PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore exploded for 27 points in the first quarter and 26 more to close out the game in the fourth as they rolled Coppin State 74-54 on Homecoming weekend at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center.

"Putting up points like that in the first quarter is amazing," senior point guard Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) said. "But, with the atmosphere and having it be Homecoming, we really love our supporters and everything that they do for us so we just wanted to show them that we are putting a good name in for the school."

Saturday's contest was the first for the Hawks (15-11, 11-2 MEAC) following a tough loss at North Carolina A&T State and head coach Fred Batchelor was happy with the way the team responded.

"It is always good to get a win on Homecoming," Batchelor said. "It's great for the kids. It's great for the alumni. I'm glad we could do our part in giving them that. I thought we got out to a really great start. I thought it kind of stifled the bench a little bit, but it was a good win overall."

Having one of the best season's in program history, the Hawks have been a bright spot this winter for Hawk Athletics and Batchelor was sure to stress that he wanted his team to make sure to "show up" in front of the big crowd. He even went so far as to make the game a parallel to Thursday's concert when the main event didn't make it to campus.

"We all went and they didn't show. It's a disappointment, so with the alumni doing everything they do for us and supporting us we just don't want to let them down," Byrom said. "We don't want to disappointment them."

The Hawks got on the board first on a putback by Ksenia Popovich (Moscow, Russia) and then got the crowd going early with a barrage of 3-pointers.

Trailing 3-2, senior Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) hit the first to make 5-3 and then followed up with another 40 seconds later for an 8-3 lead. Eaton then swiped the ball and got it to Ra'Jean Martin (Jacksonville, Florida) who's shot from distance resulted in an 11-3 lead and a Coppin State timeout.

The Hawks then went on a 13-5 run — where Martin would hit another from deep — and finished the quarter with a flourish as Eaton drained a long jumper to make it 27-10 as the time expired.

"The starters really played well," Batchelor said. "Cece (Byrom), Keke (Eaton) and Ra'Jean hit some shots and we wanted to be aggressive."

By the end of the third quarter, Coppin had chipped away at the advantage, but the Hawks regrouped.

"We got into a little bit of a lull there at one point where we were kind of playing at their pace," Batchelor said. "We had to call a timeout and coach (Sidney) Raikes kind of got on them and addressed the fact that we needed to pick it up. I thought that was big in regard to us being able to close this game out the way we did."

Martin led the Hawks in scoring with 16 points to go along with three steals, two blocks, four assists and three rebounds. She scored 10 of her points in the fourth quarter.

"She works so hard," Batchelor said. "I just think that all her hard work is starting to come together and pay off at the right time for her and for us. She told me earlier in the year she wanted to shoot 40 percent from three and I said that she was only going to take 10 3s then.

"But the with the volume that she is shooting and the way she is making them, she had make a believer out of me in her. I have been  around her for four years now and she is just one of the hardest working kids I have ever had."

Martin may not be shooting 40 percent from behind the arc, but she is at 39 percent (37-95) and is second on the team in scoring during conference play with 11.8 points per game and for the season is averaging 8.7 points.

Eaton added 12 points, four rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assist, while Dominique Walker (Bel Air, Maryland) came off the bench to pick up her third double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds plus a pair of blocked shots.

Byrom dished out seven assists, grabbed seven rebounds and scored 15 points. She moved up to No. 3 on the school's all-time assists list with 325.

Eastern Shore turned the ball over just 10 times and outrebounded the Eagles, 44-39, while forcing 20 turnovers. The Hawks also held Coppin to 27 percent shooting in the first half.

The Hawks will have Sunday and Monday off before using the next four day of practice to get ready for Saturday's (Feb. 24) matchup at Delaware State. If they want to go on another long winning streak preparation will be key.

"It feels great to get back to winning," Byrom said. "I know we have a slip up in North Carolina, but we really just have to focus up and realize that we can still get it back. There is still a chance that we could win the conference tournament no matter what."