PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore won its second straight game for the first time this season on Thursday at the United States Naval Academy and will look to make it three in a row at James Madison (5-2) on Sunday (Dec. 4) at 2 p.m.

"They have a big time scorer," Hawks head coach Fred Batchelor said "It looks like we'll need to cut the head off the snake. Kiki Jefferson is a problem. She's averaging 22 and 9 and that's like Kevin Garnett numbers."

The 6-foot-1 senior is a 1,000-point career scorer and was First-Team All-CAA last season as a junior.

"That's a tough matchup for us at the post position, but I think our kids are ready for that," Batchelor said. "Mahogany Lester (Virginia Beach, Virginia) has played well on matchups and even Lainey Allen (Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania) who is learning. I'd much rather go against a team that has one dominant player than three kids that can hurt you, but I'm sure they have other kids who can step up."

For the Hawks (3-6) other kids have been stepping up including freshman guard Jála Bannerman (Baltimore, Maryland), who scored 17 points in back-to-back wins. She is averaging 9.3 points in 23 minutes a game this season. She is averaging 11 points over the last five contests and shooting 42% from the field.

Sophomore Ariana Seawell (The Bronx, New York) is averaging 11.4 points and 5.6 rebounds over the last five games after starting slowly returning from an injury last season.

"Especially on the road like this, we just have to play the type of basketball where we don't beat ourselves," Batchelor said. "That puts us in a situation to be successful. We are learning how to do that and hopefully we can carry it over form last game."

Decision making, shot selection, turnovers, free throws, and second-chance shots are murder for a young team. In the victory at Navy, the Hawks played their most complete game of the season and turned the ball over just five times.

"Those are all things that you have a level of control over," Batchelor said. "Getting our kids to understand how to not beat ourselves is the first step to learning how to win. Most teams that are not successful suffer self-inflicted wounds along with trying to compete against someone.

"We were able to not beat ourselves at Navy and that gave us a chance to win. With a young team like ours — without a dominant player — we have to play smart inspired basketball and make really good decisions and play together. That's something we are learning how to do."