Dec. 4, 2006
By Chevonne Mansfield
UMES Sports Information
Week in Review (Nov. 27 - Dec. 3)
Three sports were in action in a busy week in UMES Athletics. The men's and women's basketball teams each picked up their first win of the season while Women's Bowling finished a perfect 15-0 at the Lady Tiger Classic in Houston, Texas.
In Men's Basketball action, Ed Tyson scored 18 points as Maryland-Eastern Shore beat Stony Brook 64-58 on Nov. 28 for its first win of the season.
Jesse Brooks added 13 points and Aleksandar Popovic had 12 for the Hawks (1-3), who finished the game on a 12-4 run. Tyson and Popovic each scored four points during the decisive spurt.
Mike Popoko led the Seawolves (3-3) with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Mitchell Beauford had 11 points and Brandon Hickson added 10.
Stony Brook's last lead was 54-52 on a jumper by Emanuel Neto with 5:39 left.
Antonio McMillion scored four points as Maryland-Eastern Shore jumped out to a 9-0 lead. But Stony Brook went ahead 30-29 on a 3-pointer by Beauford with 2:04 to go in the first half.
The Hawks scored the final six points of the half, four by Corey Brown, to take a 35-30 lead at halftime.
In Women's Basketball action, Candyce Jeter scored a game-high 20 points as the UMES women's basketball team downed Howard, 65-54 for its first win of the season on Dec. 2 at the Hytche Center.
"I'm real pleased that we were able to get the W. It's a big win," said Head Coach Fred Batchelor. "It's a league win, it keeps us on track with what our ultimate goals are in the league and I'm just pleased we were able to take care of business at home like we're supposed to."
Jeter narrowly missed a double-double as she pulled down nine rebounds to go along with four steals. April McBride scored 17 points off the bench for the Lady Hawks while Jasmine Speed led the maroon and gray in rebounds with 11.
Shannon Carlisle's 11 points paced the Lady Bison. Courtney Smiley added 10.
UMES (1-6, 1-0 MEAC) shot 35% from the field compared to 30% field goal shooting by Howard (18-61). The Hawks turned the ball over a season high 37 times but held a 52-36 advantage on the boards. The Lady Bison, meanwhile, finished the game with 28 turnovers and only managed just five assists on the afternoon.
"Nothing is going to come easy for us and it's going to be a real tough year," said Batchelor. "We're going to have to grind things out and play with a lot of toughness and a lot of heart every possession."
The first period featured 10 ties with neither team going up by more than five points. A pair of McBride free-throws at 2:36 gave the Hawks a four-point advantage at 22-18, their largest lead of the half. UMES held a 27-25 lead at the intermission.
The Lady Hawks jumped out to a 12-4 run to open the second half. A lay-up by Danielle Cooper at 15:13 put the maroon and gray up by 10, 39-29. Cooper's free-throw with 1:42 remaining gave UMES their largest lead of the night, an 11-point advantage at 62-51. Howard (0-9, 0-1 MEAC) would get no closer than nine-points after that.
In a game on Dec. 3, Jelila Abdul-Bassit scored 18 points off the bench to guide the women's basketball team to a 65-62 win over St. Francis (NY) at the Hytche Center. UMES picked up its second win in as many days to improve to 2-6. St. Francis (NY), meanwhile, falls to 1-5.
"Everything we do is in preparation for the MEAC Tournament," said Head Coach Fred Batchelor. "Back-to-back home games, the 10-day road trip earlier this season, we did all of that to challenge our squad. I think we stepped up after a tough game yesterday and really responded, especially on the defensive end in the second half."
The Lady Hawks outscored the Terriers 34-14 in bench play with Abdul-Bassit leading the way. Natalia Benton contributed seven rebounds and five points while April McBride finished with six points and four rebounds. Brittany Adkins added five points.
Danielle Cooper had 10 points and a game-high eight assists while Kristi Veltkamp led the maroon and gray in rebounds with eight. Veltkamp and Abdul-Bassit swatted two blocks each on the defensive end.
Tiffany Hill scored 20 points to lead St. Francis. Sarah Bratton chipped in a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The maroon and gray made 8-of-18 shots from 3-point range while the Terriers made just one shot from beyond the arc (1-14). UMES held a 48-38 rebound advantage, pulling down 26 offensive rebounds compared to 13 by St. Francis.
The Terriers held a lead for the majority of the first half until a trey by Abdul-Bassit at 11:40 spurred a quick 6-0 run by the maroon and gray. St. Francis regained the lead at the end of the half, however, when Bratton's jumper sparked an 8-1 run by the Terriers.
St. Francis pushed its lead to double-digits in the second period when Bratton's lay-up at 17:12 put the Terriers up by 12. Strong Hawk defense and key offensive rebounds helped cut the St. Francis advantage down to five at 5:36, 57-52. A pair of 3-point baskets by Abdul-Bassit gave the Hawks its first lead of the half, 58-57 at 4:43. The Terriers tied the score on two occasions after that but would not regain the lead.
In Women's Bowling action on Nov. 24-26, UMES ran the table on five southern schools each day during ten Baker games and five head to head contests to finish 15-0 at the Lady Tiger Classic in Houston, Texas. UMES improves to 38-5 on the season.
On day two of the event the Hawks bowled head to head, knocking off Grambling (978-867), Prairie View A & M (929-766), Florida A & M (1110-672), host Texas Southern (1042-949) and Louisiana Tech (1035-840).
UMES put up some impressive numbers. Individually Laura Zanrucha knocked down the most pins of anyone, tallying 1,126 pins and earning MVP honors of the event. The Hawks placed two other bowlers on the All-Tournament Team as well with Christine King tallying 1,032 pins and Marion Singleton totaling 1,024.
Zanrucha averaged an impressive 224 over five games and bowled the second highest game of the Le Tiger Classic with a 243. In fact every game was over 200. She bowled a 225, 220, 236, 243 and a 202. Also with 200 games were Jessica Worsley with a 236 and a 223, King with a 231, 232 and a 207, Michelle Wallace with a 213 and a 204 and Singleton with a 206, 227 and 241. King averaged a 206 while Singleton's was a 204.
In Baker games on days one and three the Hawks never let up. They opened the event with wins over Prairie View A & M (542-493), Grambling (942-823), Louisiana Tech (765-691), Florida A & M (765-542) and Texas Southern (970-887) in a best three out of five format.
On the final day of competition it was much of the same story. Prairie View A & M (629-469), Grambling (589-491), Louisiana Tech (797-742), Florida A & M (810-724) and Texas Southern (787-764) all fell victim to the Hawks.
"15-0 is a nice feeling," said Head Bowling Coach Sharon Brummell. "I am proud of these young ladies, we bowled really well. Its not just the wins though, look at our scores, we bowled great, the pinfall and averages tell you that," she added.
UMES now takes a well-deserved month off before returning to action in the NCAA Holiday Jamboree on December 27-28, 2006.
Upcoming Week (Dec. 4 - Dec. 10)
Men's Basketball faces off with non-conference foe George Washington on Dec. 5 in Washington DC while Women's Basketball returns to action on Dec. 6 with a non-conference decision against Longwood on Dec. 6. Both teams return home on Dec. 9 with the Fighting Hawks facing off against Howard live on ESPNU at noon. The Lady Hawks battle Winston-Salem State at 2 p.m., the second half the doubleheader.
