PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is now five games into the 2021-22 season and starting to find its way. Playing eight of their 15 nonconference contests at home has been a big help to an older yet still somewhat inexperienced Hawks squad which did not compete last season due to the COVID19 Pandemic.
Coming off back-to-back close home losses to Drexel and William & Mary, The Shore (2-3) was off to spend time with family until practice on Friday night (Nov. 26). But head coach Fred Batchelor's plan was to get them back in the gym and "back to work" for Sunday's home contest with Division II Millersville University (1-3).
This season's schedule has been a carefully thought out journey that was designed to give the team the best chance to be ready for Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play. Wins would always be nice, but it was an improvement that Batchelor was looking for.
After a few big steps, he was disappointed that the home loss to the Tribe felt both like it could have been winnable and his squad didn't show improvement from the previous contest against the Dragons.
Sunday's 2 p.m. affair may give the coaching staff the ability to go a little deeper into their bench, but will also serve as a post-holiday tune up for a road game at Richmond on Wednesday (Dec. 1).
Former Eastern Shore graduate assistant Vontreece Hayes (2015-18) joined Millersville as an assistant coach this past summer and knows a little bit about this current incarnation of the Hawks. Graduate students Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky), Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey) and Angelique Taylor (Wachapreague, Virginia) were all coached by Hayes in her final year.
In addition, she was the acting head coach for her alma mater Greensboro College when the Hawks defeated the Pride on Dec. 1, 2019. While it was a win, Division III Greensboro made Eastern Shore work for it and Batchelor was none too happy with the performance.
Senior Lauren Lister is Millersville's most dangerous weapon. She set the program's all-time scoring record (currently 1,698) during her junior season and averages 19.5 points per game for her career. She notched a career-high 41 points off 16-of-18 shooting in the game against Shippensburg during the 2019-20 to break the program's all-time scoring record previously set at 1,543. Set the new record at 1,646 points by the end of the season. She has had a slow start to this year, but remains capable of pouring in 20+ points in any given game.
The Hawks are led by Gill-Miles who is averaging 10.6 points per game (No. 5 in the MEAC) and five rebounds. During the loss to William & Mary, she pulled down five rebounds moving her past Taryana Kelly (2012-16) and into ninth place on the programs all-time leading rebounders list with 587. She is also shooting a team-high .618 from the field and is 14 steals away from moving into the Top 10 all-time in that statistical category.
