Hampton's Hamilton a shot-blocking marvel

If the term "shot-blocking point guard" seems like an oxymoron, that's because it usually is. Or at least it was, until Hampton coach David Six crossed his fingers and gave natural two-guard Nicole Hamilton the keys at the start of the 2012-13 season.

Opposing guards are probably still trying to figure out what hit them.

Last season, Hamilton blocked 48 shots, a stunningly high number for a backcourt player who stands just 5-foot-8. But that was merely the warm-up. Through 20 games this season, the Lady Pirates senior is already at 50 blocks.

Now, there are entire teams that don't have 50 blocks. The Virginia Cavaliers, for example, all 12 of them, have combined for 22.

Of course, we all know that the Cavaliers don't have a lot of size. But then, neither does Hamilton. Not your typical shot-blocking size, anyway. Yet only one Division I guard in the country blocks more shots than Hamilton - Florida Gulf Coast's Whitney Knight - and she's 6-3. And of the 21 D-I players at any position who have eclipsed Hamilton's 50 blocks, the shortest is 6-2, a half-foot taller than our girl Nicki.

As shot blockers go, Hamilton is the shortest player among D-I's Top 50, Top 100 or Top 150. Simply put, no one her size is doing anything like this. You know how boxing has its pound-for-pound champion? Well, inch-for-inch, Hamilton is Division I's queen of rejection.

Remember, though, Hamilton only moonlights as a shot blocker. In her day job as Hampton's point guard, she's leading the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference in assists, pacing the Lady Pirates in steals and hauling down nearly 6 rebounds a night, all while logging a MEAC-high 36.7 minutes per contest.

Oh, and then there's her scoring. Despite a shooting touch that can come and go, Hamilton averages a healthy 13.4 points per game and needs just six more to reach 1,000 for her career.

On nights when her shot is falling - 27 points at LSU, 24 vs. Kansas State - Hamilton's high-level impact at both ends is in the class of UConn's Breanna Stewart and Central Michigan's Crystal Bradford - arguably the two most gifted all-around performers in the country.

And when her shot is off, Hampton has to settle for having a high-level shot-blocking, ball-hawking, rebounding playmaker running its show.

Somehow, the Lady Pirates get by.

JMU ready for Drexel this time...we think

It may not be the most glamorous game on JMU's schedule, but Thursday night's home showdown with Drexel is certainly among the most interesting.

The Dukes (13-4, 3-0 CAA) spent the preseason establishing themselves by any reasonable standard as no worse than a Top-40 team nationally, and have been nothing short of spectacular through the early stages of Colonial Athletic Association play. But in recent times Drexel (8-8, 3-0) has been JMU's Kryptonite, the team that turns an otherwise high-powered Dukes squad into the gang that can't shoot straight.

Last March, we detailed how the Dukes had more or less become allergic to Dragons:

Consider that in the past two seasons, JMU has lost five games by 16 points or more. Three of those losses have come to Drexel. Two years ago, the Dragons held JMU to just 43 points, the Dukes' lowest point total in three seasons. This season, JMU's two lowest point totals (34, 46) have come against Drexel, and the 34 points they produced in the CAA (Tournament) semifinals represented their most meager output in coach Kenny Brooks' 11 seasons.

The Dragons have also prevailed in their last two trips to Harrisonburg in addition to being the team to evict JMU from the last two CAA Tournaments.

So far this season, it's the Dukes that have been doing the manhandling, particularly in CAA play. They opened by absolutely crushing Delaware, and are coming off a 27-point road beatdown of Hofstra. In addition to her defensive and shotblocking skills, Nikki Newman is making like Magic Johnson with all these assists. Jazmon Gwathmey is holding block parties; Toia Giggetts is a rebounding fool. And Kirby Burkholder - KIR-BEE!! - and Precious Hall have been a devastating scoring combo.

