The University of Maryland Eastern Shore hung tight early with No. 15 Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on Wednesday (Dec. 5) even holding a 24-22 lead just seconds into the second quarter.

But the Orange (8-2) went on a 15-2 run to start the quarter and never really looked back despite a pretty good third-quarter showing by the Hawks (2-6). Syracuse started the fourth quarter in the midst of what would become a 22-0 run as they held Eastern Shore scoreless for more than seven minutes.

"The second and the fourth quarter, they were playing their best basketball and we were playing our worst," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "And when you are playing against a team at this level, it is painful when that happens. But I thought we did some really good things against one of the top teams in the country and I think that is what we need to build on."

The Hawks finished the first quarter with a 24-21 lead and held an 11-8 rebounding advantage. Sophomore Amanda Carney (Parlin, New Jersey) provided the first quarter spark with 10 points in six minutes off the bench.

"Even when we didn't score, I thought we executed well — even when we were struggling," Batchelor said. "We did some things that forced them to make adjustments, but I thought when they adjusted we didn't respond and that really hurt us."

While there was no way for The Shore to keep shooting above 50 percent from the field, nothing was falling in the second as it became clear they had awoken a sleeping giant on the other bench.

Actually, several as the Orange pounded the ball inside and then bombed from the outside hitting 5-of-10 from 3-point range in the second. Syracuse shot 49 percent from the field, 39 percent from behind the arc and converted 10-of-14 from the free throw line on the night.

With seven players 6-foot-1 or bigger, SU made things tough for sophomore Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) on the offensive end. She grabbed six rebounds and had three assists, but struggled to score and turned the ball over seven times. Junior Ksenia Popovich (Moscow, Russia) was held to two rebounds, but played strong defense did manage 10 points.

But the big surprise was the performance of freshman Rose Smith (Brooklyn, New York) who tied a career-high with 10 points — on 5-of-5 shooting – in just her third game of the year. She also grabbed four rebounds and blocked a shot in 18 minutes off the bench.

"Her spirit has been tremendous this season," Batchelor said. "All she wants to do is get better. She does everything wrong in practice, but her spirit never changes. Her attitude never changes and I think she is a blessing to our program and to me on a personal level with what she gives me. I think she is going to be a special kid in our program over the next four years. We just have to do our job and help her get better."

Carney finished with a career-high 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting with three assists and a rebound in 22 minutes. Senior Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) had 12 points, four boards and four assists in 36 minutes.

"I was encouraged by Amanda coming in and taking 12 shots, getting them off and wanting to take those shots," Batchelor said. "And I thought Kay (Popovich) played a really good first half to help us because this could have been an extra-long night."

The Hawks finished the game with 18 assists — their highest output against any Division I team this season. The squad pulled down 30 boards against a much larger frontline and scored 20 of 51 points in the paint.

"It is funny because it was a disappointing score, but I thought we did some really good things," Batchelor said. "I think when you are going up against a giant and you can walk away with some positives that you had that is good. We have had a game or two where I didn't walk away with a whole lot of positives. I thought tonight it was a situation where we got better and that is what we are focusing on the next couple games.

"We have to play and get better every time we step on the floor and I thought today we were better than the last time we played."

The Shore will next face Wake Forest on Saturday (Dec. 8) in Winston-Salem at 4 p.m.