HAMPTON — The losses have piled up quickly, but coach Tamisha Augustin doesn’t see a team unraveling. She sees a team being tested.
Hampton University women’s basketball has dropped six of its last seven games and now sits 10th in the CAA at 3–8, but Augustin believes that the slide has built character for the Pirates (9-14), who host Towson at 7 p.m. Friday.
“Our habits show up in tough times,” Augustin said. “The boxing out, the rebounding, the mental errors — they are timely, and they cause different runs… They haven’t given up in any shape or form. We just have to do it for 40 minutes.”
The Pirates recently returned from a road trip where they lost by an average of 24.5 points. The low point came Feb. 6 at Drexel, where Hampton shot 18 of 74 (24.3%) from the field. Two days later, a four-win Hofstra squad dominated the glass 47–27 in a 75–59 Pirates loss.
These struggles aren’t new. The 20-rebound deficit mirrored 19-rebound gaps that doomed Hampton against Campbell and NC A&T in late January. The Pirates currently rank last in the CAA in rebounding margin at minus-6.
Augustin views this as a psychological chain reaction: missed shots lead to “ill-advised” attempts, leaving the defense unorganized and out of position to rebound.
“I think sometimes we put pressure on ourselves,” Augustin said. “When you miss a couple mentally, it could start to mess with you. … We just have to make sure we’re shooting quality shots so that our defense can get organized.”
Since mid-January, the coach has lamented a “wait to get hit” mentality, as the Pirates have gotten off to some slow starts. The Pirates have trailed after the first quarter in every CAA game — except for a win over last-place UNC Wilmington — with opponents outscoring them 18.1 to 11.2 in the opening period.
Hampton has scored five points or fewer in the first quarter three times, including the loss to Drexel where they were held scoreless in the opening period. In that game, the Pirates didn’t score a point until the 9:18 mark of the second quarter and didn’t make a shot from the floor until the 7:34 mark, missing their first 24 attempts.
A silver lining arrived during the road trip with the return of junior guard Aaryn Battle after a seven-game absence due to injury. Battle — one of the team’s premier perimeter defenders — averaged 4.5 points and struggled with her shooting touch (3 of 15) in her first two games back.
“The biggest thing sometimes is building confidence,” Augustin said. “We’re not throwing her in the fire for 38 minutes. … It’s about getting in the reps and continuing to build confidence after an injury like that.”
The path to a turnaround doesn’t get any easier, but Augustin remains optimistic as Hampton returns home for a three-game stretch against three of the CAA’s top six teams: Towson on Friday, followed by Drexel in a rematch and Monmouth.
While the Pirates are reeling, they have already proven they can punch upward; they opened conference play on Jan. 2 with a win over second-place Stony Brook. It is that memory that fuels Augustin’s belief that the season is far from over.
“Elite focus, playing together, defending and rebounding,” Augustin said of what the team needs to do to turn it around. “We still have seven games, and that’s a lot to move things around in our conference. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish, and that’s what the mentality is right now.”
For Hampton, the path forward is clear, even if it’s narrow. Rebound better. Defend with purpose. Stay connected when shots don’t fall. And, most importantly, find a way to hit first and sustain it for four quarters.
