Feb. 14, 2009
Box Score | Photo Gallery 
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Despite a strong first half, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women's basketball team dropped their homecoming game to the no. 1 team in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Saturday night. North Carolina A&T (NCAT) scored 35 points on turnovers to top the Lady Hawks 89-68 and sweep the series this season.
Both teams shot 51-percent from the floor, but the turnovers were the deciding factor in the game. UMES committed twice as many as the Lady Aggies and ended the contest with only three offensive rebounds.
"Even though we made some shots," said Head Coach Fred Batchelor, "I'm looking for a couple players to get three and a half rebounds. A lot of that was the fact that they take you out of your regular attack mode. And I think they capped a lot of those turnovers with some really big shots."
Junior April McBride (New Rochelle, N.Y.) led the Lady Hawks with 28 points, just one off of her career high. Casey Morton (Mardela Springs, Md.) finished with 18 points and a game-high five assists.
For the first time this season, UMES (10-12, 6-5 MEAC) shot nearly 60-percent from the floor in the first half. The Lady Hawks were down by 10 points with 1:43 to play in the half when they began to claw back.
Adobi Agbasi (Columbus, Ga.) hit two free throws and a layup to pull UMES to within four points with 30 seconds on the clock. The Lady Aggies squeezed in a layup with 19 seconds left to go up by six before the break.
"It felt good to hang in there with them," said McBride. "We always knew we could hang with them, but playing the first half reassured us that we could."
The Lady Hawks would get as close as 44-46 in the second half with 16:38 on the clock, but NCAT pulled away to take their 12th straight win of the season. The Lady Aggies (18-5) are now 11-0 in the MEAC.
NCAT was led by Brittanie Taylor-James who finished with a game and career-high 34 points. The team's leading scorer was 14-for-24 from the floor and 4-of-4 from the free throw line.
"[Taylor-James] hit a lot of tough shots today," said Batchelor. "And those are the kind of back breaker shots that you need them to miss so you can go the other way."
Amber Bland and Jaleesa Sams had 17 and 12 points respectively for the Lady Aggies. Sams finished with a game-high seven rebounds.
"I thought we came out and played well," said Batchelor. "We played really good defense in the first half. I was really pleased with the effort that we gave."
UMES is back home on February 16 for the WBCA Pink Zone game against Norfolk State University. The game is to raise breast cancer awareness and proceeds will benefit the WBCA and Save the Ta-Tas. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. in the William P. Hytche Athletic Center. Fans can watch the action live on umeshawks.com or tune in to 540AM WGOP Timeless Classics for the play-by-play.
