NORFOLK, Va. – The top-seeded Hampton University women's basketball team has seen its streak of consecutive MEAC Tournament crowns snapped at five, as No. 8 seed Maryland Eastern Shore beat the Lady Pirates 52-50 on Wednesday at Norfolk Scope Arena.
 
"What can you say, they had a great game plan," Hampton head coach David Six said. "Coach (Fred) Batchelor did a great job so congratulations to them. They beat us, they played well the entire 40 minutes. They were very effective on what they did defensively."
 
The Lady Pirates (18-12) tied the game at 50-50 with 1:14 left after a jumper from sophomore guard Malia Tate-DeFreitas (Harrisburg, Pa.), the MEAC Player of the Year, and Hampton had possession with the shot clock off in the closing seconds.
 
But a turnover gave UMES the ball with 4.1 seconds left, and Jessica Long hit an off-balance jumper from the elbow as the clock expired to give the Lady Hawks the upset.
 
This is Six's first-ever MEAC Tournament loss.
 
Senior guard Kyani White (Manassas, Va.) led the Lady Pirates with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting, hitting all three of her 3-pointers. Junior guard Ryan Jordan (Manassas, Va.) and senior guard Kenia Cole (Silver Spring, Md.) each added 10 points.
 
Tate-DeFreitas added nine points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with five, along with sophomore guard Georgianna Gilbeaux (Washington, D.C.) and redshirt junior forward Brielle Ward (Baltimore, Md.).
 
The Lady Pirates shot 35.6 percent (21-for-59) from the floor – despite shooting 28.6 percent (8-for-28) in the second half. Hampton was 6-for-17 (35.3 percent) from behind the arc and 2-for-6 at the free throw line.
 
The Lady Pirates opened the game on a 9-2 run, taking that lead with 17:15 left in the first half following a 3-pointer from White. UMES fought back and cut the lead to 14-12 at the 12:49 mark on a trey from Shawnee Sweeney, before Hampton scored five straight to go up 19-12.
 
Long cut the lead to 19-16 with a layup at the 6:25 mark, before the Lady Pirates went on a 9-2 run, taking a 28-18 lead with 3:28 left in the half after a jumper from White.
 
Hampton led 31-24 at the break.
 
The Lady Hawks opened the second half with a 15-6 run, taking a 39-37 lead with 12:06 left to play after a layup from Alexis Udoji. Cole answered with a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to give the Lady Pirates a 40-39 lead – but that would Hampton's last lead of the game.
 
UMES led by as many as four down the stretch, taking a 49-45 lead with 2:18 remaining after a pair of free throws from Long. But White answered with a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to 49-48 before Long hit a free throw with 1:37 left to give UMES a 50-48 lead.
 
"They did a good job with their scheme," Six said of UMES. "We didn't move the ball well from side to side. When we passed to one side we generally kept the ball on that side of the floor, so they relegated us to one side of the floor the entire night."
 
UMES (13-16) shot 36.4 percent (20-for-55) from the floor and out-rebounded Hampton 44-34.
 
Long led the Lady Hawks with 11 points. Udoji had 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
 
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.