CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore put together a strong first half effort on Saturday (Dec. 28) at Charlotte leading 20-18 at the break and trailing by single digits as late as 20 seconds left in the third quarter.
But the 49ers (9-2) outscored the Hawks 46-24 in the second half including 21-11 in the fourth to pull away.
"I thought we gave good effort and I thought we were tough," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "That was what I challenged them today to do. Coming back from break, this was a tough game to play after being off the amount of time that we were off. I thought we played kids a lot more minutes than I ever thought, but I thought they stayed tough and gave us a chance."
Sophomore Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) led the way of offense with 14 points to go with three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in 37 minutes.
"I thought Brooklyn made some big plays to really kind of give us what we needed to stay in the game when we needed those," Batchelor said. "In the second half, we figured they would adjust and make some shots that they were missing in the first half, but I thought our kids played tough and strong the whole day."
"It came down to free throws and that was the difference in the game," Batchelor said. "They are a really good free throw shooting team and they shot 17 second-half free throws."
Charlotte finished the game 16-of-24 from the line and the Shore was just 4-of-15.
Offensively, the team struggled to find open looks for junior Amanda Carney (Oak Bridge, New Jersey) who was shadowed on defense for the second straight game. She did manage 10 points on 3-of-6 shooting with a pair of rebounds and a steal.
"It is going to be like that," Batchelor said. "When you have really well coached teams with a player that can understand the value of staying connected. I thought we opened her up a little bit, but we have to find other ways to make plays and get in the lane and find her where offense is not designed to get her open. She didn't get any drive and kick buckets and I think she will. This is the first time Brooklyn and Amanda and Ksenia Popovich (Moscow, Russia) have played together. This rhythm and timing when you go to penetrate and somebody is rolling to a different spot, we just haven't found it yet. Everything we are getting is out of our offense and until we can manufacture points by players making adjustments it is going to be tough to get her off."
The Hawks (3-10) turned the ball over just 14 times in the contest, but Charlotte scored 18 points off those turnovers. The Eastern Shore bench chipped in just seven points, but the team did pick up 12 offensive boards.
"The reason why they weren't really bad turnovers was that a lot of them were dead ball turnovers," Batchelor said. "There were three of four travel calls and those are not the worst turnovers because you still have to get a stop. The offensive brebounds are a big indicator to me that we were working on the glass."
Kenetria Redfern (Cheektowaga, New York) led the Hawks in rebounding with eight to go with three points an assist and a steal. Porsha Sydnor (Chicago, Illinois) led the squad with six assists to go with four points and a pair of rebounds, but she struggled from the free throw line and the field.
The Hawks were 6-of-14 from behind the arc, but shot just 32% (17-of-53) from the field overall.
Eastern Shore will return home to face Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference foe Howard on Saturday (Jan. 4) at 2 p.m. as part of the men's and women's double header.
