RICHMOND, Virginia — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will play just its second road game of the season on Wednesday night at 6 p.m., when they take on the University of Richmond (3-3) which presents an interesting challenge with 11 players on the roster who are 6-foot or taller.
"Their size is the No. 1 challenge for us," Hawks head coach Fred Batchelor said. "They seem to be really big all over. They out size us at every position. That leads to other problems as far as being able to affect them defensively, but they are. A solid basketball team that is very well coached and they pose a real problem for us to defend effectively and consistently. So, we have to find some unique ways to make things difficult for them and take away their ability to score."
The Hawks (3-3), who are a bigger team than they have been over the last several years, have seven players 6-foot or taller, but still cannot match the Spiders' size.
Particularly concerning for the Hawks is 6-foot-2 sophomore Addie Budnik who posted her second 20-point game of the season in a win against Virginia on Sunday, shooting 8-of-12 from the field with a pair of threes. She leads the Spiders in scoring with 15.5 points per game, which ranks seventh in the conference. Budnik is also averaging 4.3 blocks per game which leads the conference and ranks second in the nation, while Richmond is averaging 8.3 blocks a game as a team, which also ranks second in the nation.
For Eastern Shore, graduate student Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) leads the way with 10.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. She will be a key to the game along with front-court mate Mahogany Lester (Virginia Beach, Virginia). Gill-Miles and Lester both stand at 6-foot and average 22.2 and 17.5 minutes respectively.
Senior Taylor Clayborne (Upper Marlboro, Maryland) is the only other Hawks big who has played in all six games and is averaging double-digit minutes.
"We are going to have our hands full on the glass," Batchelor said. "That will be a challenge for us. We just need to rebound better and handle our block-out assignments."
The Hawks will also be looking to find their way on the offensive end enough to stay with Richmond. That aspect of the game has improved greatly since the opener at St. Joseph's, but this will be the first road contest since.
"I'd like to see us score," Batchelor said. "I think we have to score to be in this game. They are only averaging 64 points a game, but I have seen them build a big lead on certain opponents so they have the ability to score a lot of points. I think for us — particularly on the road — we need to put the ball in the basket. We need to be able to make things difficult for them on defense, but we have got to score and I really was encouraged by the way we shot the ball at home particularly from the free throw line."
The early part of the season has been about learning the makeup of the team and how the parts fit together after a year away from competition and with six new faces. But six games into this campaign some things are falling into place. Which is good because Batchelor will likely have to go a little deeper into his bench against The Spiders' size.
"I thought the last couple of games gave us a great opportunity to see some other kids," Batchelor said. "They are learning, but we have to make adjustments which will allow us to get the most out of them, while they learn. As coaches we have realized we may need to adjust the game plan to utilize what they do best. It has been encouraging. Coming out of our last game I feel very comfortable tightening up that rotation and not looking for somebody, but rather now giving them an opportunity to have an impact. For young kids there is always a new challenge, so it will be interesting how they respond — particularly on the road."
