FAIRFAX, Virginia — Coming off one of its best performances of the year and fresh off a five-day holiday break, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore will look to win a second straight game when it faces George Mason on Saturday (Dec. 29) afternoon.

After entering the short holiday break following an 86-73 win at Mount St. Mary's, the Hawks (3-8) returned to practice on Dec. 26. And Associate Head coach Sidney Raikes said the return to practice went as could be expected.

"You give them five days off that means most of them if not all of them didn't do anything," Raikes said. "But they are kids so you have to expect they are going to go home and relax. Coming back they were lethargic. We tried to run some things and do some things we normally do, but it all resulted in getting on the baseline and doing some running."

Maybe it was a little too many cookies, or too many days without physical activity, but they were winded and rusty something they had just days to shake off.

"We just told them it's all about opening you lungs up and shocking your body to get in basketball mode," Raikes said. "Christmas is over an now it's time to get back to work and try and build on that win we had at Mount St. Mary's"

That is no small task as the Patriots (6-5) return a key component to last year's 82-68 victory over The Shore in sophomore point guard Nicole Cardano-Hillary. The 5-foot-7 guard from Madrid, Spain, was the Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of The Year last season. This year she is leading the A10 in scoring with 20.1 points per game. She leads her team in assists (3.0) and steals (2.4) per game. She scored 25 points against the Hawks last year.

"I think any team with a very good point guard presents problems," Raikes. "She is an extremely good point guard. She's very cerebral, she's quick and she's pretty much the engine that makes them go. She penetrates really well. She looks to draw help and has the ability to kick to the open person. We'll approach that like any other team with that dynamic and try to limited her touches as much as possible and when she does get the ball we need to focus on her."

The Hawks took a similar tact in their last outing when senior Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) guarded Mountaineers point guard Juliette Lawless for much of the middle part of the contest with classmate Ra'Jean Martin (Jacksonville, Florida) taking over those duties late in the game. But help defense throughout the game was key as well as getting back to players on the perimeter.

"That kid was pretty exceptional herself," Raikes said. "I think we are going to see not quite the scorer, but the same amount of penetrating and being able to kick."

Fortunately for Eastern Shore, 6-foot-5 center Natalie Butler — who had 25 points and 13 rebounds during last year's meeting — has moved on. The fifth-year senior, who led the country with 33 double-doubles, was drafted by the Dallas Wings in the third round of the WNBA draft and is currently playing in Belgium.

But that doesn't mean the Patriots are a one-woman show. Junior Jacy Bolton is averaging 9.5 points and 7.5 rebounds (2^nd in Atlantic 10).

"She is the second leading scorer and the leading rebounder, so we have to pay attention to her as well," Raikes said. "They also have a kid (Marika Korpenen) who is a very good 3-point shooter, so we have to pay attention to her as well."

Korpenen is shooting 43 percent from behind the arc (leads the Atlantic 10) while classmate and forward Camarie Gatling is shooting 59 percent from the field (also tops in the conference) and averages 4.3 rebounds.
But after playing a tough schedule so far this season that included two ranked teams and three Atlantic Coast Conference opponents, the Hawks have seen talent before.

"It's like I told the girls the other day, it's nothing we haven't seen," Raikes said. "We have pretty much seen it all from the ACC to now, so we should really be surprised by anyone specifically. But if we pay attention to each individual, what our defensive assignments are and we stay true to our fundamentals then I think we'll be OK."

Senior Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) continues to lead the Hawks in scoring (14.2) and assists (4.7), while sophomore Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) leads in rebounding with 7.2 per game.

Eaton is coming off a career-high 28 points at Mount St. Mary's. That came just two games after her previous career-high of 24 at Wake Forest. She may be the hottest of the Hawks right now raising her scoring average from 7.9 points per game to 12.2 in just three games.

Head coach Fred Batchelor has been out of town following the passing of his godmother, but his morning flight will get him to Eagle Bank Arena in time for the 2 p.m. tipoff.