PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will play its sixth home game of the season on Sunday (Nov. 5) when it hosts the United States Naval Academy (2-6) for a 2 p.m. tilt at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center.
The Hawks are coming off a 69-59 loss at Richmond which saw them come within five points in the final minute. Eastern Shore outrebounded Richmond and turned the ball over just seven times, but couldn't dig out of an early hole.
On Sunday, at home, Hawks coach Fred Batchelor is hoping to avoid the early game stumble.
"I think we need to be the aggressor and we really have to contain their leading scorer Jennifer Coleman and not allow the other ones to hurt us with easy baskets," Batchelor said. "We want to dictate the tempo and be the aggressor."
Offensively, The Shore (3-4) will look for more consistency as they inch close to conference play. Senior Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) led the Hawks in scoring at Richmond with 16 points in 31 minutes.
"They don't play really fast and they aren't really athletic, so this does give us a chance to try to get out and play uptempo," Batchelor said. "They do play kind of a funky zone defense, which could throw us off a little bit that we have to be conscious of. They kind of funnel you to the middle. It's interesting. We just want to be the aggressor."
The last time out, graduate students Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) and Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey) led the team in rebounding with nine apiece. Carney chipped in 13 points.
"We need to continue to control the glass," Batchelor said. "That is going to be a key, and I'd like to see us get out and get some transition buckets as well as capitalizing at the free throw line. I thought that was our Achilles heel at the last game. We have shown that we can be consistent at the line. We just need to get back on track with that."
Gill-Miles continues to climb up the career rebounding list as well moving up to 600 for her career and into a 7th place tie with Shanyce Stewart (2010-14). She is 13 steals away from moving into the Top 10.
Carney has now moved past Aileen Frazier (1995-00) and former teammate Keyera Eaton (2015-19) and into the Top 10 in program history for three pointers made with 110 (9th).
"At practice the kids talked about this being a big opportunity for us," Batchelor said. "We let two opportunities slip away at home that we could have had and this is an important game for us."
