Box Score NORFOLK, Va. – Choicetta McMillian and Melanie Warner combined for 49 points, including 10 3-pointers, as Hampton downed the Norfolk State women's basketball team, 68-46, Saturday afternoon in the Battle of the Bay at Joseph Echols Hall.

Unlike the first contest between the two teams in January, NSU (9-14, 4-8) kept Hampton from running away from the Spartans. Hampton (18-4, 10-1) held just a nine-point lead more than midway through the second half before a 13-0 run gave the Pirates a comfortable lead for the rest of the game.

NSU held Hampton to just 24-of-65 shooting (36.9 percent), including 11-of-27 from 3-point range, with the Spartans connecting on 43.9 percent but just 18-of-41 overall. Senior Tyisha Bridges scored in double figures for the third straight game with 11 points.

Junior Batavia Owens added a team-high nine rebounds with eight points, while senior Whitney Long added nine points for the day. Sophomore Rachel Gordon contributed six points and eight rebounds, and junior Recca Trice handed out five assists.

McMillian shot 10-of-16 from the floor and 8-of-12 from long range for Hampton, while Warner totaled 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting and a game-high 10 rebounds. McMillian and Warner combined to shoot 17-of-32, while the rest of the team hit just 7-of-33. Jenkins added 11 assists to the Pirate effort.

Hampton forced 23 NSU turnovers and led in points off turnovers, 21-12.

Gordon hit a basket down low and Bridges knocked down a pair of free throws to keep NSU within two, 8-6, early on in the game, but Hampton's 3-point shooting propelled the Pirates to a double-digit lead, 20-9, with 12:12 to go in the half.

Back-to-back baskets by the Pirates, shortly after a pair of buckets from Long and Owens, stretched it to 30-13 a short time later. Down 33-13, though, the Spartans kept Hampton scoreless for nearly six minutes and ended the half on a 10-4 run. Owens connected on three baskets during that time, and Bridges got the steal and the fastbreak layup with 1:44 left to keep the deficit within 12.

Hampton went into the half up by a 37-23 score, with McMillian and Warner combined for 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, for the Pirates. Owens led NSU with eight.

The Spartans scored the first six points of the second half to cut the deficit to eight, 37-29, with Gordon converting a pair of free throws to cut the Hampton lead to single digits at the 17:13 mark. A long range bomb and a quick two from Long with 11:33 to go kept NSU within nine, 43-34.

Sophomore Rae Corbo helped NSU match Hampton basket-for-basket with a pair of shots, the latter at 7:28 that made it 49-40 in favor of the Pirates, but a 13-0 run by Hampton over the next three minutes essentially ended any hopes of an NSU upset.

The Spartans hit 9-of-13 from the free throw line, with Hampton connecting on 9-of-11. The Pirates held a 37-30 edge on the boards as well.

NSU will host Delaware State next Saturday at Echols Hall for Senior Day at 4 p.m.