WINSTON-SALEM, NC – There will be no magical run to the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference \McMillian, who had six of her record seven tournament game 3-pointers in the first half, had plenty of help as four other Hampton players scored in double figures for Coach David Six's team which improved to 23-6, tying the Division I school record for victories in a season.

Melanie Warner tossed in 15 points, Keiara Avant 12, Quanneisha Perry 11 and Jericka Jenkins 10 in the victory that catapulted the Number 1 seed into Friday's semifinals against the winner of Thursday's matchup between fourth-seeded Florida A&M and Coppin State, the fifth seed. The contest tips at 12 noon.

SC State, who last year won three games in four days -- including an upset of top-seeded North Carolina A&T in the quarterfinals – to make it to the championship game where they lost to Hampton, was led by Tracey Flowers with 14 points and Tiara Knotts with 10. Whitney Wiley, the hero of last year's stunning quarterfinal upset, and Fannie Goodwin each added seven points in the loss, which ended the Lady Bulldog campaign at 12-17.

The Lady Pirates took the opening tip and wasted little time in building a quick 16-4 lead at 16:14 of the first period, utilizing the three-pointer as a weapon. After the Lady Bulldogs closed the gap to 16-12 with eight straight points, McMillian had four of her seven baskets from beyond the arc to fuel a 21-6 run that put Hampton ahead 37-18 with 5:01 on the first period clock. Six's team led by a whopping 17 points at the half – 42-25 – and was never really threatened thereafter. The closest SC State came after intermission was 16 points, 69-53 with 4:37 remaining.

“We got off to a great start, McMillian was on fire, knocking down threes,” said Six. Her threes opened up the defense and we were able to go inside. I thought Perry and Warner did a good job rebounding inside.

“Overall, it was just a great game for our team,” he continued. “All year long, we have had three to five players in double figures at times, because Jenkins does a good job in running the team and distributing the ball. She's the maestro of our team, for lack of a better word.”
SC State's Doug Robertson's said his squad played good at times but was just unable to contain the high-powered Lady Pirates.

“We ran into a team that was obviously playing well,” Robertson said. “They shot the ball extremely well from the perimeter and we couldn't do much to stop them. We missed a few easy inside baskets that could have made it a little closer or put some pressure on them, but they way they played and shot the ball, it would have taken a near-perfect game from us to have a chance.”

Hampton made 12 of 21 three-point baskets for 57.1 accuracy from long range and was 25 of 51 overall from the field. McMillian made 8 of 13 attempts from the floor and nailed 7 of 11 attempts from three-point range.

The Lady Bulldogs hit just 39.1 (18-46) of its shots from the field and was only good on five of 14 tries from beyond the arc, a 35.7 accuracy.

Four players on the SC State squad – Wiley, Joi Walker, Sunikia Bullen and Mary Baker completed their Lady Bulldog careers with the loss.
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