But Drexel is still, well, Drexel, and this year's bunch appears to be following the typical trajectory of a Denise Dillon-led squad. Watch the Dragons in November and you're kind of like, eh. Catch 'em again 10-12 games in and it's more like, hmmm.... Come March, it's, uh-oh.

It's not March yet, but these Dragons appear to be increasingly comfortable running Dillon's stuff and will bring a three-game winning streak into the Convocation Center. They'll also bring the knowledge that their system, properly run, has a recent history of bringing JMU to its knees.

Then again, JMU hasn't been totally powerless against these guys, as they do have two wins over Drexel the past two years. And given that this Dukes team has shown the potential to challenge for the title of the finest Brooks has ever assembled, it's hard to imagine Drexel flat-out having its way in Harrisonburg once again.

Still, weird things have happened when the Philadephia gang shows up, and that's why, as early regular-season conference games go, this one has more than the usual intrigue. The Dukes don't have to win Thursday - the real "big" games are still weeks away. Nor is JMU going to be presented the CAA title if they do emerge victorious.

But we're sure JMU fans - not to mention the Dukes themselves - wouldn't mind putting this whole Drexel hex stuff to bed for a while.

Thursday's games

Maryland at Virginia, 6:30 p.m.

Drexel at JMU, 7 p.m.

William and Mary at UNC Wilmington, 7 p.m.

Georgia Tech at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m.

Longwood at Liberty, 7 p.m.

Radford at High Point, 7 p.m.

CNU star Schweers opts to play instead of coach

Player or coach?

For the foreseeable future, former Christopher Newport University star Chelsie Schweers sees herself as a player first. Schweers announced earlier this week that she will leave her position as first-year girls basketball coach at her alma mater, Hickory High, to play basketball overseas.

Schweers leaves Sunday for Iceland and will play for Hamar (7-12). She will play her first game on Jan. 29; the regular season concludes on March 10. She is exploring the possibility of returning to Australia for more basketball after her season in Iceland concludes. Schweers played for the Toowoomba Mountaineers in Australia last summer and previously spent a season in Greece.

It's been a stressful week, admitted the 24-year-old guard, the leading scorer in CNU history who also holds the mark as the all-time leading scorer in the state. Schweers led CNU to the Division III Final Four in 2011.

Schweers accepted the coaching position at the Chesapeake high school amid a whirlwind last July, thrilled to be starting out at program she played for. Shortly after, she turned down an opportunity to play in Germany, but the thought of returning to the court nagged her.

"My mom and I decided then that I was going to stay in coaching, but we left it as if another opportunity came up, it was meant for me to go," Schweers said. "I started to wonder, 'What if I don't get another chance?' I might not always be able to coach at Hickory, but coaching jobs will always be there. I have a short window to keep playing."

Schweers said she received full support from the Hickory principal and athletic director and is grateful for how receptive the Hawks were when she told them the news about Iceland.

"I was concerned with the parents, and how they were going to take it," Schweers said. "I was concerned, too, about the girls on the team. They're 14 and 15 years old. I was concerned they'd think I didn't care about them or I was putting them on the back burner. They did not take it like that at all. Of course, we all cried. They supported me 100 percent and told me to go make them proud."

As far as Iceland, Schweers knows little, having learned much of what she does know from a current Hickory player from Iceland. "The whole country has 300,000 people," she said. "It's going to be cold and windy."

Language won't be a barrier -- most are fluent in English and Danish -- and the country, which is close to the Arctic Circle, is known for its stunning landscape.

Schweers will be the lone American on the team, as former Mississippi State guard Diamber Johnson is returning to the United States.

Family-first Hampton guard not your typical freshman

For a kid who's all about family, it's no wonder Hampton's Malia Tate-DeFreitas returned to her roots for college.

"I was born in Hampton," says the soft-spoken 5-8 freshman guard.

"Newport News," says her mother, Jennifer, a Pirates alum from 1994 and a nurse today. "I met her father when I was a freshman there. He was in the Marine Corps. in North Carolina. We married when he was a junior, and I had Malia my senior year."

