PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will be looking to build on another strong performance by its post players in a win at South Carolina State as it faces off with North Carolina Central (8-11, 2-2 MEAC) on the road on Monday (Jan. 23).
With the backcourt in a bit of a shooting funk, Batchelor and his staff shuffled the starting lineup against the Bulldogs hoping that an athletic defensive-minded screw could get the game started on the right foot.
The Hawks (5-13, 1-3 MEAC) started Lainey Allen (Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania), along with Mahogany Lester (Virginia Beach, Virginia), Kiarra Kennedy (The Bronx, New York), Zamara Haynes (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Jála Bannerman (Baltimore, Maryland) hoping to get a spark and some easy baskets early off turnovers to set the tone.
"I wanted to start the game a little differently for us to get the offense going and to get other people going," Batchelor said. "Our guard play still wasn't that good at all. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good."
But what made up for that was the play on the inside particularly from Lester and sophomore Ariana Seawell (The Bronx, New York) who responded very well to a move out of the starting lineup again despite her strong recent play.
"We had a talk," Batchelor said. "I told her we were going to make the adjustment with the lineup and that I wanted that game to be the game where she played the most minutes all year long and that when she was in the game we were going to be focused on going to her. She is a great kid. She is into the team and she accepted that role and it worked for her."
The guards did a good job of getting her the ball in areas that she could be successful and she finished well putting up a career high 21 points to go with 11 boards. But most impressively she played 30 minutes or more for the first time this season. She had been hampered this year by foul trouble at times as well as by this being her first season back after missing the end of last season with injury.
Lester, who had reached double digits in scoring in four of her last five games heading into the game with the Bulldogs continued her standout defensive play and was an inspiring presence on the court for the rest of her team.
"Mahogany ran and grabbed a rebound from half court and chased it all the way down to the other end of the court in the corner," Batchelor said. "I have seen effort before but that was some maximum effort that kid has been giving us along with being able to put the ball in the basket."
Lester and Seawell lead the Hawks in scoring and rebounding in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play. Lester's effort has been paired more this season with better choices on defense as she has fouled out just three times so far this year. She has not only filled up the stat sheet, but also shown a level of consistency recently.
"A friend of mine the other day said 'When you are playing for the right things, good things happen for you,'" Batchelor said. "I think Mahogany is playing right now in a good place. I think when kids struggle, sometimes it has much less to do with the game than where they are in their own heads. That is what I keep trying to tell these kids 'When you are playing for the right reasons, good things happen.'"
The goal heading into Monday is a match to a lot of what the coaching staff has been preaching all season.
"We need to shoot the ball a little better," Batchelor said. "We need to do a better job putting the ball in the basket. I think continuing to pay with a high level of energy is also going to be key. I thought that is what we did yesterday and we didn't allow the frustration of not putting the ball in the basket to affect that which we have done before.
"That's the only way we are going to be successful going forward is a high level of energy," Batchelor said.
Tipoff at McDougald-McLendon Arena is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
