HAMPTON, Va. -- After a sluggish start, Hampton put it into overdrove on Tuesday night and pulled away for a 60-40 Big South Conference win over USC Upstate at home on Tuesday night.

The first quarter saw Hampton (9-7, 5-2) trail 9-5, but the Lady Pirates took the lead for good on a layup by Laren VanArsdale with 3:57 left to hold a 17-16 lead.  That was the start of a 7-0 spurt to close the second quarter as VanArsdale hit a pair of free throws with 2:20 left to give Hampton a 22-16 lead.

In the third, Hampton got off to a quick start pushing the lead to 10 on a 3-pointer by VanArsdale at the 7:35 mark to lead 28-18.  The advantage went from six to 10 points over the next four minutes before a 3-pointer from Ashley Bates and a layup by VanArsdale to lead 37-26 with three minutes remaining. 

After USC Upstate (6-10, 1-6) cut the lead to seven on a pair of Barrett Herring free throws with 2:17 left, Hampton scored the next five points on a 3-ball by Nylah Young and free throws from VanArsdale and Dlayla Chakolis to lead 42-30 with 37 seconds remaining in the period.

The Lady Pirates put away hope in the opening 40 seconds of the fourth scoring the first eight points as a steal and layup by VanArsdale put the hosts up 50-32 at the 9:21 mark.  That advantage grew to 24 points on a Young layup with 3:38 left to lead 60-36.

Young scored 17 of her game-high 19 points in the second half to lead Hampton,  Ashley Bates had 13 points, seven rebounds and four steals, while VanArsdale added 16 points for the Lady Pirates.  MaKayla Timmons had a career best 12 assists with five rebounds and three steals.

Hampton now goes on the road to visit Charleston Southern on Saturday at 3 pm.

For more information on Hampton University women's basketball, please contact the Office of Sports Information at 757-727-5757 or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.