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Career day for Young as the Lady Pirates win over Gardner-Webb

Freshman Nylah Young exploded for career highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds as they won over the Runnin' Bulldogs.
Credit: Hampton Athletics

HAMPTON, Va. — Freshman Nylah Young exploded for career highs of 21 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots as Hampton rallied from a slow start to defeat Gardner-Webb 63-58 in its Big South opener Saturday.

Young's first bucket put Hampton on the board at the 5:38 mark of the first for a 2-1 lead. Another jumper from Young put Hampton up 8-5 with 1:22 left, but a pair of Gabrielle Caponegro buckets gave the Runnin' Bulldogs a 9-8 lead after the first quarter.

Hampton scored the first seven points of the second to take a 15-9 lead on a Young layup from a MaKayla Timmons feed at the seven-minute mark.  Five straight points by Savannah Plentovich brought the guests to 15-14 after a layup with 5:25 left.  The Lady Pirates responded with a 13-2 run to lead 28-16 on a layup by Laren VanArsdale from a Young feed with 2:27 remaining in the half.

Gardner-Webb opened the third quarter on a 9-2 spurt to trim the lead to 34-33 on a pair of Carley Plentovich free throws with 7:39 left. Hampton regained control with the next nine points capped by a VanArsdale layup to lead 43-33 at the 2:37 mark.

The lead grew to 57-45 on a Young layup with six minutes left in the game, but the Runnin' Bulldogs had one more run trimming the lead on the heels of an 11-1 run to trail 58-56 on a 3-point play by Caponegro with 38 seconds left. Hampton went 5-of-6 in the last 38 seconds from the line for the win.

VanArsdale added 14 points, three assists and three steals, while Timmons had 13 points and six assists and Ashley Bates added 10 points, nine rebounds and three steals. After a frigid first quarter, Hampton ended the game just under 50% from the floor hitting 25-of-52 (48.1%) and out-rebounded the taller guests 39-36. Hampton returns to action on Monday night in Clinton, S.C. facing Presbyterian College at 6 pm.

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