PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will be looking to start another win streak as it travels to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference rival Delaware State for the first of two matchup sin the final three games of the regular season.
The Hawks (15-11, 11-2 MEAC) are coming off a win against Coppin State, while the Hornets fell to North Carolina Central 65-64 on a night when senior NaJai Pollard became the school's all-time leading scorer.
"They are a dangerous team because it is always tough playing in that building," Hawks coach Fred Bachelor said. "It's a rivalry game and they have a great dynamic player (in Pollard). They have the recipe for a team that can upset you. We have been focusing on ourselves and making sure that we continue to play the type of basketball that we are capable of and are getting better."
Pollard averages a team best 23.3 points and 10.6 rebounds, but the Hornets have only 10 players on the roster and play just six for significant minutes.
"They have a new coach, and he inherited most of those kids and didn't have a chance to recruit," Batchelor said. "You can see he is trying to implement his system with kids that he didn't necessarily recruit."
With a player like Pollard on the roster, the Hawks will be paying particular attention to the MEAC leader, but will take a team approach to defending her. It's something the squad has done all season while paying particular attention to tendencies of opponents and working as a cohesive unit on defense.
"I have to give a lot of credit to the coaching staff," Batchelor said. "I think coach (Sidney) Raikes has done an outstanding job and I think he has a knack for really understanding what players' strengths and weaknesses are. He has brought that to the staff.
"Between my two of the assistants — and this is coach (Casey) Morton's scout — they have done a great job preparing the kids this year. I think she is going to be right on point with the game plan," Bachelor said.
"We have always done a good job of scouting, but I thought recently we have done less, but more. We have gotten away from overloading the kids with unnecessary information just so that they have it and really scaled it down to be more pertinent information that can really win basketball games. Along with that, I think our kids have elevated their understanding of the scouting as well. We are going to need that level of play to be able to stop a kid like Pollard."
Last season, the Hawks defeated the Hornets in the season finale and then saw them again in the first round of the MEAC tournament. The Hawks won both games, but Batchelor said the back-to-back games present a "unique challenge" to his squad.
This time around there is a game between, but the Hawks are still focused on winning the games one at a time.
Senior Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) continues to the lead the Hawks in scoring 15.6 points per game and assists with 5.0 per contest.
She is just eight point away from surpassing Phyliss Hendricks' (1983-87) 1,139 points and moving into sixth place on the school's all-time scoring list.
Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) leads the team in rebounding with 7.7 per game to go with 7.8 points.
