WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore fell behind Wake Forest by 23 points midway through the third quarter of Saturday's (Dec. 8) road contest and things could have gotten worse form there.

But led by seniors Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) and Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) and Ra'Jean Martin (Jacksonville, Florida), trimmed that lead to just eight with four minutes to go in the fourth and forced the Deamon Deacons (6-4) to earn the 78-67 win.

"Today, I thought leaving those seniors on the floor — Ra'Jean, Keyera and CiCi — and letting them lead the fight was probably the best decision I made, but it wasn't hard because they were playing so well," Hawks head coach Fred Batchelor said. "I'm happy for them that they were able to compete to a level that made it a competition as opposed to just walking on an ACC floor and them getting what they wanted against us."

Besides the leadership on the floor, the trio accounted for an 11-0 run that cut the Wake lead to 64-55 with 6:45 left in the fourth quarter. Martin sandwiched a pair of 3-pointers around a triple by Byrom forcing a Demon Deacons timeout and then Eaton's basket in the paint out of the timeout was the last of the run.

Against a team with nine player 6-foot-1 or larger, the defense during that stretch was just as key. But after getting a bit shell-shocked early, The Shore battled forcing Wake coach to play four of her starters for more than 32 minutes in the game.

"They were bigger than Syracuse," Batchelor said. "Their center wasn't as big, but all the other positions were. They had big guards, big wings, but I thought our kids fought. I saw CiCi getting caught in a switch and fighting in the post. I saw Ra'Jean out there pressuring the ball and I saw KeKe guarding probably a WNBA player (Elisa Penna) and I thought KeKe was able to go help at times and still recover to guard her. I just thought they gave a maximum effort defensively and on the offensive end they made some shots."

Wake Forest got out to a 16-6 advantage in the paint and a 19-6 advantage on the glass with about four minutes left in the second quarter. But the Hawks turned up the fight and by the end of the contest The Deacs led 30-18 in the paint and 42-28 on the boards.

"I thought Chioma Nkpuechina (Anambra, Nigera) made a big difference," Batchelor said. "She went in there and she battled. Chioma came in at a time when they thought maybe they were getting it under control and she just continued to battle and give extra effort. I thought that led to us make shots and I thought Chioma tonight was the biggest difference in the game. And she did that with two free throws and four rebounds.

"Every kid we have on our roster is going to make a difference in our success. I thought to see Chioma have that impact was huge."

Eaton fouled out of the contest with  — part of the price of guarding Penna who also fouled out late — but scored a game-high 24 points on 8-of-16 shooting (6-of-11 from 3) and added three rebounds and three assists.

Byrom had 16 points, five assists and a pair of blocked shots. Martin finished with 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal.

"It is not about moral victories," Batchelor said. "It is about getting better. I believe as a head coach that they responded to the leadership when things weren't going well and when things started going well, they appreciated it and they responded. I think that is what you build on as you go forward into a long year."

The game was the second of eight straight on the road for Eastern Shore. The Hawks will next travel to No. 25 (AP) Miami for a 1 p.m. contest on Dec. 16.

"We have one more game at a Top 25 opponent on the road where we have to get better there," Batchelor said. "It is nice to focus on winning basketball game because that's why you play them, but we aren't put in a position to win basketball games right now. We are put in a position to use these games to get better. That isn't really what sports is about, so it's hard for people to understand that.

"I think our kids have come to understand that we want to improve and we want to get better because we could have beat Wake Forest tonight, but if we lose in the first round of the MEAC tournament it's a terrible season. So at the end of the day it's about how do we become a better basketball team so that we are playing a game against one of these teams in an NCAA Tournament game."