PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore trailed by just three points with as little as 7:35 left in a battle with Towson at home on Tuesday (Nov. 22). But, by the end of the fourth, the turnovers and struggles from the field sunk them in a 69-57 loss.
"We showed great effort with a young team, but you just kill your effort with the amount of mistakes that you make. There were just too many mistakes," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "We had 27 turnovers and half of those if not more were unforced. I thought we handled their pressure really well. It was just the travels and the individually bad plays."
The Hawks (1-5) battled on the glass, but still gave up 26 points in the paint, while scoring just 12.
"We just have to keep working and work our way out of it," Batchelor said. "I like the energy that we have had and the understanding of what we want to do defensively. I thought they did a good job of execution on defense. But when you have 27 turnovers and shoot 26% from the field I don't know who you can beat."
Zamara Haynes (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) led all scorers with 18 points and added nine rebounds. She shot just 4-of-20 from the field, but did convert 10-of-15 from the free throw line.
Mya Thomas (Chesapeake, Virginia) was 8-of-8 from the line with 13 points, two assists and a pair of assists. Ariana Seawell (Bronx, New York) chipped in 11 points, four boards and a steal.
Mahogany Lester (Virginia Beach, Virginia) fouled out in the fourth quarter, but had battled for 24 minutes in the paint on defense pulling down seven rebounds, and picking up a pair of steals to go with three points.
The Hawks shot 75.7% (28-of-37) from the free throw line, forced 22 turnovers and outrebounded the Tigers 35-32.
"After a while, against a team that has talent they are going to figure it out," Batchelor said. "You press them and they turn it over, if you keep giving it back, they aren't going to turn it over against the press 20 times because you turned it over 27."
UMES will be off until they travel to Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 29 at 5 p.m.
