HAMPTON, Va. (Dec. 11, 2025) … Coming off capturing the inaugural HBCU Hoops Invitational title last weekend, the Hampton Pirates women's basketball team heads to Washington, D.C. to renew a long-time rivalry with Howard in the Battle of the Real HU on Saturday at noon inside CareFirst Arena.
This will be a doubleheader with the men's contest against Howard starting at 3 p.m. Both games will be on ESPN+.

ABOUT HAMPTON (6-3)
The Pirates are coming off a 2-0 weekend in Orlando, Florida winning the inaugural HBCU Hoops Invitational Tournament title. In the opening round they defeated Livingstone 82-66 and in the championship game they used a 28-7 fourth quarter to defeat Edward Waters 65-47.

In the win over Livingstone, the Pirates got 19 points from Kiki McElrath and 17 from Olivia Smith. Akilah Shelton had a season-high five blocked shots and Le'Asia Foreman hauled in 11 rebounds to aid the Hampton defense.

In the title contest, Hampton opened the fourth quarter with a blistering 28-7 run to rally from a three-point deficit for a 65-47 win. McElrath, who was named Tournament MVP, had 17 points hitting five three-pointers to lead three in double figures. Aaryn Battle had 12 points, five boards, five assists and three steals, while Kayla Lezama had 11 points. Shelton matched her season-high with another five blocked shots and Foreman had nine rebounds to lead Hampton defensively.

McElrath leads the Pirates in scoring averaging 12.3 points per game, followed closely by Lezama averaging 11.8 points per contest. In rebounding, Foreman tops the team averaging 6.9 rebounds per contest, while Battle is next at 4.1 per game.

As a team, the Pirates are averaging 65.2 points per game and allowing 55.9. On the boards, they trail 38.4-to-36.3 per game. From the field they are hitting 37.8 percent (222-of-587) and allowing opponents to hit 37.7 percent (190-of-504). From 3-point range, Hampton is 58-of-207 for 28.0 percent while the opposition is 38-of-154 for 24.7 percent. Hampton has averaged 13.9 turnovers per game and force 21.2 per contest.

Hampton leads the CAA in steals per game (10.2) and turnover margin (+5.56). They are third in scoring defense (55.9), opponent 3-point percentage (24.7), scoring margin (+9.3), three-pointers made per game (6.4), assist to turnover ratio (+1.0) and assists per game (14.2).

ABOUT HOWARD
The Bison are 7-5 after falling 76-50 at Virginia on Wednesday night and have lost four of their last five games.

Howard is topped in scoring by Zennia Thomas who leads the team in scoring (15.8 ppg), rebounding (7.3 rpg), blocked shots (12) and shares the lead in assists (22). Zoe Stewart is the other double figure scorer coming in at 12.7 points per game.

As a team, Howard is averaging 63.9 points per game and allowing 63.3 points per contest. They have wins over Providence (68-53), George Washington (62-60), Elon (56-46), Monmouth (57-44) and William & Mary (64-53) along with Fairfield (72-69) and Florida A&M (89-53).

PIRATES IN DECEMBER
In the 51-year history of Hampton University women's basketball, the Pirates are 129-135 in the month of December. On December 13, the Pirates are 2-0 having wins over Virginia Wesleyan (111-53) in 1984 and Livingstone (102-72) in 1985.

ALL-TIME VS. HOWARD
This series dates back to the 1975-76 season as Hampton holds a 33-23 lead over Howard. The Pirates are 15-7 at home against the Bison, 11-13 in Burr Gymnasium at Howard and 7-3 on neutral courts.

Howard has won the last two meetings 67-62 at Hampton on Feb. 11, 2017 and 68-63 on January 8, 2018 on Howard's campus. Prior to those games, Hampton had won 17 of the previous 18 matchups.

NEWCOMERS MAKING MARK
The scoring for the Pirates this year has seen an influx of new faces as the top five scorers are newcomers to the squad this year. The leading returning scorer is Le'Asia Foreman at 5.3 points per game.

PLAYED THEM TIGHT
Last year, the Pirates were involved in 18 games, including seven of their last 10, that were decided by 10 points or less and sported a 7-11 mark in those games.

In Hampton's Battle of the Bay win over Norfolk State, the Pirates picked up where that left off last season scoring a 57-55 win which snapped a 28-game home court winning streak for the Spartans. They pulled another two-point win on November 29 with a 58-56 victory over Buffalo.

FULL CIRCLE MOMENT
While Hampton newcomer Kayla Lezama joined the Pirates for the 2025-26 season, this isn't her first time on the Hampton campus. As a fifth-grader her AAU team played in a tournament at the Boo Williams Complex in Hampton and her coach, brought her and the team to campus to tour during their stay.

OH CAPTAIN – MY TRI-CAPTAINS
The Hampton Pirates named tri-captains for the 2025-26 season and those were seniors Kiya Dorroh, Olivia Smith and junior Kayla Lezama.

INTERESTING MATCHUPS
The Norfolk State and Delaware State games provided flashbacks for a couple of Pirates. Against Norfolk State, it was a return to Joe Echols Hall for first-year assistant coach Trinese Fox who joined the Hampton staff this year after serving two stints at Norfolk State as an assistant coach from 2020-22 and 2023-25.

The Delaware State game has Kiki McElrath going against her former team. Last year against Hampton, McElrath had 15 points going 9-for-9 from the line in a Pirates win 64-47 on Dec. 30, 2024.

NEXT UP
Hampton will return to the friendly confines of the HU Convocation Center on December 18 when they host Radford in a Kids Day contest starting at 11 a.m.