MIAMI, Fla. (Dec. 20, 2024) … Florida International used an 13-3 run over a four-minute span midway through the fourth quarter to pull away and defeat Hampton 70-60 on the first day of the FIU Christmas Classic on Friday.

The teams traded leads through the opening five minutes as a CeCe Thomas three-pointer gave Hampton (3-6) a 12-10 lead with 5:28 left. Jasha Clinton answered a FIU (4-6) triple with one of her own to put Hampton back up 15-13 at the 4:49 mark.

Parris Atkins evened the game at 15 following a jumper 15 seconds later. That jumper started a 27-8 burst for the Panthers as they took their largest lead of the game at 40-23 with 3:44 left on a pair of free throws from Isnelle Natabou.

After trailing by 15 at half, Hampton outscored FIU 14-9 in the third quarter to trim the deficit to 10 at 52-42 as Arina NIkishina beat the buzzer with her first collegiate three-pointer.
In the fourth, the Lady Pirates used the momentum from the buzzer-beating triple to trim that lead to 52-47 as Nikishina hit a pair of free throws and Aisha Dabo followed with a triple at the 8:37 mark.

FIU responded with a 13-3 spurt as a Natabou layup with 4:21 on the clock gave the Panthers a 65-50 advantage. Hampton trimmed that to eight as Casey Miller hit a layup with 98 seconds left to trail 67-59, which was as close as they got down the stretch.

Clinton paced Hampton in scoring with 15 points and four assists, while Dabo had 12 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Nikishina had a career-high 11 points to go with two blocked shots. Thomas had eight points, while Le'Asia Foreman had six points and a team-high six rebounds and Casey Miller matched her season high with four points and had a season-best three rebounds.

Hampton closes the tournament tomorrow at 2 p.m. facing George Washington.