NORFOLK, Virginia — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore trailed No. 4 seed Coppin State 57-56 with 8:39 left in Thursday's Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference quarterfinal matchup. The Eagles' Jaia Alexander — The MEAC Player of the Year — had 28 points.
It was time for the Hawks to once again find a way if the season was going to continue. While the defense held Alexander to five points the rest of the game, it also locked down on the rest of the Eagles using a 17-8 run to pull out a 73-65 victory and a matchup on Friday (March 11) at noon against No. 1 seeded Howard.
Sophomore Zamara Haynes (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) scored seven points down the stretch before fouling out and finished with a career-high 25 points and eight rebounds to lead four Hawks in double figures.
"I thought we played a really good game today, hit some shots, made some plays and it allowed us to pull away," Batchelor said. "I didn't even realize Za had 25. She has been a special talent since she got here before COVID-19 and I had a whole year working with her when we weren't playing. As a freshman (on the court), with this as her first year, she didn't play a lot early on and there was a lot of learning that needed to take place. She's capable of playing at a very high level.
"I was telling her that I always knew she was a special talent, but it takes a special player to step up at this time of the year and for her to step up as a freshman and play the game that she just played, just goes to show what we are going to see going forward. She's a kid I wouldn't want to coach against."
The Hawks scored 38 points in the paint, scored 21 points off 18 Coppin turnovers and shot 43% from the field, while holding the Eagles to 35%.
"Credit to Eastern Shore," MEAC Coach of the year Laura Harper said. "They outplayed us in almost every facet of the game today and I am really happy for them. It's disappointing for us and our seniors, but it was a well-fought game and I felt like their players really stepped up and played extremely well."
Coming off a season where the team did not compete, Batchelor knew it would be a challenge to recapture what his 2019-20 team had found. But this Hawks squad — like its predecessor — seems to have the ability to play its best basketball as the season goes on. Eastern Shore went 5-3 in February and is now 2-0 in March.
"We have been able to build a culture that I think is resilient," Batchelor said. "We are able to look at what is the most important part of the season. We struggled in the beginning of the season in past years, but I think our culture is what has carried us too.
"Really it comes down to our athletic director, Keith Davidson. He empowers me and our staff to feel comfortable. He believes in us and he supports us and he allows us the time to find that success. He says to me all the time when we are struggling — we could be 2-5 in conference play — and he says 'it's not what it looks like.' And if you have a boss, a superior, who supports you the way he does, you can't do anything but come through at the end.
"I try to do the same thing with my kids by giving them that type of support and letting them know what is most important is what happens at the end of the year. We've been fortunate to be successful in tournament play."
Graduate student Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington, Kentucky) scored the go-ahead basket for The Shore with 7:31 to go and then drew an offensive foul on Coppin Aliyah Lawson on the other end. Gill-Miles and the rest of the Hawks played inspired defense in the fourth to help pull away.
"All week at practice we just got locked in on our rotations on D, what defenses we were going to play, where we are supposed to be and stuff like that," Gill-Miles said. "We just knew that if we get stops, the offense is going to come, so we just wanted to really lock in on D. Once you get stops, then that's our opportunity to score."
Gill-Miles drew two more charges down the stretch and with 3:58 to go banked in a jumper to give Eastern Shore a 69-61 advantage. She would finish with 12 points, a team-high nine rebounds, two steals and a block in 28 minutes. She was 6-of-10 from the field and eight of her rebounds came on the defensive glass. She also spent some time guarding Alexander in the second half after she put up 20 in the first.
"We kind of knew coming into it that (Alexander) was going to get hers," Gill Miles said. "She had just won player of the year, so we knew she was going to get shots up. They had a few other key players on the team, so we figured that if we could stop them and keep them from doing what they usually do and key in on her the best we could, we should be ok and get through it."
Eastern Shore held Coppin's second leading scorer, Lawson, to just three points on 1-of-13 shooting in 37 minutes. Just one other Eagles player, reserve forward Colleen Bucknor, reached double digits with 10 points.
Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) chipped in 11 points and three rebounds for the Hawks, while Mya Thomas (Chesapeake, Virginia) had 10 points, a pair of rebounds and a pair of assists.
Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey) added eight points, two rebounds and two assists for the Eastern Shore, while freshman Lesley Thomas (Browns Summit, North Carolina) played strong post defense, grabbed five rebounds and did all the little things in 19 minutes starting her first game of the season.
Haynes has shown flashes of this type of breakout game at the offensive end this season. She entered the contest averaging 6.5 per game in MEAC play and she had reached double digits six times with four of those coming in conference play. She was 9-of-18 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line.
"Basically I just take what the defense gives me and try to keep in mind what we go over with our coaches before we come out here to compete," Haynes said. "I stick to the principles and make sure that I execute so that I can be of service to my team."
Her eight rebounds were also a career-high — second on the team — and no small feat for a guard who stands at just 5-foot-7.
"That was one of the things we discussed before we went out there to compete," Haynes said of her focus on the boards. "We lost two of our post players, so coach was looking for guards to crash and I just wanted to make sure I was able to come through on that end."
