HAMPTON, Va. (WTKR) — Two new eras tipped off for Hampton basketball and both got off to winning starts.
Both the Pirate men and women's teams got victories in their 2024-2025 season debuts, getting the first wins for new head coaches Tamisha Augustin and Ivan Thomas.
A Hampton native, Augustin's women got a 12-2 run to hold off Bowie State in a 65-55 win in the Convocation Center. The head coach not the only to have a happy homecoming in the blue and white, as Princess Anne product Jasha Clinton reintroduced herself to the area with an 18 point performance to lead the way.
Clinton spent three years playing for Temple, averaging 11.1 points as a junior last season.
Hampton's defense paved the path in the opener, forcing 26 turnovers and holding the Bulldogs to 40 percent shooting from the field. The Pirates capitalized on those efforts, scoring 25 points off of those takeaways.
Augustin and co. will take the show on the road for the first time on Thursday at Radford.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Thomas helped guide the Pirate men to a rousing 110-53 victory over Mid-Atlantic Christian.
The blue and white made an emphasis on shooting from range, taking 33 three-pointers in the game and knocking down 13 of them. Six players scored in double figures for the home team, led by Daniel Johnson's 19 points and George Beale's 15.
A theme of new faces in a new place was evident for the Pirates. Of the 13 players that took the court for Hampton in the game, only two were returners (Kyrese Mullen and Dan Banister Jr.).
Thomas will lead the team into a pair of road games next, starting with a trip to George Washington on Friday followed by a matchup at Providence next Tuesday.
