March 6, 2008

Box Score

DOVER, Del. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Women's Basketball Team was in a position to enter the upcoming Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament as the second seed. Then they lost to Coppin State last Saturday night. On Thursday night they traveled to Delaware State in a position to lock up the third seed with a win. Then they dropped their second game in a row, this one to the Lady Hornets, 57-46. Then win secured the third seed for the defending tournament champions and the Lady Hawks will be the fourth or fifth seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

"Great Del. State defense and really poor shooting did us in," said Head Coach Fred Batchelor. "We got off to a horrible start and we couldn't dig ourselves out of the hole we made."

The team was also looking for a school record 18th win, but that will have to wait a week as UMES will not play until March 13 at the MEAC Tournament in the #4 vs. #5 game.

The poor first half Batchelor spoke of started with the Lady Hawks opening the game 0-11 and shooting a dreadful 17.9 percent from the field. They improved in the second half to 37 percent, giving just a shooting percentage of 27.3 percent for the game. Not the kind of shooting needed when playing the league's stingiest defense.

Only two players scored in double figures for UMES as Casey Morton came off the bench to score a team high 12 points and April McBride added 10 points. Guard Tiffany Reid led the Hawks in rebounding with eight. The rebounding category is one where UMES wasn't beaten, but they were tied. Both teams had 44 rebounds each with the Lady Hawks holding the edge on the offensive glass 13-12, but had trouble converting those, scoring just six second chance points. DSU posted nine off of their put-back opportunities.

UMES never led in the game, getting behind 11-5 before McBride made the Lady Hawk's first field goal. All five points previously came on free throws. DSU would lead by as many as 10 in the first half, 27-17 and take a seven point lead, 27-20 into halftime.

The Lady Hornets would lead in the second half by as many as 13, 53-40, coming with just over a minute to play in the game. It would end a 57-46 win for a difference of 11. UMES got as close as two in the second half on two occasions. They were down 42-40 with 8:16 to play when Queenique Tyler hit a three-pointer.

Katreem Palmer led DSU with 11 rebounds while Thea Littlepage was also in double figures with 10. Three players scored in double figures with senior Ashlee Burbage posting a game high 16 points in her final home game. Raquel Collier added 15 and Keyhanna Wakefield had 10 points.

Both teams will not travel to the MEAC Tournament and play on Thursday. UMES is likely the fifth seed, drawing Hampton in their first contest. That remains to be finalized.

Stay tuned to www.umeshawks.com or www.meachoops.com for updated tournament brackets and news.