PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore spent most of this week prepping for a Saturday matchup with Coppin State, which didn't happen because of COVID protocols within the Eagles squad.
The good news is that the Hawks (5-14, 1-4 MEAC) got a couple of extra days to prepare for their next game. The bad news is that they will head to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference No. 1 Morgan State (11-6, 4-0 MEAC) on Monday (Jan. 30). The Bears are fresh off a win against previous MEAC No. 1 Norfolk State.
"Morgan is playing really good basketball right now," Hawks coach Fred Batchelor said. "They have two kids playing really big for them right now in Charlene Shepherd (6-foot-2, Graduate, Forward) and point guard Ja'Niah Henson (5-foot-3, Senior). I will definitely be looking at that Norfolk game to see how that went. I had already watched the Coppin game."
Shepherd was averaging 21.5 points and 10.3 rebounds in four conference games and Henson had put up 14.5 points and 2.8 assists per game during conference play before Saturday's matchup at Delaware State.
"We actually match up pretty well with them," Batchelor said. "I think it's going to be tight. Right now I think we seem kind of out of it a bit because we were preparing for a game that won't happen, but I think once we practice on Saturday we'll get our focus on them."
The Bears are coached by Ed Davis who has been matched up against Batchelor for 19 years with seven of those coming at Morgan State and 12 before at Delaware State.
"This is the longest coaching rivalry that I have," Batchelor said. "He does the best job in our league of taking away what you want to do. He's exceptional at that. His style of play is very unique and hard to figure out. It looks simple, but it is more complex than it looks. I think the biggest thing for us is going to be putting the ball in the basket."
That has been the issue for UMES in conference play thus far, especially in the backcourt. However, the frontcourt has been on fire as of late.
Sophomore Ariana Seawell (Bronx, New York) is coming off back-to-back double-doubles at South Carolina State and North Carolina Central. She is averaging 12.8 points and 7.4 rebounds in MEAC play.
Redshirt-junior Mahogany Lester (Virginia Beach, Virginia) has reached double-digits in scoring in five of her last seven games and is coming off 15 rebounds and 14 points against Central. She is averaging 9.8 points and 8.6 boards per game in conference play.
"We have to find a way to score, which is not going to be that easy against them," Batchelor said. "They defend well and they will gameplan to take stuff away and they are only giving up 53 points a game."
Tipoff at Morgan is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
