SAVANNAH, Ga. – Saturday afternoon brought an unfamiliar feeling to the Hampton University women's basketball team, as the Lady Pirates dropped their first MEAC game in almost three full years, falling 61-55 to Savannah State in Tiger Arena.
 
It was Hampton's first loss to a MEAC foe since Jan. 28, 2012, when Coppin State defeated the Lady Pirates 69-66 in overtime at the HU Convocation Center. The Lady Pirates had won 54 straight games against MEAC opponents, including tournament games.
 
Hampton's last MEAC loss on the road came in the 2010-11 season, when the Lady Pirates fell at Bethune-Cookman.
 
Saturday also marked the first time ever that Savannah State defeated Hampton.
 
Sophomore guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.) led the Lady Pirates (9-10, 5-1 MEAC) with 18 points, leaving her 18 points shy of becoming the 26th player in program history to accumulate 1,000 career points. Junior guard Ryan Jordan (Manassas, Va.) added 16 points and six rebounds.
 
Redshirt junior forward Tyler Hobgood (Oxford, N.C.) grabbed a team-high eight rebounds.
 
The Lady Pirates shot 30.2 percent (19-for-63) from the floor and hit just three of their 14 3-pointers (21.4 percent).
 
Savannah State led for the entire second half, but the Lady Pirates cut the gap to one, 56-55, with 1:19 left to play after a pair of free throws from Jordan. But Bria Dorsey answered with a layup to put the Tigers back up by three, and Savannah State hit three of four free throws down the stretch.
 
At one point, the Tigers led by as many as nine, taking a 50-41 lead with 12:40 left in the second half after Ezinne Kalu, the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year, hit a layup to cap off a 7-1 run for Savannah State.
 
Hampton answered with a 10-4 run, cutting the lead to 54-51 with 3:37 left after a layup from redshirt junior forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.). Jasmine Norman gave the Tigers a 56-51 lead with 2:46 left with a layup of her own before Hampton scored the next five to make it a one-point game.
 
After the game was tied 6-6 in the opening minutes, the Lady Pirates used a 6-0 spurt to take a 12-6 lead after a jumper from Tate-DeFreitas with 12:41 left in the half. Tate-DeFreitas later hit a 3-pointer, at the 11:28 mark, to give Hampton a 15-8 lead.
 
That was Hampton's largest lead of the game.
 
The Tigers then went on a 14-2 run to take a 22-17 lead with 7:33 left in the first half following a fastbreak layup from Kalu. Tate-DeFreitas cut the lead to 22-19 with a pair of free throws at the 7:21 mark, before the Tigers went on an 11-5 run to take a 33-24 lead at the 4:07 mark.
 
Savannah State led 36-30 at the half.
 
Savannah State (9-9, 4-2 MEAC) shot 44.4 percent (20-for-45) from the floor and made four of its 12 3-pointers. The Tigers did commit 25 turnovers, which resulted in 22 Hampton points, but Savannah State held a 40-37 rebounding edge.
 
Kalu led Savannah State with 23 points.
 
The Lady Pirates will be in Orangeburg, S.C. on Monday to take on South Carolina State at 5:30 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.