season), and 0-1 against Texas. Hampton has never faced Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech, or West Virginia.
    
Lady Pirates on the Road: The Lady Pirates were 10-3 in true road games last season, and they closed the 2013-14 campaign with eight straight wins in true road contests. Hampton is 62-26 in road games under head coach David Six after a 45-42 win over Drexel this past Thursday, and heading into the 2014-15 campaign, the Lady Pirates have won at least 10 road games in each of the last four seasons.
     
Lady Pirates Picked to Finish Second: Hampton had been picked to finish second in the MEAC this season in a preseason poll voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information directors. The Lady Pirates responded by going 14-2 in conference play, winning their fifth straight MEAC regular-season title.
 
Tate-DeFreitas, Cole Honored: Tate-DeFreitas was named Preseason First Team All-MEAC by the league's head coaches and sports information directors, while senior guard Kenia Cole (Silver Spring, Md.) was named Preseason Third Team All-MEAC. It was yet another honor for Tate-DeFreitas, the 2013-14 MEAC Rookie of the Year, Second Team All-MEAC selection, VaSID Rookie of the Year, and VaSID Second Team All-State selection.
 
Six Chasing History: In five-plus seasons with the Lady Pirates, Six has won 146 games, making him the program's all-time winningest coach at the Div. I level – surpassing Patricia Cage-Bibbs. The record-breaking win came at Penn on Dec. 5.
 
Lady Pirates Against Power Conferences: In Six's five-plus seasons at the helm, the Lady Pirates have enjoyed success against the six so-called "power conferences:" the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac-12, and SEC. After a 44-42 win over Auburn on Dec. 30, the Lady Pirates are 9-17 against teams in these six conferences — including a 2-3 mark last season.
 
Tate-DeFreitas MEAC Player of the Year: After being named the MEAC Rookie of the Year last season, has been named the MEAC Player of the Year. She is the second Hampton player in the last three years to be given the honor (Keiara Avant, 2012-13), and Tate-DeFretias leads the MEAC in scoring — and ranks 14th in the nation — with 21.3 points per contest. The five-time MEAC Player of the Week has scored 20 or more points in nine of her last 12 games, including a career-high 39 at Howard on Feb. 28. Tate-DeFreitas eclipsed the 1,000-point mark  for her career on Jan. 26 with a 37-point effort at South Carolina State, becoming the 26th player in program history to reach that milestone.
 
Ward Crashed the Glass: The Lady Pirates played 33 games in 2013-14, and in 13 of those games, Ward grabbed double-digit rebounds — including a school-record 23 against Virginia Tech on Jan. 1. She was second on the team with 8.3 rebounds per game (fourth in the MEAC), and she pulled down 11 boards in a loss at UC Santa Barbara on Nov. 26. She also grabbed 15 rebounds against North Carolina A&T, 13 rebounds at Drexel on Dec. 18, as well as 12 each against Kansas State and Delaware State. She was key in the Lady Pirates' MEAC Tournament championship game against Coppin State, grabbing 10 rebounds and scoring 10 points for her lone double-double of the season.
 
Cole Dishing it Out: Cole, who was a Preseason Third Team All-MEAC selection, currently leads the MEAC in assist/turnover ratio and ranks second in assists. In her last 21 games of 2013-14, Cole averaged 13.0 points per contest — including her career-best 30-point effort against Virginia Tech on Jan. 1. Cole also had 19 points against Brown on Dec. 29, and in her last 21 games, Cole is 49-for-125 (.392) from 3-point range — and 83-for-210 (.395) from the floor.
 
Jordan Named Third Team All-MEAC: Jordan was selected Third Team All-MEAC by the league's head coaches and sports information directors, in large part because she ranks seventh in the MEAC in offensive rebounds, averaging 3.0 per game. Jordan is second on the team in rebounds with 5.9 per contest, and she had a double-double at South Carolina State on Jan. 26, scoring a career-high 22 points and grabbing 12 boards. She had a career-high 14 rebounds at DePaul on Dec. 22. She had 19 points and nine rebounds in Thursday's WNIT first-round win at Drexel.
  
Loaded With Transfers: Of the seven newcomers currently on the Lady Pirates roster, four of them come from other Div. I schools. Senior guard Kyani White (Manassas, Va.) transferred over from East Carolina, while junior guard Kristine Rose (Miramar, Fla.) comes over from Xavier and redshirt junior forward Lindsay Williams (Bowie, Md.) was at Mount St. Mary's before heading to Anne Arundel Community College. In addition, senior guard Jackie Marshall (Hackensack, N.J.) played at Iona.
 
All They Do is Win: The Lady Pirates came into the 2014-15 season with the best winning percentage among all Div. I programs in the commonwealth of Virginia, sitting at .784 (127-35) in Six's first five years at the helm. Hampton has won 20 games or more in each of Six's five seasons and were on an 18-game winning streak, the fourth-longest in the nation, prior to their NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan State.
 
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.