Hampton's family environment appealed to Malia - a kid who's all about family -- "My immediate family – there might be like 40 of us -- I see every day when I'm home," she says. "We have dinner together every day. My aunt cooks for everybody, and everybody’s invited."

She visited Pitt and Albany, and St. John's and Hofstra were in the mix. But she found the right fit at Hampton, where she felt an immediate bond with coach David Six and departed Pirates assistant Ashlee Finley, who she describes as a big sister.

As a player, Malia has flourished in a manner atypical of most freshmen in Six's program, who often spend much of their first year on the bench. She's started every game, averaging 19.3 ppg and .758 from the free-throw line, and while shooting just .356 from the field, Malia has the green light to shoot. Three times, Malia has been MEAC Rookie of the Week, and this week was named Player of the Week for the second time thanks to her 24 points and seven boards against Coppin State. Malia has a string of seven straight 20-point game and counting.

 "I haven't had a freshman like her," Six says. "She's a good basketball player regardless of her age. She's got things you can't teach."

Malia is unflappable -- donning a game face that even startles Six, who notes he gets the same expression whether he's yelling at her about her defense or complimenting her for a good shot. Pressure situations don't deter her -- no surprise for a player comfortable in the cooker. She is the ninth player in Pennsylvania history to have eclipsed the 3,000-point mark in high school.

"You'll never know if she's upset because she doesn't show it," her mom says. "When she tore her ACL when she was in high school that was probably the first time and the last time I saw true expression. She was so mad because they wouldn't let her go back in the game. She ripped the ice off and ran back in the game, and realized going down the court that she couldn't play."

"I think I tore my meniscus when I went back in," Malia says.

She continues to wear a sleeve on her left knee, which admittedly doesn't have full range of motion. But Malia rebounded from the injury to finish her high school career in glorious fashion. During her sophomore year, she led the Lady Steamrollers of Steelton High to their first Class A state title, averaging 23.9 ppg -- lofty enough for a mention in Sports Illustrated's Faces in the Crowd. As a junior, her average ballooned to 34 ppg, and by her senior year, Malia had another state title and was named a Parade All-American.

While she wasn't initially drawn to basketball -- she cheered, danced, played piano and had a special affinity for tennis -- basketball was clearly her sport.

"Basketball grew on me," says Malia, who played in the Stephon Marbury league in Coney Island -- quite the hike from her Harrisburg, Pa. home. "I didn’t like it right away because I played with all boys. I was the only girl in the league. They were overly aggressive."

Off court, she drifts toward talk of her family. Eighteen of them traveled to Los Angeles for Hampton's Thanksgiving trip. Nearly 30 were in the stands for the game at Delaware State. Malia talks to her mom at least three times a day and is eager to share the stories that come with the family funeral business. Her grandfather, father and aunt are all morticians.

The Winfield Funeral Home is a second home to her and was once the real deal. "We lived upstairs," she says. The double A-framed  home is an actual brick home on a two-lane road on Front Street. While many see the funeral business as something macabre, Malia says the family business has a welcome feel. 

"There's nothing creepy about it," she says. "At most funeral homes, the cars are black. Ours are white. We release doves. I will probably work there at some point in time."

For now, her business is basketball, and this kid is just getting started.

ODU assistant loses her uncle in tragic way

We don't have enough prayers to send to ODU assistant Trina Patterson, who lost her uncle on Sunday when he was shot driving home from church in Newport News.

Joseph Henry Williams Jr. was 71 years old. He was driving in the East End of the city when he was caught in crossfire. He was a deacon at Triumph Christian Center.

"He was a mentor to people in the church,"pastor Reginald Dawkins told the Daily Press. "He will be missed. He was a pillar of this congregation."

Our thoughts and prayers to Patterson, a native of the area and first-year assistant to ODU coach Karen Barefoot.

