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Feb. 18, 2008
NORFOLK, Va. - It started nine games ago. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) went on a seven game winning streak in conference play before they dropped their last two contests. That streak began with a win over Norfolk State University (NSU) and the Lady Hawks hope the streak begins anew as they toppled that same Spartan team 84-65 Monday night on the campus of NSU. Head Coach Fred Batchelor got 16 points each from three players and 15 from another to lead a dominating offense that that shot 47.5 percent from the floor, dominated the paint with a 42-28 scoring advantage and won second chance points 21-4. The superior rebounding of the Lady Hawks had a 45-31 advantage on the boards while grabbing 15 offensive boards and 30 defensive, limiting the NSU (4-18, 1-11 MEAC) offensive rebounds to just 13 and holding them to just the four second chance points. The UMES (15-10, 8-4 MEAC) defense also forced 26 turnovers and despite committing 28 themselves, they capitalized, posting 35 points off of turnovers and allowing the Spartans just 17. April McBride, Tiffany Reid and Queenique Tyler all posted 16 points in the game. For Tyler it is a new career high while fellow freshmen Casey Morton added 15 points. Both McBride and Reid had a double double as they grabbed 13 and 10 rebounds respectively. Free throw shooting was huge for UMES as Morton went a perfect 13 of 13 from the charity stripe and the team converted 20 out of 26 attempts. Reid was 5-7 from the line and the two combined made more than the entire Spartan team who went 16-26 from the line. UMES led the entire game and the Spartans were only able to tie the game once, early on. "One of our goals was to set the tempo early and I felt we did a good job of doing that," said Batchelor. The Lady Hawks was up by as many as 28 in the second half. They opened the game on a five nothing run on an old-fashioned three point play by Morton and a McBride lay-up. Norfolk State tied the game at nine all on a Raychele Payne lay-up but the Spartans would get no closer. The Lady Hawks went on a 24-9 run to make the lead 15 with 5:40 to play in the first half. They would extend that to 20 on a McBride lay-up with 20 seconds left, setting up the half-time score, 44-24. In the second half UMES would come out hot and jump on the Spartans, forcing them down by 28 just four minutes in. Tyler drained a three that made the score 57-29 with 15:43 to play. The lead would hover between 23 and 27 for almost the entire rest of the game. Payne would get a three that cut it to 20, 78-58, with 2:35 to play. With just two seconds to play, down 21, who else but Payne would hit a runner in the lane that went uncontested to account for the final margin of 19, 84-65. Payne led all scorers with 22 points while Ebony Gibbs was the only other Spartan in double figures with 15. Gibbs had a team high eight rebounds. With the win, UMES improves to 8-4 in league play and stands third in the MEAC tied with Morgan State and Delaware State, both of whom UMES has defeated this season. The Lady Hawks host Florida A&M on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. in Princess Anne for the University's homecoming festivities. |
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