PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore women's basketball team will finish out a two-game home stand before the Thanksgiving break against National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association opponent Regent University on Tuesday (Nov. 20) at 6 p.m.

"They are an emerging program," Hawks head coach Fred Batchelor said. "We want to use every opportunity we can to improve and going into the holidays we want to take advantage of another home game and look for an opportunity to improve before we take a little break for Thanksgiving."

The last time out, the Hawks picked up an 88-39 victory against Division II Cheyney and in that contest every member of the team played at least nine minutes. Batchelor gave his starters the credit for that pointing out that they played so efficiently early in the third quarter that it allowed him to finish out the game with reserves.

They were valuable minutes for underclassmen, who hadn't seen too much action against the team's tough early-season opponents.

"It is important for our kids to get some valuable playing time and real minutes in college situation that they never experienced," Batchelor said. "We need to find out if we can depend on them in conference play and the only way they are going to improve is being on the floor. These are great opportunities for us to take advantage of being able to extend our bench and give kids meaningful experience when we know we are going to need them in the future."

The Hawks will return to action after the Thanksgiving break when they travel to Longwood Nov. 27.