DURHAM, North Carolina— The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will play the first of two games on a North Carolina swing as they take on N.C. Central at McDougald-McLendon Arena on Saturday (Feb. 9) at 2 p.m.

The Hawks (13-10, 9-1 MEAC) who stand at No. 2 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference will also swing over to Greensboro to face MEAC No. 1 North Carolina A&T State on Monday (Feb, 11). But the Shore enters the game with the Eagles (6-16, 3-6 MEAC) knowing that winning it is just as important as Monday's showdown.

"We have to focus on Central," Batchelor said. "You have to win. You gotta win each game one at a time. For us to focus on A&T and not focus on Central, we could dig a hole for ourselves that even beating A&T wouldn't help us with.

At the end of the day, we have to put ourselves in position by playing each game and giving it the attention and the focus that it deserves. That is what I think we did at home with South Carolina State and Savannah, so I feel confident that we are going to be able to do the same thing on Saturday."

In the first meeting between the two squads — a 59-49 Hawks win in Princess Anne, Maryland — three Hawks were out with upper body injuries including sophomore Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) and key JUCO transfer reserve Adrienne Jones (Baltimore, Maryland).

Gill Miles leads the team in rebounding with 7.8 per game, while senior point guard Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) leads the team in scoring 15.7, assists 4.9. She is No. 1 in the MEAC in assist to turnover ratio (1.9) and No. 2 in assists per game.

The Hawks are averaging 41.2 rebounds and 15.1 assists over the last five games.

"I think we are a very unselfish team," Batchelor said. "I don't think we have ever had a problem with that. Last game there were times I thought maybe we could have made an extra pass, but that didn't happen in favor of someone making a play not them being selfish. That is the quality of the kids that we have. They play for each other."