FARMVILLE, Virginia — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore women's basketball team should be plenty rested on Tuesday (Nov. 27) when it takes on Big South member Longwood (0-2) at Willett Hall at 7 p.m.
The Hawks (2-4) have been off since a big home win against visiting National Christian College Athletic Association member Regent University on Nov. 20. And in that game the team's regular four starters didn't play a single minute. The Shore started four freshmen and a sophomore and played only the team's usual 10 reserves.
Eastern Shore will go back to its regular starters for this road tilt as the senior trio of
Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
Ra'Jean Martin (Jacksonville, Florida) and
Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) will lead the team against the Lancers.
Emergent junior
Ksenia Popovich (Moscow, Russia) and 2016-17 MEAC Rookie of the Year
Bairesha Gill-Miles round out the regular starters.
The five starters haven't played a game since Nov. 17 when the Hawks hosted Division II Cheyney.
Byrom leads the Hawks in scoring (14.4 ppg), assists (4.8) and is averaging 4.6 rebounds as a point guard. Gill-Miles is second on the team in scoring (11.2 ppg) leads the team in rebounding (7.0) and is shooting more than 62 percent from the field.
Popovich, who played sparingly over her first two seasons, is putting up 8.8 points and 6.6 rebounds, while Eaton averages 9.2 points and 4.2 boards.
The Lancers — in their 12
th season of Division I competition — are 0-2 and in their first season under head coach Rebecca Tillett, who spent four seasons as an assistant at the Naval Academy before heading to Longwood.
Sophomore guard Stephanie Guihon leads the way for Longwood so far with 11.5 points per game. Sophomore forward Mallory Odell and junior forward Dayna Rouse are second on the team in scoring with 10.5 points per game each. Odell is pulling down 7.0 boards and Rouse 5.5 for the top two spots respectively.
Following the game at Longwood, the Hawks will travel to Syracuse (Dec. 5), Wake Forest (Dec. 8) and Miami (Dec. 16.).