PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — Two years ago at this time, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore was awaiting the start of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament. The squad was 8-21 overall and ready to face off with Coppin State for the third time that year after splitting two regular season matchups.

What followed for the Hawks were two of the best games the program has seen in recent memory, as they topped the Eagles and then upset No.1 seeded Bethune-Cookman in the next round. COVID-19 ended that run prematurely and left the team to forever wonder 'what if?'

Fast forward to now and the Hawks (11-15, 7-7) have suffered through a difficult return to basketball after a year off, before putting together another late conference season run. They await a third game against No. 4 seeded Coppin State on Thursday (March 10) at noon after having split the first two meetings of the season. Awaiting The Shore if it gets past Coppin? No. 1 seeded Howard, which rolled through Delaware State on Wednesday, 87-51.

"I'm just excited to head to Norfolk after sitting out a year," head coach Fred Batchelor said. "I'm really excited about going back to where we played our best basketball in all the time that I have been at this program. I'm excited to go back with a lot of the same kids and try to rekindle what we started."

But before the Hawks can get another crack at a No. 1 seed, they'll need to get past a Coppin team that blew them out in Baltimore, before getting beat in Princess Anne on Feb. 26.

"It will be interesting because I think that it is about making adjustments," Batchelor said. "They played without two starters (including MEAC Player of the Year Jaia Alexander) the last time we played them. I saw both of them in the regular season finale although they were both very ineffective. It will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments they will make this time because there weren't many adjustments to make after beating us by 29.

"I'm sure they'll make some adjustments, but at this point you are very familiar with each other — maybe a little too familiar.

While Batchelor enjoys the chess game as much as the next coach, he loves this time of year because it becomes more about you than your opponent. In practice, his team has been focused on making the right decisions and doing the little things — the smallest of details — knowing that "at the end of the day, everything else takes care of itself."

After a non-conference season that had Batchelor just hoping for a win against a Division I opponent to help the team build confidence, righting the ship wasn't something he was sure about. He did know one thing and that was that his team wasn't going down without a fight. They fought, winning six of their last nine games.

"When you look at our season statistics, they are not very good at all, but I think it is pretty deceptive too in regard to what we are capable of doing, similar to the last time," Batchelor said. I'll tell you that the one thing I am proud of with this team and our program as a whole is that we haven't been giant killers, but we do the things that identify as a tough, hard-nosed and mentally tough program. That is who we have been. That is what we have tried to hang our hat on for as long as we have been doing this — being a mentally tough resilient group playing their best basketball when it matters most. We are hoping that will continue to carry us through going into this tournament."

The Hawks have struggled to find consistency on offense this season, but they have developed an identity as a team that will make you work at both ends of the floor. The Hawks are No. 1 in the MEAC in field goal percentage (.384), assists per game (12.5) and No. 2 in field goal percentage defense (.359).

The squad also leads the league in rebounding at 42.3 per game and opponent rebounding (36.8), while also pulling down 16.3 offensive rebounds per game (No. 2).

"Whether the ball goes through the hoop or not, we have tried to build a level of toughness in our kids and our program because we know at the end of the day that is what they are going to need to survive after their eligibility is over," Batchelor said. "I'm really proud to be associated with a group of kids that exemplify those types of things that you can see in the positive numbers that we produced this year."

This year has not been without its challenges, so far. The Shore began the season with 14 active players after junior Makayla Adams (Bowie, Maryland) had to have offseason surgery. The team then lost senior Taylor Clayborne (Upper Marlboro, Maryland) for the rest of the season when she tore her Achilles tendon (also requiring surgery) during a win at Howard on February 5. She had been averaging 7.5 points in conference play and had started six straight games.

Then in the regular season finale against Delaware State, Freshman Ariana Seawell (Bronx, New York) suffered an injury after just nine minutes on the floor. The Third-Team All-MEAC and All-Rookie team selection had to have surgery as well.

"I don't think I have ever had two surgeries within the same season," Batchelor said. "And losing two starters with that — coach (Sidney) Raikes pointed out that both were one of our top scorers at the time they got hurt. But you just have to overcome those things and that is why you have 14 to 15 kids on a roster. Right now, a lot of teams are challenged, I'm sure to just have a legitimate scrimmage as they prepare."

Seawell was averaging 6.2 points and 4.4 rebounds on the season, but was putting up 9.9 points and 6.5 rebounds in conference play and had started nine straight. Those are big shoes to fill. She is also NO. 2 on the Hawks all-time single-season list with a 57.9% shooting percentage.

"I'm optimistic that we have some kids who are going to understand that it's time for them to step up," Batchelor said. "When Taylor went down, I thought we filled in pretty well and I'm expecting the same thing. Ari is a big-time loss for us because we lose probably our most effective player that can score the easiest buckets. I don't know if we can remedy that between now and the end of the year, so we have to find other ways."

Senior Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill, South Carolina) is leading the team in scoring after a slow start to the season, while graduate student Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey) is second with 7.9 points per game to go with 3.9 rebounds, but has struggled on-and-off with her jumper since a month-long break midseason when many on the roster had COVID-19. Both have been coming off the bench in the second half of the season. Sophomore Zamara Haynes (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is averaging 6.2 points and has started nine of the last 10 games.

"I think our guard play is going to have to be much more effective and efficient than we have been because to lose your leading scorer inside, we still have the same other kids," Batchelor said. "I can't expect someone else to come in and give us what she was giving us points wise, so that has to be picked up by our guards who I think have all shown that they are all capable of doing more than what they have done."

So with the Hawks even more depleted on the inside, who steps into Seawell's starting role? The answer is classmate Lesley Thomas (Brown's Summit, North Carolina) who has been playing behind Seawell and has seen increased production herself as the season went on. She has played doubled-digit minutes and had at least five rebounds in each of the last five games. Sophomore JaPria Grady (Washington, D.C.) now moves into the reserve center role.

"It's funny because the kids kind of figured it out," Batchelor said. "We did a team building exercise on Saturday and the lady who was running it told me that the team already said who had to step up and that was Lesley. So they took that off of our plate as coaches and I think that is the right call. She is the kid who was filling in for Ari and giving her a blow and now there is no better person than her to step up and fill that role. Now Grady has to come and give us what Lesley was giving us. Lesley works her butt off and she's physical. Now we just need Grady to play at her highest level and we need her to be physical, especially against Coppin's Jalyinda Salley (6-foot-4) and then going forward we'll make other adjustments depending on what the matchups are."