Feb. 23, 2009
Box Score
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - In a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) game that saw the lead change 18 times, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women's basketball team pulled ahead with just over three and a half minutes to play, to grab their third straight conference win over Bethune-Cookman University (B-CU) 70-60. The Lady Hawks (13-12, 9-5 MEAC) move into sole possession of fourth place in the conference with the win.
April McBride (New Rochelle, N.Y.) led UMES in points for the eighth straight game. The 6-0 junior finished with a game-high 22 points and team-high eight rebounds. Bria Jackson (Rochester, N.Y.) came off the bench and hit five three's to net a career-high 15 points shooting 71-percent from behind the arc.
The Lady Hawks, down 26-27 at the half, trailed mostly due to B-CU capitalizing off of UMES miscues. The Wildcats scored 10 points on 10 turnovers.
Turnovers plagued the Lady Hawks in the first half. UMES trailed the Wildcats by one point going into the second half due in large part to the 10 points B-CU scored off of turnovers.
Regrouping, UMES committed only three turnovers in the second half and took the lead, 40-39, on a jumper by freshman Adobi Agbasi (Columbus, Ga.) with 13:01 on the clock and never looked back. B-CU (10-15, 3-11 MEAC) would pull to within one point on a foul shot by Sarah Bolden.
Jackson hit a 3-point shot, sparking a 9-0 run for the Lady Hawks, with 5:14 to play. UMES held B-CU scoreless for nearly three minutes as they ran the score to 60-50 before Wildcat leading scorer Demetria Frank hit a layup with 3:27 on the clock. The Lady Hawks would go up by as much as 11 in the final minute to hold onto the lead and take the conference win.
Three B-CU players ended the night in double-digits with Bolden leading the pack. She had a double-double of a team-high 17 points and game-high 13 rebounds. Frank finished with 16 points and Jasmine Daniels had 12.
UMES travels to Baltimore, Md. next to face off against MEAC rival Coppin State on February 28. It will be the Eagles homecoming game with tipoff is set for 2 p.m. The last time the two met, Coppin made two free throws with four seconds left to take the win 71-69.
