PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore saw the reserves stand tall in the third quarter at both ends of the floor taking a close game and putting the team in position to pull away with a 46-40 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

The lineup of Amanda Carney (Old Bridge New Jersey), Kenetria Redfern (Cheektowaga, New York) Dayona Godwin (Ocean Pines, Maryland), Taylor Clayborne (Upper Marlboro, Maryland) and Porsha Sydnor (Chicago, Illinois) went on an 8-2 run over the final 4:16 of the quarter including a pair of 3-pointers by Carney in the final minute.

Then in the fourth, the starting lineup returned to the court pushing the lead out to as many as 17 points on the way to a 68-53 win.

"We got big play from Adrienne Jones (Baltimore) and I thought Amanda made big shots," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "She made big shots in the third quarter, which is where I thought we won the basketball game. We had a six-point lead going into the fourth and I thought we just broke them down. I thought they quit and we were able to capitalize."

Jones finished with 18 points on 5-of-10 shooting including 4-of-5 from deep to go with seven rebounds in 23 minutes.

"The 3-point line was working for me tonight a little bit," Jones said. "Usually I'm not too happy on the 3-point line, but today was good. This was real big. We needed this win especially at home and on homecoming."

Carney was second in scoring with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting (all from deep) in 18 minutes and had three boards, an assist and a pair of steals that both came in the third quarter.

The junior entered the half with a pair of 3-pointers, but the first of the big two came with 55 second left in the third when Sydnor found her on the wing. The grabbed the defensive board on the next possession and then drained another with eight ticks left in the third.

"We just after we got in, got into some momentum," Carney said. "We were playing well, but the bench we know we have to bring in more energy to match the starters, so that is exactly what we did.

"I feel like it just gave us the momentum. Defense wins games, the offense is just the extra part of it and the defense fed the offense."

The four triples gave Carney 58 on the season and moved her into fourth place on the all-time single season list behind Sondra Cockfield (1991-92) with 59.

The fourth quarter started with a jumper by Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) that gave the Hawks an eight point advantage. Bailey would finish with 11 points on 5-of-13 shooting in 28 minutes.

Jones then scored The Shore's next eight points pushing the lead out to 56-43 with 6:02 remaining.

"Basically we were staying on the ball and being aggressive," Jones said. "Coach talked about that after halftime because were weren't boxing out at all. We just ran to the ball and stayed together really."

Clayborne added two buckets down the stretch and Jones finished the quarter with 10 along with five boards.

"I expected to go back to the bench, but we were playing well and we were able to use a timeout and the flow of the game went to our advantage," Batchelor said. "We did go back to (Redfern and Clayborne) at one point, but the guards pretty much handled their business, took care of the basketball and we were able to pull it out."

The Shore shot 48% from the field and 50% form behind the arc (9-of-19) with Bailey chipping in the one that didn't come from Jones or Carney.

The Hawks will practice on Sunday in Washington D.C., where they will prepare to face Howard University on Monday night (March 2) at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Shore will then return to Princess Anne to celebrate Senior Night against Coppin State in the regular season finale — also at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday (March 5).

"It's a big win at this time of the year,"Batchelor said. "It gives you energy and puts a little bit of wind beneath your wings and you feel good about going into your next competition which is going to be a tough one on the road and then come back for senior night. I thought today some good things happened. We are happy we were able to do that and I hope this is going to motivate the girls to finish strong."

Thursday's contest will be the final home game for Chioma Nkpuechina (Anambra, Nigeria), Ksenia Popovich (Moscow, Russia), Jones and Godwin.