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PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland -

Saturday's game against Division III Wesley College (2-7) may have been just what the doctor ordered for a University of Maryland Eastern Shore team that has been on the road for seven straight games.

The Shore (2-7) started the second half with a 20-0 run and then outscored the Wolverines 62-8 in the second half to go on to a 97-30 victory.

"I wasn't pleased at halftime, but I thought we came out in the second half with a sense of urgency," head coach Fred Batchelor said. "It was an example of us playing a little harder and with a little more effort."

The Hawks trailed their Capital Athletic Conference opponent 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, but managed to take a 34-22 lead into the half.

"I thought Wesley played a pretty good first quarter," Batchelor said. "We didn't dictate the tempo, which we had talked about doing. They got comfortable and they have a really good point guard that I thought had a lot of fight in her. Our kids didn't respond very well in the first quarter, but I thought over time we wore them down a little bit doing some things we didn't want to do to change the pace of the game because we forced them to."

The Hawks forced 36 Wolverines turnovers -picking off 26 steals - and coughed the ball up just 12 times.

"I would have like to have been able to play man-to-man against a team like Wesley," Batchelor said. "I didn't want to press, but we had to."

Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) scored a game-high 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and added six steals and three assists.

"I was looking at the stats because I didn't play Gill-Miles as much as I thought she should have played today," Batchelor said. "She's a kid who has been playing well - sometimes you have some kids you need to highlight a little bit even as a freshman - and she's earned that. I looked up and she's at 18 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes. I think she can be a special playing in this league."

Junior college transfer Dominique Walker (Bel Air, Maryland) scored 17 points, grabbed seven rebounds and added five steals, two blocks and an assist.

"Dominique has an ability to be able to score the basketball," Batchelor said. "She averaged 18 points a game out of JUCO. I'm not surprised at what she is able to do with her athleticism and ability to finish around the basket. I think she is going to become a lot more effective when she gets more comfortable with what we are doing."

All 12 active members of the Eastern Shore roster played at least 13 minutes in the contest.

Senior Tori Morris (Herndon, Virginia), classmate Alexus Hicks (Raleigh, North Carolina), graduate transfer Jordyn Smith ( and freshman Amanda Carney (Parlin, New Jersey) had eight point apiece.

The Hawks will play two more at home before the holidays. They host Mount St. Mary's on Tuesday (Dec. 19) and then University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) on Thursday (Dec. 21).

"It is nice to be able to get three in a row at home and I think it just fell into place because those are teams we play every year," Batchelor said. "We were fortunate to get them playing at home this year and we have been playing teams that are really, really high and this was a Division III team, so we have to be ready to play the team that are more like us and be successful and there is no better place to do that than at home."

After a trip to East Carolina on Dec. 28, the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference schedule will begin on Jan. 3 with a road game at Morgan State.

"I think some teams are ahead of us right now," Batchelor said. "Especially since we have our leading scorer - and arguable our best player (Ciani Byrom) still off the floor with an injury. We hope to get her back as soon as possible and the addition of new players like (Martha) Thompson and Smith gelling with players like Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) who has only been back for a few games. We are nowhere near where we are going to be in February, but we need to continue to make strides and improve and we continue to get there."

For more information on Eastern Shore Athletics visit http://www.easternshorehawks.com/ .