HAMPTON, Va. – Behind a swarming defense and a blistering night from junior Monnazjea Finney-Smith the Hampton Lady Pirates took both matchups in the Battle of the Bay by knocking off Norfolk State 77-65 on Senior Night at the HU Convocation Center.

Finney-Smith had a season-high 25 points going 9-of-13 from the floor and 5-of-5 from 3-point land while adding eight rebounds.  Junior Jephany Brown had her first double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.  Kaylah Lupoe hadded 15 points and DeJane James nearly had a double-double with nine points and a career-high nine assists.

Hampton used a 9-2 flurry to jump out to a 14-7 lead as DeJane James found Mikayla Sayle for a layup.  The Spartans scored the next eight points to lead 15-14 on a 3-point play by Gabrielle Swinson with 1:37 left in the first.

A jumper from Dominique Harper put the Hampton lead to 23-22 with 7:59 left in the first half.  The hosts then went on 17-4 run to lead 40-26 on a pair of Kaylah Lupoe free throws with 1:01 left.  Monnazjea Finney-Smith had three 3-pointers in that time along with a SportsCenter Top 10 shot grabbing an offensive rebound and flung it toward the rim falling away from the rim for a 3-point play.

The Spartans scored the last five points of the second quarter, all by Dominique Harper, to trail 40-31 at halftime.

In the third, Hampton scored the first four points to lead 44-31 on a Lupoe layup with 8:16 left.  The Spartans made a run scoring the next seven points to trail 44-38 on a Swinson layup with 6:21 left.  Hampton scored the next five with a 3-point play by Brown giving Hampton a 49-38 advantage with 3:44 left in the quarter.

The lead was put away on the heels of a 9-2 flurry in the fourth to lead 75-56 on a Finney-Smith layup with 1:57 left.

Hampton was 26-of-56 from the floor (46.4%) and 8-of-11 from 3-point land (72.7%) while going 17-of-22 from the foul line (77.3%).  The Lady Pirates outrebounded Norfolk State 43-27.

NSU (14-14, 9-7) was paced by Swinson with 19 points, Jordan Strode with 16 and Harper with 15.  They were 22-of-60 from the floor (36.7%) and 3-of-14 from behind the arc (21.4%) while going 18-of-22 from the line (81.8%).

Hampton will close out the regular season on Thursday night back in Baltimore to face Coppin State University at 5:30 pm.

For more information on Hampton University women's basketball, please contact the Office of Sports Information at 757-727-5906 or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.