TOWSON, Md. — Hampton University junior forward Nylah Young said it’s not easy to beat a team twice in six days.
“The other team is making adjustments, so we have to make adjustments too,” she said. “We just had to watch film and really dissect what we did last game and try to do better this game, and I think we did that.”
That they did as the No. 9 seed Pirates defeated No. 8 Delaware 78-67 on Thursday afternoon in the second round of the CAA women’s basketball tournament at Towson University. The two teams squared off in their regular-season finale March 4 at HU, with the Pirates rallying from a 16-point deficit to win 77-72.
“I’m very proud of the young ladies,” said Hampton coach David Six. “For large portions of this game, we executed our game plan as well as we could have.”
It was nearly a reversal of their first meeting as HU (12-17) built its largest lead of the game at 49-37 with 6:39 left in the third, but the Blue Hens (16-14) closed the quarter on a 10-0 run for a 59-58 lead.
“I think we ran out of gas,” Six said. “We’ve got some injuries and so we don’t have the depth we would normally have.”
Young, who finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, said she and her teammates didn’t get down on themselves after losing the lead.
“We kept our composure,” she said. “We were encouraging each other the whole time.”
Young scored in the paint at the 8:38 mark of the fourth quarter as Hampton regained the lead at 60-59, the first of five lead changes in the final 10 minutes.
The Pirates were clinging to a 69-67 lead when they inbounded the ball under their basket with 1:15 to go. Amyah Reaves found Young, who made a layup, was fouled and added the free throw for a 72-67 lead and some breathing room.
Neither Six nor Young would divulge what they saw on the play.
“We can’t tell anybody about that. That’s me and Nylah’s secret,” said Six, adding only it was something he noticed earlier in the game.
Hampton then closed out the game by going 6 for 6 from the line in the final 1:02.
Leading the way for HU was senior Madison Buford with 22 points, 13 of which came in the first half as the Lady Pirates led 40-32 at the break. Laren VanArsdale added 16 points.
For Delaware, Jewel Smalls, a fifth-year guard, had 16 points. Michelle Ojo, a sophomore forward from Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach, had 13.
HU outscored Delaware 26-8 on points off turnovers.
Six said that will be the key today, when the Pirates take on top-seeded and host Towson in a quarterfinal at noon.
“We know that Towson is an athletic ballclub,” he said. “We’ll have our hands full. We will try to turn them over. The rebounds don’t come in bunches for us. Turnovers have to be our rebounds.”
