SYRACUSE, New York — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore was within one point of No. 20 (AP) Syracuse after one quarter, trailed by nine at the half and eventually fell 65-50 on Tuesday (Nov. 12) night, at the Carrier Dome.

The Hawks (1-2) pulled down 39 rebounds, held The Orange to 36% shooting from the field and turned the ball over just 17 times.

"The fight was there on the glass," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "They only outrebounded us by four. I thought we fought — the guards and everybody dug in and fought. And I thought we took care of the basketball, which allowed us to keep them on defense. We were very patient on offense and we just didn't want to get up and down the floor with them.

"I thought if we could have played this game a little bit better with regard to making a couple of shots and taking what the defense was giving us, we wouldn't be settling for a moral victory."

The key for the Hawks was not only the effort, but also the patience and mental fortitude to stick to the game plan against a much bigger more athletic roster.

"There were times in there where we had a little lapse," Batchelor said. "We were asking the kids to play a style of basketball that we don't typically play. Really controlled on offense and really keep on defense. So they pressure you and you need to break the pressure and then bring it back out and run offense. I think that led to our struggles early on, particularly in the middle part of the game"

Senior Adrienne Jones (Baltimore, Maryland) picked up a career-high nine rebounds to go with 10 points.

Junior forward Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) had seven rebounds and six points while battling double teams inside all night against a much bigger front line.

"She is getting better at it and I think she is getting more confidence playing against bigger kids," Batchelor said. "I think is starting to realize how effective she can be and that size is not as important as her skillset, but she had got to be willing to be able to get her shot blocked once in a while. I think she is growing into that."

Junior guard Porsha Sydnor (Chicago, Illinois) had seven assists and five turnovers in 33 minutes running the point.

"I thought Porsha played a very good floor game," Batchelor said. "Sometimes as a quarterback you have to play a different style based on who you are playing against. I keep looking at it like football where sometimes you are going to throw it 60 times and sometimes you need to mix it up, run the ball and control the line of scrimmage and the tempo. Today we needed to control the tempo and I thought she did a good job of doing that."

Junior Amanda Carney (Parlin, New Jersey) led the Hawks in scoring with 12 points — including 4-of-6 from behind the arc — to go with five rebounds and an assist. After three games, the guard is averaging 11.3 points and 5.7 rebounds all off the bench.

"It's something that we can depend on and that's a bright spot for us right now," Batchelor said. "When I look at it, our bench outscored their bench 23-15. I thought it was really good for us to have a bench that came out producing. They did exactly what I asked them to do. I asked our starters to control the game and give us a good start, which they did. I thought if not for a couple of possessions in the first quarter we win that quarter."

Freshman Makayla Adams (Bowie, Maryland) was able to come in off the bench and make an impact in the second half scoring 11 points to go with three rebounds. Offensively she worked primarily at the high post against the Syracuse zone.

"When we went to the 3-2 zone, it was a better matchup for her as opposed to her having to play the center spot size wise," Batchelor said. "I thought Ksenia Popovich (Moscow, Russia) battled really tough inside when we were in the 2-3 zone playing the middle against every big kid that they brought in. When we got to the 3-2 it didn't force her to play inside by herself and took advantage of her skillset at the high post on the offensive end.

"We are very optimistic for her as a freshman as well as the others, but I felt this was a great opportunity for her with what the defense gave us to take advantage of it."

The Orange did not go very deep into their bench and played just seven player for double digit minutes. They did capitalize on the 17 Hawks turnovers by scoring 17 points. Points in the paint were close with SU holding a slight 18-16 advantage. Eastern Shore scored 11 second-chance points to Syracuse's five.

The bulk of the lead was built in the second and third quarter when the Hawks were held to just 5-of-34 from the field.

Next up for The Shore is a trip to UNC Greensboro on Sunday (Nov. 17) and then to Virginia Tech on Tuesday (Nov. 19).