Jan. 19, 2008

Box Score

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - North Carolina A&T State University (NCAT) improved to 4-0 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) after surviving a hard-fought comeback from the Lady Hawks. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), down four at the break, put together a run that gave them a lead. UMES was up 55-53 when the Lady Aggies responded with a 17-4 run to seal the win, 72-59.

UMES (7-8, 0-2 MEAC) got a solid 24 points from April McBride (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle H.S.) who scored at least 20 points for the second straight game and the for the fifth time this season. She came one rebound shy of a double double by grabbing nine rebounds. Brittany Adkins (Millsboro, Del./Sussex Technical H.S.) matched McBride on the boards with nine caroms.

Casey Morton (Mardela Springs, Md./Mardela H.S.) added 12 points while Tiffany Reid (Philadelphia, Pa./National Christian Academy) also scored in double figures with ten points.

"We played a great 35 minutes," said UMES Head Coach Fred Batchelor. "But with five minutes to go [NCAT] stepped up and their best player picked it up."

Tied for the game's leading scorer was NCAT's Amber Bland. Bland added 24 points with 18 in the first half. Her hot shooting put the Hawks in a hole early and despite cutting a 13 point lead down to four at the half, Bland stepped up when it mattered.

It was Bland who sealed the win for the Lady Aggies. With just over six minutes to play Bland hit two free throws to cut the Hawk's lead down to two, 55-53. She then hit a jumper that gave them a lead 57-55 following a game tying lay-in by Brittany Taylor-James.

Bland would hit another jumper to give NCAT (10-5, 4-0 MEAC) a four point lead 59-55 with under five minutes to play. She then drew the attention of the Hawk defense as Lamona Smalley would go to work inside, getting a pair of jumpers and a free throw to help extend the lead.

McBride would get the lead down to four with 2:18 to play on a pair of free throws but Smalley's three point play and a lay-up and two free throws by Ta'Wauna Cook would make the lead 11. Cook again drew a foul and two more free throws would make the margin 13, 72-59. A score that was not as close as the contest.

Smalley would finish with 15 pints and 14 rebounds while Taylor-James added 10. Cook had eight points, six in the final minute.

It was the Hawks who took the lead in the second half at the 12:46 mark when Reid drained a three-pointer from the wing to make it 47-46. UMES pushed their lead to as many as four with 6:27 left when NCAT began chipping away.

"We did a great job of attacking them," added Batchelor. "I challenged [the Lady Hawks] at half time to step up and play tougher. I think we did that but in the final minutes A&T stepped up and pulled it out."

UMES will hope to step-up from the beginning on Monday when they host Norfolk State University at 5:30 p.m. They are in search of their first MEAC win of the season.