Saturday's five-spot: what to watch for

First of all, a big shoutout to the Radford Highlanders, who bagged their first Division I victory Thursday by shutting down Longwood 57-51. Ayana Avery had 20 points and Breshara Gordon (11) and Rachael Ross (10) also scored in double figures, but Highlanders coach Mike McGuire said it was his team's defensive chops that keyed the victory. That the undermanned Highlanders could endure 15 straight losses and not only keep fighting but remain willing to do defensive dirty work says a lot about these players.

Now, five things we'll be keeping an eye in Saturday's games:

Norfolk State - road warriors? - We'd mentioned more than once about how the Spartans hadn't won a true road game since the end of the 2011-12 season, so we were pleasantly surprised to see NSU leave home last weekend and come back with a pair of wins at Maryland-Eastern Shore and Delaware State. The victories boosted the Spartans to 3-1 in the MEAC heading into Saturday's home date with a Morgan State team that has lost four straight and has just one win all season against Division I opposition. Obviously the Spartans can't take anything for granted, but if they can keep up their recent form they're positioning themselves to be real factors in the conference race.

A "motivated" Longwood - Lancers coach Bill Reinson didn't mince words when assessing his team's performance in the loss to Radford. "We took a huge step backward this evening and may have to shake things up a bit," the coach said after Longwood shot 24 percent in defeat. If Reinson said this publicly, one can only imagine the message he delivered in the postgame locker room. So while Saturday's assignment - at Winthrop - is a tough one, we expect the Lancers to come out with fire in their eyes for this one.

Crosstown showdown - The fact that George Washington and George Mason are now in the same conference adds some juice to the "Battle of the Orange Line" (or is it the "Revolutionary Rivalry?). The Patriots were floundering but put together their best effort in weeks in Wednesday's 67-64 overtime loss at Richmond. Mason will look to build on that performance Saturday against a Colonials' team that beat them by 16 points last month.

Reaganomics - Liberty guard Reagan Miller has been a big key to the five-game winning streak that has catapulted the Lady Flames into sole possession of first place in the Big South. The junior is averaging 12 points and is shooting 52 percent from 3-point range during this span. On Thursday, Miller scored all 17 of her points after halftime as the Lady Flames outlasted Winthrop 77-70 in overtime.

Still streakin' - Hampton will put its 33-game winning streak against MEAC opponents on the line Saturday when Coppin State visits the HU Convocation Center. Coppin was the last conference team to defeat the Lady Pirates after engineering a 69-66 victory in Hampton during the 2011-12 season.

Saturday's games

Longwood (6-11, 3-5 Big South) at Winthrop (12-5, 6-2), 1 p.m.

Liberty (11-6, 7-1 Big South) at UNC Asheville (7-10, 4-4), 2 p.m.

VCU (15-3, 3-2 Atlantic 10) at UMass (3-15, 0-4), 2 p.m.

Coppin State (6-9, 3-0 MEAC) at Hampton (12-4, 3-0), 4 p.m.

Morgan State (2-13, 0-2 MEAC) at Norfolk State (7-8, 3-1), 4 p.m.

Florida Atlantic (11-5, 1-2 Conference USA) at Old Dominion (8-9, 1-2), 7 p.m.

George Washington (12-5, 3-1 Atlantic 10) at George Mason (6-12, 0-5), 7 p.m.

Lights-out shooting boosts ODU

Galaisha Goodhope

The number leaps off the page every time we look at the boxscore - 60.4.

That was Old Dominion's shooting percentage in Wednesday's 92-82 victory at Southern Mississippi, a win the Lady Monarchs hopes pushes the reset button on their debut season in Conference USA.

Now, 60-percent shooting games are extremely rare. In fact, it's just the third time in the last 10-plus seasons an Old Dominion team has cracked the 60-percent barrier. On both other occasions, Towson was the victim - on March 8, 2012 in a 72-58 victory over the Tigers in the CAA Tournament first round; and on Feb. 15, 2007 in an 82-42 thumping of Towson at the Constant Center. (Note to you lottery players out there: In each of the three games, ODU's shooting percentage was exactly 60.4 percent).

