EMMITSBURG, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore headed to Mount. St. Mary's on Thursday (Dec. 20) ready to battle for its first Division I win of the season. The Hawks (3-8) fought their way to a halftime lead and weathered a third-quarter run by the Mountaineers. But it was the fourth quarter explosion for 35 points, a career game by senior Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) and an inspiring fourth quarter by classmate Ra'Jean Martin (Jacksonville, Florida) that led to an 86-73 victory.

"It feels really good after playing all these ACC teams and going through the struggles to be going home to Christmas break with a win," Eaton said. "Everybody was very encouraging and supportive and happy because we were playing well. The bench was happy for us. Everybody supports each other and lifts each other up.

Eaton scored a career-high 28 points, grabbed seven rebounds, added three assists, had two blocks and picked up three steals in 38 minutes.

The rangy wing got her game going early driving to the basket and not settling for jumpers. She was forced to carry much of the load early and had 14 points at the half, while senior point guard Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) was held scoreless over the first two quarters.

After Byrom had a big hand in defeating The Mount two years ago at Knott Arena, they seemed determined not to let her get involved.

"I already knew I had to take over if Cici was being double-teamed or taken away from the ball because she looks for me to go be the second man to go score," Eaton said.

But it was the squad's third fourth-year senior, Martin, who seemed to be the catalyst for the late surge.

"The fourth quarter, we just realized we had one goal and that was to win," Martin said. "We were going to leave it all on the court whether that was going to be a loss or a win we just knew we have to fight for each other and play with each other."

Martin scored nine points in the final period including a perfect 6-for-6 from the line and grabbed six boards.

And through most of her 26 minutes on the court Martin was guarding Mountaineer point guard Juliette Lawless, who leads the team in scoring at nearly 18 a game.

"I know my coach gave me one goal before the game and that was to limit her touches, don't allow her to get to the free throw line," Martin said. "She got to the line because she is a great player, but I know I did my job in trying to work her and not letting it be easy."

Martin locked down in Lawless one-on-one in the fourth holding her to five points on 2-of-4 from the field late while making her work just to get the ball in her hands to begin with.

"She played big tonight at both ends of the floor," head coach Fred Batchelor said. "I told her before the game that she was going to be a big factor in whether we were going to be successful or not. Basically, her energy at both ends and how we played off of her and I thought down the stretch she was just relentless at making the best player on the floor work and work and work. That wears on you after a while, so I was really glad to see it.

Eastern Shore led at the half, 36-27, but The Mount (5-5) wasn't ready to give up. In a game that had already featured 11 lead changes, they were bound to come back.

"The thing was come out with the lead and we came out and we had two or three attempts before they got the ball and we didn't capitalize and I said if that was how it was going to go their run was coming," Batchelor said. "We went through a little drought and we tried to do some stuff defensively that didn't work, so we went right back to straight man and they knuckled down."

Foul trouble was also an issue for the Hawks as the Mountaineers' four-guard lineup posed matchup problems to begin with. Martin had some early foul trouble, while fellow starters Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) and Dominique Walker (Bel Air, Maryland) spent also spent time on the bench in the second half.

One player who took major advantage of increased minutes was junior JUCO transfer Adrienne Jones (Baltimore, Maryland) who finished with a career-high 16 points and a pair of rebounds in 28 minutes. Sophomore more Amanda Carney (Parlin, New Jersey) played 10 big minutes off the bench as well as Batchelor and his staff altered the team's normal two-post offense on the fly.

The smaller lineup the Hawks employed late in the game enabled them to switch almost everything in man, but at times was both a blessing and a curse.

Byrom eventually got involved in the offense late finishing with 13 points — 11 in the decisive fourth quarter. The Hawks were 17-of-21 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter as The Mount tried to foul their way back into the lead late. Martin and Eaton were a perfect 11-of-11 combined in the fourth.

"I felt that I could drive easily against them and they were always ready to foul me, so I had a lot of free throws in this game compared to others," Eaton said. "It was really easy at the line this game. I just took my time and knocked them down for the first time. Usually I am nervous up there, but I was just let that go and focusing."

The Hawks will be off until Dec. 26 when they return to campus for practice. They head to George Mason (6-4) on Dec. 28 and then play at University of Maryland Baltimore County Dec. 31 in the non-conference schedule finale. They will be hoping to build on the momentum they picked up heading into the short break.

"It was great because we have been fighting against all the bigger competitors and the more challenging teams, so to be able to get this dub, it just lets us know that we have been preparing," Martin said. "I know our season is only going to get better from this point."