PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore played on of its best halves of basketball Saturday (Feb. 15) at home against Bethune-Cookman University.

The Hawks scored the final five points of the first half and entered the locker room with a 32-29 advantage against the two-time defending Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Champions.

But the Wildcats (18-5, 10-1 MEAC) came out of the intermission with a fury taking the lead less than a minute into the second half. The Shore (5-18, 2-8 MEAC) battled back to take the lead two more time s before Bethune pulled out to a 48-39 and never looked back.

"I thought it was a good effort and a very good first half," Batchelor said. "I thought during that time we controlled the game and did exactly what we wanted to do. In the third quarter when we struggled, the struggles just led to more struggles."

The Hawks were outscored 20-8 in the third quarter, shot 17.6% from the field (3-of-17), turned the ball over five times and made one of just two free throws attempted.

"We shot in the teens form the field and we may have had more turnovers in that quarter than we did in the game," Batchelor said. "I thought the third factor — which was probably a big factor — was that Amaya Scott took over the game. Those three factors right there led to us losing one  quarter to that team, which cost us the basketball game."

Eastern Shore actually had coughed it up six times in the fourth quarter, but outrebounded the Wildcats 16-7 helping to mitigate the errors.

Scott finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds for BCU, but she scored 15 of those points in the decisive third quarter.

Senior Adrienne Jones (Baltimore, Maryland) led the Hawks with 13 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) chipped in 11 points and Mya Thomas (Chesapeake, Virginia) added eight.

Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) led The Shore on the glass with nine boards to go with six points and four steals in 21 minutes.

The Hawks outrebounded the Wildcats 49-42 in the game, but managed just six assists, were outscored in the paint 28-14 and gave up 16 points off 16 turnovers.

"You can't lose a quarter against a team like that," Batchelor said. "You can't shoot 17 percent, you can't have an eight-point quarter. You can't do that and that is what we have been  doing which is causing us the losses. We haven't consistently played or produced at a level to be successful."

Eastern Shore will host Florida A&M on Monday (Feb. 17) at 5:30 p.m.