PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore looked like it could be headed to a runaway victory at home against Mount St. Mary's on Saturday (Dec. 14), but a fourth-quarter run by the Mountaineers erased what was at one time a 17-point lead.

In the end, the Hawks (3-7) needed a career performance from junior Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey), a breakout game by junior Kenetria Redfern (Cheektowaga, New York) and some very timely shot making including Porsha Sydnor's (Chicago, Illinois) bank in the lane with 1.5 seconds left to come away with a 78-76 victory.

"I have been through this enough to find a way to weather through it," Hawks coach Batchelor said. "I thought we just were very careless with the ball down the stretch. That comes with being a young team and learning in situations like that — which we hadn't really been in all year long. I knew (the Mountaineers) were going to continue to fight and they always had a chance because they could shoot the ball really well. We had a couple lapses on defense and a couple lapses with turning the ball over, but I know those kids and at the end of the day they fought and found a way to win the game. For that, I'm proud of them."

With 25.6 seconds left and the score tied at 76-76, Sydnor inbounded the ball to Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) in the back court. Bailey dribbled the ball into the front court and found Bailey on the left wing. But as the play started to break down and the clock ran low Sydnor drove the lane and hit a floater off the glass.

"I knew the ball needed to be in my hands to finish," Sydnor said. "I saw the clock winding down and I'm not tryin' to play overtime, so I was aggressive and handled the ball and the pressure and pulled up and hit the shot."

"It was supposed to go back to Brooklyn and we wanted to run something where she would loop back to get the ball and I thought if we were patient enough we would have got it. But as far as Porsha taking care of it — she's a warrior. She's a tough kid. She is somebody you can always depend on because of her heart. She's never going to quit and that was a will basket right there."

The game wasn't quite over as the Mountaineers managed to get off a shot in the time remaining, but it was no good.

"That was the longest 1.5 seconds I've ever seen," Batchelor said. "We were fortunate to get the win."

Sydnor's shot was far from the only big one in the fourth quarter. The Mount cut into the Hawk lead in the third and trailed by just 10 at the start of the fourth.

By the 5:52 mark, the Mountaineers had cut it to 64-62 with their 11^th 3-pointer of the game.

Bailey found Carney for a 3-pointer that gave the Hawks breathing room. But The Mount just kept coming back from deep.

"We had an answer for everything they had," Sydnor said. "They would hit a three and we would answer. We played with aggression and intensity. We played through our mental lapses even though we had breakdown on defense. They were getting the wide open threes. We played through adversity and they were talking a lot of trash during the game, but we remained humble and came out with the win."

A triple by Mount St. Mary's again cut it to two, 67-65, with 4:22 to go but Carney answered again — this time with a huge offensive rebound and putback. She was fouled and converted the and-one for a 70-65 lead.

"That definitely gave us the momentum," Carney said.

But The Mount wasn't done and by the 1:34 mark they had cut the lead to 72-71 on yet another three.

Then, coming out of a Hawks timeout, Bailey found freshman Makayla Adams (Bowie, Maryland) for a 3-pointer from the corner to make it 75-71.

"That big three by the freshman may have been the game," Batchelor said. "She had been struggling and she was taken out of the starting lineup from the last game. She is just resilient kid and her ability to be able to bounce back is amazing and she is going to be a great player for us down the road. When Ksenia gets five fouls and t be able to put her in the game and she is a threat from there and there isn't a shot that she doesn't like. She shoots it every time she touches it plus you need that kind of confidence."

A free throw by Carney pushed the lead to 76-71 with just 1:05 left.

But a turnover resulted in a fast break layup — 76-73 — and moments later another turnover gave the Mountaineers the ball and an open look at their 16^th 3-pointer of the game knotted the score at 76-76.

Carney put up a career-high 25 points to go with seven rebounds an assist ant a steal..

"I feel like I broke out today," Carney said. "Porsha as my point guard just tells me to keep shooting so I do. She's my captain so I'm going to keep listening to her and if it don't fall I know I'm going to get the next one."

She was 8-of-15 from the field and 6-of-13 from behind the arc.

"Amanda was big today," Batchelor said. "Her four threes in the first half opened it up. She was consistent today and she is tough to guard when she is making shots and she moves really well. I think the one thing I haven't given her enough credit for is her ability to get open and settle in and be able to take down the shot with balance."

While Carney was already leading the team in rebounding and scoring before the big game, the career-high 18 points by Redfern was more of a surprise.

"I think she steps up a lot because she is kind of playing out of position — because of our injuries — but she is aggressive and athletic, so she can answer a lot that the post has."

She also had nine rebounds and three steals on a night when she had her first start at the forward position.

"I have been expecting that kind of game from Amanda," Batchelor said. "I've been coaching her for three years and this is not a surprise. Kenetria though is big. It was big for her — a junior college kid who hadn't been playing much. So 18 and nine is big for her."

Sydnor added a career-high 12 points to go with six assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals. Bailey put up 14 points, matched the six assists and grabbed a board. Adams finished with eight off the bench.

Eastern Shore, now 3-1 at home, will play two more games in the friendly confines of the William P. Hytche Athletic Center before heading out on the road again. The team hosts Longwood on Thursday (Dec. 19) at 6 p.m. and then Georgetown on Saturday (Dec. 21) at 2 p.m.