BALTIMORE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore put together its most complete game of the season on Saturday (Feb. 8) at Morgan State, taking control of the game in the third quarter and withstanding the Bears' late flurry to leave Hill Field House with a 71-61 win.
"I think it was a really good team win," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "We had a lot of kids who contributed. I thought our depth was the difference with Kenetria Redfern (Cheektowaga, New York) and Makayla Adams (Bowie, Maryland) gave us some good minutes along with Dayona Godwin (Ocean Pines, Maryland). Those are the things I thought made the difference in the game."
The Shore outrebounded Morgan 45-31, shot 47% from the field, 31% from behind the arc, 94% from the free throw line and had five players reach double figures in scoring.
Freshman Mya Thomas (Chesapeake, Virginia) was 4-for-4 and Godwin was 5-for-6 as they scored the team's final nine points from the free throw line after Morgan started fouling immediately down by five points with 43 seconds left.
"It was just about sticking together," Godwin said "Everyone had each other's back and we told each other that we were going to get this win tonight before we came out here and we did that."
The Hawks (5-16, 2-6 MEAC) were trailing 20-8 with 33 seconds to go in the first quarter when Godwin saw her first minutes of the game. She supplied a quick spark with an offense rebound and putback of her own miss, was fouled and converted the free throw to end the first down just 20-15.
"Whatever our team needs — whether its rebounding, whether its scoring, leadership — I'm going to try to give it to them," Godwin said. "If we needed rebounds I was going to go out there and try to get every rebound. If we needed to score, I was going to go out there and score. Whatever our team needed, I wanted to provide."
Midway through the second quarter, Godwin was leading the way on the glass with four boards for Eastern Shore. But something clicked for the Hawks and in particular Redfern. She didn't get started on the way to her first career double-double until the second when she pulled down six rebounds in the final 6:41 of the period as The Shore took a 29-27 lead into the break.
Redfern's 11-point, 14 rebound effort was the first double-double of the season for Eastern Shore. She also added a pair of assists and two steals in 27 minutes.
Thomas made the first start of her career at the point and finished the game with 18 points, two steals, a rebound and an assist.
"I was really proud of her," Batchelor said. "I know she has been wanting to start from Day 1, but I think she has shown us to this point that she is somebody that we can depend on. I thought her free throws at the end were clutch for a freshman. She's got a big heart. She's a tough kid and I thought she played well enough to help us win today."
Adrienne Jones (Baltimore, Maryland) had a very efficient 20 minutes off the bench in her home town with 12 points, seven rebounds and two assists on 6-of-12 shooting.
Adams had 10 points — including a pair of threes —to go with two rebounds and an assist.
Godwin, a senior, finished with 12 points, seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.
The win, snapped a four-game losing streak for The Shore dating back to a Jan. 13 home win against North Carolina Central.
"It was really big for us," Godwin said. "We needed a road win. We got our road win and this was their first loss on their home court, so it was just really big for us mentally to just get our win because we hadn't had one in a long time."
The Hawks will remain in Baltimore and face off with Coppin State Monday (Feb. 10) at 5:30 p.m.
