BALTIMORE, Md. – In a near-repeat of the first meeting between the two teams this season, the Hampton University women's basketball team stampeded past Morgan State 90-46 Monday evening at Hill Field House.
 
The Lady Pirates (18-4, 9-0 MEAC) out-scored the Lady Bears 51-24 in the second half.
 
Hampton picked up its eighth straight win, and the Lady Pirates have now won 39 straight games against MEAC foes (including conference tournament games) – and 25 in a row in conference play on the road.
 
Senior forward Alyssa Bennett (Hampton, Va.) led four Lady Pirates in double figures with 22 points on 7-for-17 shooting, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Freshman guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.), the reigning MEAC Rookie of the Week, and senior guard Nicole Hamilton (Hampton, Va.) each added 17 points.
 
Tate-DeFreitas and Hamilton also grabbed nine rebounds each, along with redshirt-sophomore forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.), who also scored seven points.
 
Junior guard Kenia Cole (Silver Spring, Md.) added 15 points.
 
The game was tied at 3-3 early on, as both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm, before the Lady Pirates went on a 22-5 run to take a 25-8 lead on a 3-pointer from Tate-DeFreitas with 9:11 left in the half. She added another trey at the 6:50 mark to put Hampton up 32-14.
 
Morgan State cut the lead to 32-18 on a free throw from Taylor Bond with 2:16 left in the half, but Hampton took a 39-22 lead into the locker room after a pair of Hamilton free throws with 20 seconds left in the half.
 
Tate-DeFreitas led the Lady Pirates with 11 points at the break, while Hamilton had 10 points.
 
Morgan State managed just six first-half field goals.                                   
 
Cole hit a 3-pointer with 15:53 left in the second half to give the Lady Pirates a 47-26 lead, before the Lady Bears cut the gap to 49-32 with 14:27 left on a layup from La'Quacious Adams. Hampton answered with an 18-3 run, taking a 67-35 lead with 10:03 left to play on a layup from Ward.
 
After Morgan State cut the gap below 30 points, trailing 69-40 with 8:07 left, the Lady Pirates scored 16 of the next 18 points, going up 85-42 after a 4-point play from redshirt-freshman guard Sade King (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) with 3:25 left to play.
 
King added a jumper with 1:12 left to give Hampton its largest lead of the game at 90-44.
 
Ten of Morgan State's 19 turnovers occurred in the second half. The Lady Pirates shot 48.6 percent (18-for-37) from the floor in the second half.
 
The Lady Pirates shot 40.8 percent (29-for-71) from the floor and made eight of their 20 3-pointers (40.0 percent). Hampton dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Lady Bears 53-32 – including 22-7 on the offensive end (resulting in 17 second-chance points).
 
Hampton also forced 19 Morgan State turnovers, turning them into 21 points.
 
Morgan State (2-19, 0-8 MEAC) shot just 29.8 percent (14-for-47) from the floor and made just two of its nine 3-pointers (22.2 percent).
 
Tracey Carrington led the Lady Bears with 13 points.
 
The Lady Pirates will return to the HU Convocation Center on Saturday to take on Howard at 4 p.m. For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.