Hampton and North Carolina A&T — former MEAC and current CAA rivals — will come into its latest matchup with a lot on the line.
The Pirates are ninth in the conference at 4-6 and the Aggies are tied for first place at 9-2. The first time the teams met in January, the Aggies won a close 75-70 decision in overtime, led by 29 points from Maleia Bracone.
That win enabled Hampton to keep pace with Drexel in the conference standings leadership. A win over their longtime rival would go a long way in increasing the chances of winning the CAA.
For that to happen, they will need good performances from their four leading scorers: Jazmin Harris, Bracone, Jordyn Dorsey and D’Mya Tucker.
Meanwhile, the Pirates have stumbled through a very uneven January where they went 4-5 and suffered painful losses to Towson, Drexel, William & Mary and Monmouth. Despite having a top-5 scoring defense that only allows 63.1 points per game, they haven’t had an offense to keep up, ranking 10th in scoring.
Hampton definitely needs all that it can muster in order to defeat a North Carolina A&T team that has the No. 1 scoring offense with 70 points per game and the No. 2 scoring defense with 61.8 points allowed.
The Aggies defense will be tested by the likes of Nylah Young, Madison Buford, Victoria Mason and Jermany Mapp.
Who: Hampton vs. North Carolina A&T
When: Thursday, Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. ET
Where: Corbett Sports Center, Greensboro, North Carolina
How to watch: FloHoops
