PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore faced a 13-point deficit with just more than four minutes to go in the third quarter against visiting Howard on Monday (Jan. 7), but the Hawks gutted through the rest of the third cutting the deficit to just three, 62-59.

Then point guard Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) imposed her will on the game. She scored a career-high 31 points — including 14 in the fourth quarter to go with five assists as the Hawks (6-9, 2-0 MEAC) outscored the Bison 21-10 in the final period for an 80-72 win.

"I think what we want to do is be tougher every game," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "I thought that was the difference in the game tonight. Just toughness at the end and having a great player on the floor. It was clear and evident that CiCi Byrom took over the game and she carried us to the victory."

The Shore outscored Howard 43-26 in the second half despite getting outrebounded 28-19, while shooting 45 percent from the field and 4-of-9 (44 percent) from behind the arc. Eastern Shore forced 11 second-half turnovers by the Bison (8-7, 1-1 MEAC) and turned the ball over just three times.

"It was a great team effort from the coaching staff to the players and I think they decided in the second half they wanted to come out and play," Batchelor said. "We needed some things to go our way and they did that in the second half, but we were resilient and I think that's who we want to be.

"We want to be a resilient team and if we are a resilient team, I think we will be successful."

Byrom's free throws with 6:54 left, cut the Howard advantage to 66-63, a layup two minutes later shrunk the Bison lead to 66-65. After a Howard free throw, the senior's jumper tied the score at 67-67 with four minutes left.

Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) answered a Howard 3-pointer with a free throw and a steal and layup to tie the score for the third time (70-70) and then a fourth (72-72) before Byrom turned it on again.

A steal and a layup drew contact and the and-one free throw pushed the Hawks lead to 75-72 whipping up the crowd and her teammates with 1:04 left. But despite the gravity of the moment Byrom stayed within herself.

"At the end of the day, you really never know," she said. "So I try to keep my composure, because like coach says 30 seconds is an eternity and anything can happen. But, I love when my teammates hype me up. It really brings out the atmosphere and the fun. I really enjoy it."

She would confidently sink four more free throws in the final 42 seconds to put the game away and finish the day at the line 14-of-16.

"Every game  — about an hour before — I shoot 50 free throws and I just really try to get my mind in a mental state of me being in the gym alone," Byrom said. "So, when I get to the free throw line I just feel like I am in the gym by myself."

Batchelor said the coaches were concerned with the team's body language during warmups and once the whistle blew things didn't get much better. Howard started the game aggressively, while Batchelor looked for answers.

He eventually found them on his bench in the second quarter in the form of Rose Smith (Brooklyn, New York), Chioma Nkpuechina (Anambra, Nigeria) along with Amanda Carney (Parlin, New Jersey) and Porsha Sydnor (Chicalgo, Illinois) who had both entered the game in the first quarter.

"We sat the starters for a long portion of the second quarter and I thought our bench did a good job of keeping us in it," Batchelor said. "When they do that, it allows your bench to realize what their job is. They put us in a position where we were never out of it and it allowed our kids to come back and get adjusted to the game."

"(Sitting there in the second quarter) we felt like the role had changed it was time for us to be the bench and be loud and support them and keep them amped up," senior Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) said.

By the time Batchelor signaled his started back on the floor with three minutes left before the half they had started to receive the message.

Then in the locker room they finished waking up.

"Well coach (Sidney) Raikes probably can't repeat what he said at halftime," Batchelor said. "But it's really what he brings to our coaching staff. Our staff is one — even in the absence of coach Casey Morton, who is in the hospital. We depend on each other and what he was able to do was go in and be able to address some issues in a tough way and be the bad guy and rake them over the coals. That allowed me to come in and talk about what it was going to take to win in the second half."

"It was time for us to go do what we were supposed to do when we started the game," Eaton said. "We just needed to redeem ourselves and get the game back"

The first six minutes of the third quarter were a battle as The Shore tried to take the momentum from Howard, while also establishing a controlled tempo. It wasn't an easy balance, but they somehow found it and began to wrestle control of the game despite the Bison's size.

"It's actually just about heart," Byrom said. "Although they were very lengthy, they weren't as strong and when you do attack them they weren't as aggressive. We had to understand that although we are undersized we had to still be the aggressors."

Eaton's seven points in 25 minutes broke a streak of six consecutive games in double digits, but the team leader was able to contribute in other ways including a team-high eight rebounds, two assists, a steal and stellar second half defense.

"It is very important when we aren't contributing and getting points on the board you have to do something else," Eaton said. "Usually it goes to rebounds because that's what we need the most. My second focus is rebounding."

Freshman Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) reached double digits in her second straight game with 12 points, four rebounds, two assists and no turnovers in 26 minutes. Gill-Miles finished with eight points and six rebounds.

Eastern Shore will next host North Carolina Central (Jan. 12, 2 p.m.) and North Carolina A&T State (Jan. 14, 5:30 p.m.).