Heading into the Southern Miss game, this season's Lady Monarchs were shooting 39.5 percent, had only reached 50 percent once (50.9 percent on Nov. 24 in an 89-82 loss to Marist) and had shot less than 40 percent 10 times.

So what happened in Hattiesburg? Well, we didn't see the game, but we know that forwards Shae Kelley and Chelisa Painter attack the rim and rarely shoot from the perimeter. That these two players accounted for more than half of ODU's field-goal attempts (25 of 48) suggests the Lady Monarchs declined settling for jumpers and were aggressively seeking high-percentage looks. So, too, does the fact that ODU attempted a season-high 39 free throws.

It also helped that all five starters were feeling it. Painter, in particular (a season-high 17 points on a season-high 13 field goal attempts), imposed herself on the proceedings in a way the Lady Monarchs would clearly love to see going forward. Of course, Kelley was Kelley (25 points, 11 rebounds, 3 blocks). But Tiffany Minor did her thing, too (14 points, 4 of 6 3-pointers), as did Stephanie Gardner (11 points).

And then there was Galaisha Goodhope. After last Saturday's 30-point loss to Tulane, normally ultra-positive ODU head coach Karen Barefoot made it clear she wasn't happy with the play of her point guards. And on her radio show Tuesday, Barefoot candidly spoke about how Goodhope was capable of better performances, and that she'd expressed as much to the sophomore in a long phone conversation the day after the game.

The tough love approach appears to have worked, as Goodhope responded to essentially being called out with her best all-around performance of the season - 15 points, 6 assists, 6 steals and 5 rebounds in 38 minutes.

So what should fans expect when the Lady Monarchs (8-9, 1-2 Conference USA) return to the Constant Center Saturday to take on Florida Atlantic (11-5, 1-2)? Well, probably nothing like 60.4 percent shooting. Even UConn doesn't live in that neighborhood. But if the aggressive, confident approach that led to that number is on display, ODU women's hoops figures to be a whole lot more interesting - and competitive - than it looked seven days ago.

Note: Saturday's 7 p.m. game also serves as Alumni Night for the ODU program. Click here for a list of the former players expected to be on hand.

A few extras

- Division I-wide, there have been 58 times a team shot 60 percent or better through games of Jan. 16 out of 5,605 opportunities. So essentially, teams shoot less than 60 percent 98.9 percent of the time. Once in every 100 occasions, what ODU did occurs.

- Hard to believe a team can shoot 60 percent and lose, but it's happened twice in the 58 times this season.  San Diego State fell to run-and-gun Sacramento State and Maine lost by a point to Yale despite lights-out shooting.

- San Diego State shot a Division I season-high 65.9 percent (for games involving two D-I teams) in a 71-67 victory over UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 30.

- This season's lowest field goal percentage was turned in by Alcorn State, which shot 13.5 percent in a 76-31 loss to Michigan on Dec. 28. Five weeks earlier, poor Alcorn had been held to 15.2-percent shooting in a 112-28 loss to Illinois.

Wednesday's 5-spot: What to watch for

Bet the kids will love Gen Okoro's athleticism.

Fans in the stands! - It's "Dream Big Day" at Richmond, so hundreds of elementary school kids will be encouraged to do just that while taking in the Spiders game against George Mason at noon. The players should get something out of it, too - the chance to play in front of a sizable - and noisy - crowd. The attendance at last year's "Dream Big" game was 1,334, a figure that's more than double Richmond's average gate this season (647).

Can the Patriots recover?  - George Mason rolled into December with a 5-2 record, but the Patriots have gone 1-9 since and are coming off a particularly ugly 59-40 loss at Rhode Island. And while this stretch started with the Patriots losing close games, each of Mason's four Atlantic 10 losses have come by at least 15 points. With obvious depth issues and the natural adjustments to a new coaching staff, no one was expecting the Patriots to go unbeaten this season. But they're better than they've played lately. Here's hoping the Rhode Island loss was rock-bottom and the Mason turnaround starts Wednesday.

