SUMMARY
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (4-9) gave Mississippi State (12-1) a tough battle through the first half, but the Bulldogs pulled away in the second to take a 70-52 win.
THE SCORE
Mississippi State Bulldogs (12-1) - 70
Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (4-9) - 52
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Hawks contested their game with the Bulldogs through the first half. Down 6-0 to Mississippi State, Mahogany Lester connected for a three to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 5-9 after Ce'nara Skanes knocked down both her free throws to get the Hawks on the board. To end the first period, UMES was able to keep it tight against Mississippi State after Lester hit a jumper to end the first quarter trailing 18-14.
Zamara Haynes opened the scoring effort in the second quarter for the Hawks to cut the Bulldogs lead to 18-16. With 2:10 left in the second quarter, Haynes was able to fight off defenders and shorten the deficit to two points, 31-29. Turnovers plagued the Hawks in the final minute as the Bulldogs headed into halftime leading 37-29. The second frame ended with UMES being outscored by four again, 19-15.
The second half featured Aleah James hitting a jumper to make the score 43-39. After a few buckets by Mississippi State to extend its lead back to 10, Ashanti Lynch who shot 2-of-3 from three, connected on her attempt to make the score 47-37 in the third period. The Bulldogs shot 61.54% in the fourth quarter as they connected on 8-of-13 shots inside the arc en route to defeating the Hawks 70-52.
Lester and Dakieran Turner led the Hawks in points category with Lester finishing with 12 points, two steals and three rebounds. Turner's contributions came from her 11 points and four rebounds. Haynes finished with nine points, two steals, one block, four rebounds and six assists for the Hawks.
BY THE NUMBERS
Dakieran Turner scored her season-high in points with 11 while going 3-of-4 from the field while adding five free throws.
The Hawks tied Mississippi State in rebounds with 34 apiece. UMES holds a 504-442 rebounding advantage over opponents for the season.
Turnovers became a factor for the Hawks as Mississippi State forced 25 from UMES. The Hawks are averaging 22 turnovers per game.
Zamara Haynes posted her season-high for assists with six as the Hawks tied their season-high for assists with 13. Haynes has 27 for the season.
For the fifth time in six games, UMES had different leading scorer with Mahogany Lester putting up 12 points against the Bulldogs.
UMES shot 19-of-50 (38%) from the field while 5-of-17 from beyond the arc and 9-of-14 from the free throw line.
COMMENTS FROM HAWK HEAD COACH MALIKAH WILLIS
Takeaways from Mississippi State
"We came out ready, which is a great thing. We're going to compete; that's a given. Again, for four quarters. We just keep talking to our team about four quarters. And they play hard for four; it's just everybody has to play hard. We need everybody playing hard, and we can't have any drop offs. And that's what we're noticing a little bit. When the game gets heavier and tighter with the score and deeper into the fourth quarter, we've got to all be on board and playing hard."
How the team is moving the ball around with five players leading the team in points over the last six games
"They're listening. We've been asking Mahogany to shoot more. She's 50%, basically, consistently 50. So the more she shoots is better for us. She did great today. But it says a lot for the player development, and they're more confident in the shots that they're taking. Even the shots that we're missing, they're still good shots. We just have to knock down a lot more shots. And that's again, player development. We're on it. We're trying to make these free throws and shoot more free throws, more layups, all of that in practice. So it's going to turn the corner soon."
Heading towards MEAC play
"We've got to just get better. I've got to quit saying the same thing. And the only way I'm going to stop is if they start doing the little things. You know, turnovers, making the extra pass, hitting these free throws, making the layups, that kind of stuff. So I'm going to stay on it. That's why I'm here. But it's hard to be consistent, and that's what I told them today. So that's the thing; the accountability and the consistency is something that we're going to work on every day, and we've been working on it. And that's why you see different people stepping up, because they're honing into it and they're taking pride in being consistent."
Playing with pride and making second-effort plays
"Our post players, they're getting it. They know they have to get up in there and compete. Because again, we're undersized every game that we're in right now. It's going to be different in the MEAC, but right now, we're undersized. So they're going harder than ever, because they want to make a statement. Our guards: I'm asking them not to be so casual - casual with the ball, casual with shot attempts, things like that. We have to stay aggressive. And we will. We get downhill, we get to the basket, aggressive. But we have to get a little better on the perimeter."
Looking ahead to Georgetown
"It's a good team. Just like every game I go into, I think it's a winnable game, depending on how we come out. We're going to prepare for them the same way we prepare for every game. We're going to scout them, scheme them, different things like that. But they have two bookends: a really good point guard and a really good post player. So we're going to try to mix it up a little bit, just like we always do every game. We'll see how it goes."
NEXT UP
The Hawks travel to Georgetown on Saturday, Dec. 28, for a 7 p.m. matchup before returning home for a final non-conference game on Jan. 2 against Lincoln University (Pa.)
