NORFOLK, Virginia — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore went scoreless for the first 8:53 of the first quarter of its Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament matchup with No. 7 South Carolina State. But the good news was that by the time Chioma Nkpuechina (Anambra, Nigeria) made a basket in the lane to finally get the Hawks on the board, the defense had given up just nine points.

Three minutes later, the Hawks had taken their first lead of the game and by the end of the half they led 25-16. The Shore (17-13) would never trail again as it pulled away for a 57-34 victory.

"I thought it was a tough game," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "We had to get the pre-tournament jitters out and I thought toward the end of the second quarter we kind of broke away and we were fortunate to make some plays that allowed us to breathe a little bit and then came out in the second half and have a big third quarter.

"I am proud of  our girls, proud of the way they played all year long and proud of the way they fought today."

Eastern Shore missed its first 10 shots and gave up 13 Bulldogs rebounds before it removed the zero from the scoreboard. By the end of the quarter they trailed just 9-4.

"They were very aggressive," Batchelor said. "I thought they were very aggressive. They came out and they really took the fight to us. When we played them  at our place we were the aggressor. That was our game. That was a credit to them and they put us on our heels. We can have quarters where we struggle to score. I thought we just continued to fight, but at the end of the day defensively we only gave up nine points. It was a football score, but I thought the fact that we continued to defend kept us from getting buried too deep."

Nkpuechina started the second quarter off with another basket on the inside and converted the and-one to cut the South Carolina State lead to 9-7. A steal by senior Ciani Byrom (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) and a 3-pointer by Adrienne Jones (Baltimore, Maryland) gave the Hawks their first lead of the game, 10-9.

The Buldogs took the lead back again moments later, but the Hawks had found their rhythm and stuck right there until Byrom's 3-pointer — over two defenders — cut the S.C. State lead to 16-5 with 4:39 left I the half.

"It was really all about just taking it one possession at a time even thought they were scoring and playing defense very well," Byrom said. "At the same time our shots weren't falling, so (as seniors) we just needed to keep the team motivated and make sure they don't get down because teams make runs.

"We just worked on staying connected and just knowing that it's all a part of the game."

And good teams fuel those runs with defense. The Hawks just that as the half came toward a close. Byrom's 3-pointer gave her team an 18-16 advantage. Then with 28 second left, Byrom found classmate Keyera Eaton (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) for another from behind the arc and a 21-16 lead. Then a steal by Eaton, who gave it up to senior Ra'Jean Martin (Jacksonville, Florida) and then got it back for a layup and a 23-16 lead.
Byrom closed out the quarter with a jumper and a nine-point lead that the squad would not surrender in the second half.

The Hawks will now wait for the winner of Thursday's (March 14) matchup between No. 11 Coppin State and No. 3 Bethune-Cookman, who they will face on Friday (March 15) at 2 p.m.

Byrom finished the game with 12 points, three rebounds and five assists. Eaton had a game-high nine rebounds and eight points.
Jones led the team in scoring with 13 points off the bench to go with three rebounds and a pair of assists.

"It was all about being confident," Jones said. "Coach always says that we need bench play, so just come in and do what I have to do. I know that he believes in me. He always gets on me about shooting the ball. I am in a slump lately, but today was about confidence."

The Hawks bench overall contributed 31 of the 57 points as well as 12 rebounds, five assists, two blocks and five steals. Dominique Walker (Bel Air, Maryland) had eight points, four rebounds, two blocks an assist and a steal. Nkpuechina had five points in five minutes on perfect shooting and added an assist.

"No one off the bench was bigger than Chioma," Batchelor said. "Chioma came off the bench, hadn't played in a while and hits a big bucket. She killed the scoring drought. But we talked all year long about the bench play. When we have been successful it has been because of the bench. We have had great floor leadership with Ciani and senior leadership with Keke and Ra'Jean.

"Our bench has been the one that has kind of kept us stable and today as well. We know we are not going to have a successful tournament without successful bench play and for us to have a leading scorer off the bench, I feel really good about that."