Hampton senior Keiara Avant hopes to lead her team to a fourth-straight MEAC Conference Tournament title and NCAA tournament. |
HAMPTON, Va. — After dominating the MEAC for the past three years, the Hampton University women’s basketball team is looking score big non-conference wins in 2013. The team released its 2012-13 schedule, on Thursday. It includes three non-conference home games and two in-season tournaments.
The three-time defending MEAC Tournament champion will open the season on Nov. 9, when they travel to Hattiesburg, Miss. to take on Southern Mississippi, before squaring off against Mississippi State on Nov. 12 in Starksville, Miss.
Fourth-year head coach David Rix and the Pirates will have their home opener Nov. 16 , when they welcome LSU to the Convocation Center, before taking on Chicago State at home on Nov. 18.
From there, Hampton will head to the U.S. Virgin Islands on Nov. 22-24 for the 2012 Paradise Jam, in which it will square off against the likes of South Carolina, DePaul, and Florida Gulf Coast. It then opens MEAC play on Dec. 1, taking on South Carolina State in Orangeburg, S.C., before heading to Savannah, Ga. to take on Savannah State on Dec. 3.
The Pirates will be in Baltimore, Md. on Dec. 7 to take on Maryland Baltimore County, before traveling to Toledo, Ohio on Dec. 20-21 for the Toledo Tournament, where they will take on Prairie View A&M and either Toledo or Evansville.
After Christmas, Hampton will head to Jersey City, N.J. on Dec. 27 to face St. Peters, before heading to Blacksburg, Va. on Dec. 30 to take on Virginia Tech. The final non-conference home game will be on Jan. 2, when they take on the ACC’s Boston College, before heading to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 to take on American in their non-conference finale.
After playing at Howard on Jan. 12 to resume conference play, Hampton will return home to face Morgan State on Jan. 19 and Coppin State on Jan. 21. A trip across the James River to face Norfolk State in Echols Hall comes on Jan. 26, before returning home on Jan. 28 to face Howard.
Hampton will head to Baltimore, Md. to take on Morgan State on Feb. 2 and Coppin State on Feb. 4, before returning to the Convocation Center on Feb. 11 to take on Delaware State and on Feb. 18 to square off against Norfolk State.
The Pirates will then hit the road for the last time in the regular season, taking on Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, Md. on Feb. 23, before heading to Dover, Del. on Feb. 25 to face Delaware State.
Hampton’s last three regular season games will be at home, starting on March 2 against Florida A&M, followed by Bethune-Cookman on March 4 and before closing the regular season on March 7 against North Carolina Central.
The 2012-13 MEAC Basketball Tournament will be held March 11-16 in Norfolk, Va.