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NORFOLK, Va.- In their Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Tournament opener, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Women's Basketball Team advanced after a 67-47 victory over the North Carolina Central (NCCU) Eagles. With the win, the Lady Hawks improved to 12-16 overall whereas NCCU ended their 2014-15 campaign 7-22.

"We talked about playing tough and defending," said UMES Women's Basketball head coach Fred Batchelor. "I'm really proud of the toughness we showed on the defense end. I think these kids really wanted to advance."

Similar to their first meeting, Maryland Eastern Shore led most of the way. UMES forced 28 turnovers and scored 32 points off those mistakes. Furthermore, the Lady Hawks outscored NCCU's bench, 32-9, led by junior TeAmber Burke (Washington, N.C.). Burke notched a game-high 18 points on 50-percent (6-of-12) shooting from the field.

"My role is to score and I just play my role," Burke added. "Anything to help my team win."

A layup from Taryana Kelly (North Brunswick, N.J.) gave UMES a double-digit lead, 32-21, minutes into the second half. North Carolina Central fought back as they trimmed the deficit back to single-digits, 44-35, after a jumper by Tia Clement. Maryland Eastern Shore answered, scoring five unanswered points to take a 14-point advantage with more than eight minutes left, 49-35. NCCU refused to back down as they made another run.

North Carolina Central cut the margin as low as eight points after two freebies from Racquel Davis, 49-41, with less than seven minutes remaining. UMES withstood the Eagles' run rally and closed out the contest on an 18-6 run to win, 67-47.

Other notable Hawk performances included newcomer Moengaroa Subritzky (Auckland, New Zealand) filling the stat sheet. The New Zealand-native tallied 16 points, six assists and six boards.

"We knew that they were going to be tough," said Subritzky. "We had an idea of the different looks we were going to see. Fortunately, we were prepared for that."

Additionally, senior guard Jessica Long (Fort Washington, Md.) added nine points and a game-high five steals in the victory.

Long opened the game drilling a long ball, but the Eagles scored the next 13-out-of-14 points to take a nine-point advantage, 13-4, with 13:30 left in the half. Within the next six minutes, UMES began to put the pressure on and got back into the contest. Maryland Eastern Shore went on a 16-4 spurt to reclaim the lead, 20-17, after a steal-and-layup by Long. At the 2:21 mark, NCCU's Tisha Dixon made a layup and trimmed the deficit, 25-20, but the Lady Hawks outscored North Carolina Central in the waning moments, 6-1, to take a 30-21 halftime lead.

For the Eagles, Morgan Jones had a team-high 12 points on 40-percent (4-of-10) shooting from long range. Khyra Conerly chipped in 10 points while Davis posted seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds in a losing effort.

Tomorrow (03/11), the Lady Hawks quest continue against top-seeded Hampton. Tipoff is set for noon.

Batchelor Post Game Press Conference| Long Post Game Press Conference

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