Feb. 13, 2006
Box Score
Dover, Del. - The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Lady Hawks headed into tonight's competition looking to be the first Hawk Basketball Team in eight seasons to be .500 in the month of February. Instead, they dropped two below, falling to the tough defense of the Lady Hornets of Delaware State University (DSU), 64-45.
UMES was frustrated all night long in a game that looked like a carbon copy of the first time these two teams meant back on January 16, 2006. That game resulted in a 65-51 DSU win. Toni Kennedy single handedly kept the game close tallying 12 first half points and picking up a pair of steals. In the second half, the already tenacious Hornet defense collapsed and allowed her to only score three more to finish with a team high 15 points.
Tiffany Reid did her part as well falling one point shy of a double double with nine points and 10 rebounds. DSU collapsed on her in the second half as well, as only two boards and two points came in the second frame for Reid. The Lady Hawk's second leading scorer on the season, Kristi Veltkamp, tallied only two points in the game to go with five rebounds, four in the first half and a pair of blocks.
"They outplayed us tonight," said Head Coach Fred Batchelor. "They really played great, it was clear they came to play and we didn't, it's as simple as that."
Raquel Collier led DSU with a game high 16 points, eight coming from the foul line on eight attempts. That makes her 16 for 16 against the Hawks this season; she normally shoots just 59 percent from the stripe. That is one example of the Hornets determination to hold onto second place in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). Had the Hawks won, they would be in that position instead.
UMES trailed by 11 at the break and got no closer in the second half than ten. They did that two times. At the 10:19 mark the Hornets, ahead by ten, went on a 15-5 run to extend the lead to 20 with 2:15 to play. They would lead by 22 19 second later but a three-pointer by Rachael Goodwin and a lay-up by Jasmine Speed would sandwich a pair of Shaquana Morgan free throws to give DSU the 64-45 win.
Delaware State forced 22 Hawk turnovers and won the battle of the boards 40-32.
DSU jumped out to an early eight nothing lead and were up 13, 19-6, just seven and half minutes in. UMES would fight back and trail just 26-22 with 5:42 to play when Kennedy got a steal and a lay-in. DSU would run the lead back to six on a Najmah Fauntleroy lay-up. Fauntleroy would finish with nine points and six rebounds. The last five minutes would see a six to one run. It would appear that the Hawks would get a break to end the half when Veltkamp was fouled with just 2.2 second remaining but she would miss both free throws and Daynese Stowe would commit a foul on the rebound and allow free throws on the other end. While the front end of the one and one was missed DSU's Tyrah Lusby would sneak in, get the rebound and hit the shot at the buzzer to make it an 11 point advantage at the break.
The Lady Hawks play their final non-conference game of the year Thursday, February 16 at 7:00 pm when they host Longwood in the William P. Hytche Athletic Center. Their next conference match will be on Saturday when they host Florida A & M on Homecoming at 2:00 pm.
