WASHINGTON, D.C. — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore built an 18-point lead against host Howard at Burr Gymnasium on Monday (March 2), but in the end it was pair of free throws by Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey) that proved the difference in a 71-70 victory.
"You have got to learn how to win," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "I thought to day was the maturation to learn how to win a tough game when things start to not go your way. We're learning, we're young, we relaxed when we thought we had the game under control. That team never went away."
The Bison — who hadn't held the lead since the 7:55 mark of the second quarter — came storming back from down 18 with the help of a 24-5 run. They took a 67-66 lead with 1:35 to go in the contest.
There was no shortage of big plays in the final 1:35 as Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) put The Shore back on top 68-67 with her first bucket of the contest with 1:11 left.
Senior Ksenia Popovich (Moscow, Russia) then grabbed the defensive rebound on an Ayonna Williams miss and Batchelor two the first of two remaining timeouts.
Eastern Shore (7-21, 4-11 MEAC) came up empty on one attempt, Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington Kentucky) grabbed the offensive rebound and then the Hawks missed a second try and Howard came up with the ball when Imani Bryant grabbed the rebound.
But Bryant — focused on the ball and not where she was on the court — stepped out of bounds looking for the outlet pass. Batchelor called his final timeout to set up a play.
The Shore got the ball inbounds, but Popovich was immediately fouled with 17 seconds left. The Hawks' post made the first and missed the second as Howard grabbed the board and took a timeout.
Out of the timeout the Bison once again put the ball in the hands of Williams — who would finish the game with 23 points. The caught the inbound pass and drove to the lane where Gill-Miles drew and offensive foul to get the Hawks the ball back with 13 seconds left.
"She hit two threes down the stretch, but I thought other than that we played her the way we needed to play her in the second half," Batchelor said.
Carney ends up with the ball on the inbound and Howard is forced to foul. The junior sank both shots hitting nothing but the bottom of the net to put her team up 71-67 with 10 second left.
Williams brought the ball up the court and drained a 3-pointer, forcing the Hawks for get the ball inbounds with 4 seconds left. But they met that challenge and celebrated their first-back-to-back wins of the season.
"I have been saying all season that I hope we can get our first back-to-back win of the year," Batchelor said. "To be honest, it feels better than any back-to-back win I've had in my career, so we'll take it and enjoy it and hopefully ride this momentum into the tournament."
Adrienne Jones (Lexington, Kentucky) led the Hawks with 13 points, but was held scoreless in the second half. She also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Carney finished the game with 11 points including 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Her three triples gave her 61 on the season moving her past Sondra Cockfield's 59 (1991-92) on the all-time single-season leaders and up to No. 3 behind Shawnee Sweeney's 78 (2013-14).
Porsha Sydnor (Chicago, Illinois) had a game-high seven assists and Popovich finished the game with a season-high nine points.
Nine different Hawks scored at least four points, while the reserves totaled 35 points.
"I don't get caught up on losing the lead or anything like that," Batchelor said. "These kids jut have to learn how to win. We have got to understand where our program is right now and to be able to come on the road in March and start playing some of your best basketball I tip my hat to my kids."
The Shore will return home for a Thursday (March 5) Senior Night affair at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center against Coppin State. That came will be senior night honoring the Hawks' four seniors: Chioma Nkpuechina (Anambra, Nigeria), Dayona Godwin (Ocean Pines, Maryland) Popovich and Jones.
"We have to roll with it, stay hungry and stay driven," Batchelor said. "This is our chance to redeem a loss that we took on the road in a close game like this where we came out on the short end of the stick. We need to do that for 40 minutes.
"I'm excited that our kids have an opportunity to go home and celebrate our seniors' last time on their floor."
