KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Dec. 6, 2025) … A devastating 28-7 fourth quarter explosion helped propel Hampton to a 65-47 win over Edward Waters to capture the inaugural HBCU Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament title on Saturday at Disney Wide World of Sports.

"I am proud of the resiliency of my team this weekend. Credit to Edward Waters, they do a really good job and those players played hard and never let up. We will give them a couple days with exams this week and prepare for our next matchup," said Hampton Head Coach Tamisha Augustin.

Tournament MVP Kiki McElrath hit two big three-pointers in the final quarter as she paced the Pirates with 17 points to lead three in double figures. Joining her in that category was Aaryn Battle with 12 points, five rebounds and five assists along with Kayla Lezama with 11 points.

Hampton (6-3) entered the final period down 40-37 as Akilah Shelton converted a pair of free throws with 35 seconds left. She then blocked a last second Edward Waters jumper to keep the margin at three points heading into the final period.

In the fourth, Xaniya Jackson pushed the Tigers advantage to 42-37 after opening the quarter with a jumper. Lezama scored five straight points with a three-pointer off a Battle feed leveling the contest at 42 at the 8:34 mark.

Following another Jackson bucket, Battle buried a triple from the wing to put Hampton up 45-44 with 7:18 on the clock. That started a 12-1 burst to expand the lead to 57-45 following a pair of Battle free throws with 1:52 remaining.

McElrath scored the final eight points for Hampton as she hit a jumper and a pair of three pointers to round out the scoring. Battle had 10 of her 12 points in the final stanza as well.
Defensively, the Pirates held Edward Waters to 6-for-30 in the second half (20%) and a frigid 2-16 (12.5%) in the final quarter. Shelton recorded her second straight career-high with four blocked shots as three of those were in the decisive fourth.

Hampton started the game very cold as the upstart Tigers jumped to a 10-4 lead on a Tan Brown layup and trailed 13-6 following a Nia Brown three-pointer with 2:12 left in the opening quarter.

The Pirates worked back into the contest tying it at 18-all on a Taylor Gibson turnaround jumper with 2:25 left in the half. Edward Waters closed the quarter on an 11-2 run capped by a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Amelya Hatch for a 29-20 halftime lead.

Hampton is now off for final exams and will be back in action on December 13 for a noon matchup with Howard at CareFirst Arena in Washington, D.C. The win gives Hampton a three-game winning streak which is their longest since 2019-20.