HAMPTON, Va. (Nov. 25, 2024) … Falling behind by 14 points at halftime, Hampton (1-4) battled on even terms in the second half, falling to Eastern Kentucky (4-3) 69-55 before 313 fans at the Hampton Convocation Center.
The ball hawking Lady Pirates forced 19 turnovers and finished with eight steals while blocking three shots. Jasha Clinton led the Lady Pirates with 11 points and Le'Asia Foreman finished with 10. CeCe Thomas added eight points, four rebounds and three assists, while Jenae Dublin had seven points, six rebounds, and three steals.
Eastern Kentucky shot 42.8 percent from the field while outrebounding the Lady Pirates 38-23. The Colonels scored 40 points in the paint. Kaitlyn Costner and Jasmine McGinnis-Taylor each finished with 18 points for the Colonels.
Hampton took a quick 6-4 lead in the opening quarter. But Eastern Kentucky reeled off 11 straight points to take a 15-6 lead with 3:16. A three-pointer by Dublin and two free throws by Thomas cut the deficit to 15-11 at the end of the opening quarter.
Eastern Kentucky tallied the first four points of the second quarter to lead 19-11 but baskets by Malaka Cobb and Thomas made it 19-15. Leading 27-21, the Colonels went on a 9-0 run to boost the lead to 36-21. EKU led 38-24 at intermission.
The Colonels scored 24 of their 38 first-half points in the paint while shooting 53.8 percent from the field and outrebounding the Lady Pirates 31-21. EKU's Coster led all scorers with 10 points and Hampton's Thomas had seven first-half points.
In the third quarter, the Lady Pirates fell behind by as many as 20 before closing the gap to 56-39 by the end of the period. Coach Tamisha Augustin juggled the line-up with 12 player seeing action by the third quarter and eight reaching the scoring column.
Costner's three-pointer and a layup by Alice Racanati upped the Eastern Kentucky lead to 63-40, its biggest lead of the game. But Hampton tallied eight consecutive points starting with Foreman's layup to make the score 63-48 with 4:25 to go. Following an Eastern Kentucky bucket, Hampton scored four more points to close to 65-52 on a layup by Clinton. The two teams traded baskets down the stretch with the Colonels coming out on top 69-55.
The Lady Pirates return to action on Dec. 1 against SEC foe Georgia.
