PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (2-1) will host Colonial Athletic Association member Drexel University (2-1) on Saturday (Nov. 20) at 2 p.m. at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center.
The Hawks are coming off back-to-back victories against Claflin and Bryn Athyn after falling on the road in the opener at Saint Joseph's. Eastern Shore is in the midst of five straight nonconference home contests, and head coach Fred Batchelor is focused on his team's continued evolution before the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference portion of the regular season and coming off a year without competition.
"They are a pretty good team," Batchelor said. "They have a lot of experience including a 5th-year kid. They are going to be tough, but really, what I am focused on is just measurable improvement for us."
One of the keys for the Hawks will be how they handle the inside play of the Dragons. As a senior at Bucknell, 6-foot-1 center Tessa Brugler averaged a double-double last season (13.2 ppg / 10 rpg). She was First-Team All-Patriot League, made the All-Defensive team and the All-Tournament team.
As a graduate transfer for the Dragons she has picked right up where she left off. She enters Saturday's contest leading the squad in points (16.0), rebounds (9.3) and blocks (3.0) per game and is coming off an 11-rebound, 17-point performance at home against Lasalle where she was 8-of-9 from the floor, played 37 minutes and blocked six shots.
Her younger sister Talya is a freshman starter at Saint Joseph's. She scored 14 points in 23 minutes against the Hawks in the season opener.
Senior guard Hannah Nihill was CAA Defensive Player of the Year a season ago and was also a First-Team All-CAA honoree. Classmate Keishana Washington was the CAA tourney's Outstanding Player and a Third Team All-CAA selection.
"The biggest thing for us is that we want to improve and we want to challenge ourselves to do some things like not giving up easy baskets, making them beat us from the perimeter and giving ourselves a chance to compete," Batchelor said. "The one thing about them is that they don't score a ton of points, so our best defense is going to be our offense. That's the thing that really hurt us at Saint Joe's. We were down 15 and couldn't really score and it wasn't a lack of offense. We just didn't make shots."
Almost nobody was making shots in the opener as the Shore shot 24% from the field. After two more games under their belt, the rust should be shaken loose a bit.
Eastern Shore will also be looking to spread the floor a little bit and draw some fouls. The Dragons are experienced, but don't seem to go as deep into the roster with a few players averaging 30+ minutes.
"I like the fact that we are playing at home," Batchelor said. "And I am really just looking for us to play some better basketball."
