ELON, N.C. ( Jan. 4, 2026) … The Hampton Pirates trimmed a 22-point second quarter deficit to four midway in the third but couldn't pull closer as they fell 84-75 at Elon in a Coastal Athletic Association women's basketball matchup inside the Schar Center on Sunday afternoon.

The turnover bug hit Hampton (7-7, 1-1) out the gate with six turnovers before the first media timeout. Kayla Lezama opened the scoring with a three-ball from the right wing and Elon (6-8, 1-1) answered with eight straight points as Lanae' Corbett had consecutive buckets to put the host up 8-3 with 7:40 on the clock.

Aisha Dabo scored on a jumper before a couple Pirate turnovers enabled the Phoenix to push the advantage to 12-4 after a steal and layup from Corbett. Kamry Doty scored eight straight points for the Phoenix with a pair of three-pointers and a driving layup to give the Phoenix a 25-10 lead after one.

Lezama opened the second period with a three-pointer and Aaryn Battle matched that with one at the 7:23 mark to cut the deficit to 33-16. Hampton went on a 6-0 spurt heading into the second quarter media timeout at 4:52 as Le'Asia Foreman had a layup off a Battle steal and feed, while Battle had a coast-to-coast layup to bring Hampton to 38-22.

Foreman with a pair of layups off feeds from Battle and Lezama to cut the deficit to 40-28. Those layups helped propel a 9-3 burst in the final 3:44 of the second quarter as Lezama hit a pair of free throws to pull Hampton to down 43-33 into halftime.

Elon was a blistering 16-of-20 to start the game from the floor but closed the half 2-for-13 as Corbett scored 14 points and Doty added 11.

The hosts opened the second half on a 7-2 burst to lead 50-35 following a Tyana Walker triple with 8:26 left in the third. McElrath snapped that skid going 5-for-6 from the line and then drilled a pullup triple to cut the margin to single digits at 54-45 with 6:35 remaining.

Janaye Walker took a lob pass from Aisha Dabo and made a jumper to trim the margin to 56-49. On her three-point play attempt, Lezama grabbed the rebound and converted a three-point play to pull Hampton to 56-52. A Doty triple pushed the hosts margin back to seven at 59-52. McElrath had 15 of Hampton's 22 points in the third quarter going 9-for-10 from the line as the Pirates trailed 63-55 after three quarters.

Hampton made a last ditch burst going on an 8-0 run on consecutive triples from Lezama and a Battle steal and layup to trail 78-73 with 66 seconds left. Ashanti Fox scored on a stepback jumper for Elon and Walker added a layup to pull Hampton to 80-75 with 33 seconds remaining, but that was as close as the Pirates got in the final stanza as Fox and Ashlee Shaw made a pair of free throws each for the final margin.
 
Lezama paced Hampton with a career-high 23 points, while McElrath added 18 going a career-high 9-for-10 from the line and Battle had 11 points and a career-high matching eight assists. Walker had her best game of her freshman campaign with eight points and seven rebounds.

Hampton returns to the friendly confines of the Convocation Center on January 11 for a 2 p.m. tip against Charleston.