The action figures to be hot and heavy this weekend when the Howard University women and men's basketball teams open their home MEAC play.

When these two teams last met, it was in March for the all-important conference tournament championship.  Hampton came away with a thrilling one-point win that came down to the wire and secured its position in the NCAA Tournament.

The Lady Bison (7-6 overall, 2-0 in the MEAC) will be looking to avenge that loss, but more important get the early advantage in conference play over the two-time defending MEAC champs.

Howard will be led by the pre-season MEAC Player of the Year, senior forward Saadia Doyle.  Doyle has emerged as one of the premier players in the country, averaging a career-high 23 points per game.  The senior from Atlanta, GA, needs just 22 points to reach the 2,000-point plateau which would make her only the second player in school history to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds in their career.

The Lady Pirates (11-5 overall, 2-0 in the MEAC) counter with the tandem of Keiara Avant (14.9 points per game, 9.5 rebounds) and Nicole Hamilton (11.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg), who combined for over 26 points per contest.

Following this tilt, the Howard men will take on the Pirates of Hampton University at approximately 4 pm.

Both teams are coming off wins that snapped losing streaks.  In the first contest between the two rivals, Hampton pulled out a hard-fought 58-50 win that could have gone either way.

Howard (4-12 overall, 1-1 in the MEAC) will continue to rely on its senior forward, Mike Phillips, who is having the best season of his career.  Phillips, who recently reached the 1,000-point plateau in his career, leads the team in scoring, minutes played and rebounding and has scored in double figures in 13 of the 16 games this season.

The young Pirates (3-10, 1-0 in the MEAC) rely on the scoring of their outstanding freshman guard Deron Powers, who leads the team in scoring with 12 points per game and in assists with 4.4 per game.

The Bison will take the court a little more than 48 hours later when they take on the Spartans of Norfolk State University.  There will be added incentive as both games will be televised on ESPNU live.  The women tip off at 4:30 pm and the men at 7:30 pm.