Defense first - Old Dominion's recent stretch of surrendering at least 80 points in four of its last five games - all double-digit losses - hasn't left the Lady Monarchs much to be proud of. Getting back to the kind of aggressive, often-disruptive style ODU has employed with some success under coach Karen Barefoot could help ignite a team that, while still rebuilding, can produce much better results than it has in some of its recent performances.

Atlantic 10 Player of the Year showdown - If the award was being handed out today, we're pretty sure it would go to a Ram. But which Ram? We think the line ought to form behind VCU's Robyn Parks. But clearly Fordham's Erin Rooney is building one heck of a case, too. The New Zealand native is averaging 19.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists per contest while leading Fordham to victories in 13 of its last 14 games. Parks' Rams will face Rooney's Rams at the Siegel Center Wednesday, and while the team result is obviously paramount, which one of these stars gets the individual edge could be pivotal in determining who gets the league's top player honors come March.

Keira's droppin' dimes - Speaking of individual honors, VCU freshman Keira Robinson has a leg up on the league's top newcomer award after the 21-point, 10-assist effort against St. Joseph's cemented her conference-high third A-10 Rookie of the Week award. It was the third double-digit assist effort in less than a month for Robinson, who is averaging 8.4 helpers over her last nine games. Granted, her turnover count is a little high, too. But remember, folks, she's just getting started.

Today's games

George Mason (6-11, 0-4 Atlantic 10) at Richmond (7-10, 1-3), noon

Old Dominion (7-9, 0-2 Conference USA) at Southern Miss (13-2, 2-0), 8 p.m.

Fordham (14-3, 3-1 Atlantic 10) at VCU (15-2, 3-1), 7 p.m.

Catching up with ex-Hokie coach Beth Dunkenberger

LadySwish had a chance to get up with former Virginia Tech coach Beth Dunkenberger, in Norfolk for Old Dominion's Conference-USA opener against Tulane. Dunkenberger, who coached the Hokies from 2004-11, is now an assistant basketball coach at Tulane to head coach Lisa Stockton. Initially, Dunkenberger was hired as director of operations, but moved up to assistant coach last season. She handles game planning, recruiting and academic progress for the Green Wave.


What's it like at Tulane?

I love Tulane. It's a great school in a wonderful city and I get to work with my best friend in the whole world (Stockton).

Was it an adjustment moving to New Orleans?

I had lived in tiny college towns my entire life. There's so much to do in New Orleans -- food, music, shopping, different lifestyles. The thing I like about New Orleans is it's not a huge city like New York or Atlanta with all that traffic.  It's really a big small town. You can head to a show after the game or go see a jazz band. There's always things to do.

Does New Orleans really have the best creole?

Jambalaya, etouffee -- I've got to get on the elliptical just thinking about it.

When you think back to Tech, are they good memories?

Absolutely. I loved it there. I loved the people. Great memories. Sometimes things don't work out. They needed a new direction and I needed a change. Change can be for the better and the 16 years I spent there were some of the best years of my life.

Ex-Cavalier Fioravanti transferring to St. Joseph's

Amanda Fioravanti, who announced her intent to leave the University of Virginia after one semester, will play for Cindy Griffin at St. Joseph's.

"I really like the team, the coaches and the academics," Fioravanti said. "They have a really good education department, and I want to be a teacher."

Fiorvanti said St. Joseph's was the initial offer she received as a high school player at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Frederick, Md., where she averaged 19 points and eight rebounds as a senior. She is the 2012-13 Gatorade Maryland Player of the Year and a 2012-13 Parade All-American.

Fioravanti played in eight of 13 games at Virginia, averaging 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds.

"It just wasn't the best fit for me," Fioravanti said of Virginia. She will begin classes at the Philadelphia school on Thursday.

Virginia is 8-8, 1-2 in the ACC. St. Joseph's, the defending Atlantic 10 Tournament champion, is 12-4, 2-2.