WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 13, 2025) … For the first meeting between Hampton and Howard in women's basketball since 2018, the game did not fall short of the hype.

A pair of April Edwards free throws with nine seconds left killed a Hampton 18-point rally in the second half as Howard took a 64-60 victory at CareFirst Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Howard scored the first four points before a 3-ball from Aaryn Battle got Hampton on the board at 4-3 with 6:51 left. Another four points from the Bison pushed the lead to 8-3 but Olivia Smith dialed up a 3-pointer trimming the margin to 8-6. A pair of Smith hfree throws evened the contest 8-8.

Aisha Dabo regained a loose ball and threw up an off-balanced jumper to give Hampton its first lead at 10-8. The scoring picked up after the initial media timeout as Howard scored the final six points of the opening period as a Zoe Stewart driving layup put the Bison up 17-13 after one period.

Howard continued that run to start the second period as consecutive three-pointers from Zoe Stewart and Destiny Byrum-Johnson pushed the advantage to 23-15 forcing a Hampton timeout at 7:16 of the period.

The lead grew to as much as 13 points, before Hampton trimmed the margin to seven on a Kiki McElrath layup with 2:02 left for a 31-24 deficit. A pair of Battle free throws snapped an 8-0 Howard run as Hampton trailed 39-26 at the half.

Hampton shot 24% (6-of-25) from the field in the first half and 25% (3-of-12) from 3-point range. They kept themselves in the game going 11-of-13 (84.6%) from the line in the opening 20 minutes.

A Nile Miller putback gave Howard its largest lead at 46-28 with 6:41 left in the third.  Hampton methodically chipped back in cutting the margin to 49-41 on a Lezama three-pointer with 110 seconds left. After a loose ball scramble, McElrath found a wide-open Le'Asia Foreman for a layup to make it 51-43. Foreman went 1-for-2 from the line and Battle went 2-for-2 in the final 25 seconds of the third as Hampton pulled back to 53-46 after three.

Howard took the lead to 60-52 following a pair of Zennia Thomas free throws but Hampton's pressure forced a Le'Asia Foreman layup off a Lezama feed and steal to make it 60-54 at the three-minute mark. Foreman snagged a rebound and found Battle for a three-pointer to make it 60-57 with 2:17 remaining. McElrath hit a pullup jumper with 15.8 seconds left to pull the margin to 62-60, but Edwards' free throws gave the final margin.

Battle paced Hampton with 16 points and a career-high nine rebounds. McElrath and Lezama added 12 points apiece. Hampton outrebounded Howard 37-33 and went 25-of-31 from the foul line. Thomas paced Howard with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

With a 6-4 record through 10 games, that is the best 10-game start for Hampton since they went 7-3 in 2013-14.

Hampton will return home for a Thursday 11 a.m. game against Radford for Kids Day.