No. 9 Hampton Holds Off No. 8 Delaware 78-67 to Advance to CAA Quarterfinals
Hunter Peters
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TOWSON, Md. (March 9, 2023) – Ninth-seeded Hampton held off eighth-seeded Delaware’s second-half comeback attempt, defeating the Blue Hens 78-67 in the second round of the CAA Women’s Basketball Championship.
The Lady Pirates improve to 12-17 with the victory in their CAA Tournament debut and will face top-seeded Towson tomorrow at noon in the CAA Championship Quarterfinals. Delaware ends the year 16-14 after the setback.
Nylah Young converted a three-point play with 1:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, which sparked a 9-0 run over the final 75 seconds to secure the Hampton victory. Young gave the Lady Pirates the lead for the last time at the 5:24 mark, scoring a layup to give Hampton a 67-66 advantage. Prior to that point, there had been six lead changes in the fourth quarter. After entering the quarter with a one-point lead, it took back-to-back layups from Klarke Sconiers and Makayla Pippin to put the Blue Hens back in front 64-63 at the 6:13 mark. Hampton answered with a layup from Dlaya Chaklois before two free throws from Sconiers made it 66-65.
The Lady Pirates held Delaware without a field goal over the final 6:13 and limited the Blue Hens to 13.3 percent (2-15) shooting in the fourth quarter. Subsequently, Hampton shot 50.0 percent (6-12) in the final quarter and went 7-of-7 from the free throw line.
Delaware went on a 10-0 run over the final 1:50 of the third quarter to take a one-point lead into the fourth. Jewel Smalls hits back-to-back threes to ignite the spurt before giving the Blue Hens a 59-58 lead with two free throws in the final 30 seconds. Hampton gained its largest lead of the game after a second-chance layup from Young put the Lady Pirates up 49-37. The Blue Hens responded with a 9-0 spurt, cutting the deficit to three at the 4:24 mark. Laren VanArsdale scored five points in 12 seconds with an acrobatic driving layup followed by a three from the left wing to push the lead back to eight with 2:51 remaining in the frame. Sixty seconds later, the Blue Hens rallied off their big run to close the quarter.
Hampton trailed 11-9 at the 4:53 mark in the first quarter before rallying off a 10-1 and taking a seven-point lead with 90 seconds to go in the opening frame. The Lady Pirates lead for the remainder of the half after that point. Hampton forced five Delaware turnovers during the run and forced nine in the opening period. After a pair of technical free throws by Madison Buford, Rebecca Demeke hit a three-pointer to pull Delaware within four before a Lady Pirate fastbreak layup gave Hampton a 21-15 lead at the end of the first.
Hampton went 7-of-10 from the free throw line in the second quarter, while Delaware was 7-for-9 from the charity stripe as the teams combined for 16 fouls in the frame. Three freebies, two from Buford and one from Victoria Mason gave the Lady Pirates a 19-17 edge in the quarter, and Hampton took a 40-32 lead into the break.
Young recorded her second double-double this season with 18 points and 12 rebounds. She was joined in double figures by Buford, who scored a game-high 22 points in 25 minutes off the bench, and VanArsdale, who had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Four Blue Hens reached double figures, led by Smalls with 16 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double this year.
The Hampton defense forced Delaware into 26 miscues, and the Lady Pirates capitalized with 26 points off turnovers compared to eight for the Blue Hens.
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