SUMMARY

The University of Maryland Shore mounted a second half comeback effort, but couldn't erase Coppin State's early lead as the Hawks lost 66-61.

THE SCORE

Coppin State (14-9, 5-2 MEAC) - 66

Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks (8-13, 3-3) - 61

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Hawks jumped out to an early 8-2 lead through three and a half minutes courtesy of a Ashanti Lynch layup and back-to-back threes from Mahogany Lester. However, the Eagles closed out the opening quarter on an offensive run wherein they collected 17 points to the Hawks' six to take a 19-14 lead into the second quarter. Dakieran Turner put in early work with a pair of buckets while Amira Ofunniyin hit a jumper of her own to keep the Hawks within reach. 

Coppin State took scoring control of the second quarter with a 17-9 advantage behind four three pointers. Brianna Barnes added a pair of free throws while Ce'nara Skanes got on the board with a followup layup in the opening minutes of the quarter. Neither side, though, could sink a basket for two and a half minutes before Lynch drilled a three with 3:59 left in the half. However, Lynch's three was responded in kind by the Eagles before a trio of free throws widened the margin 33-21. Zamara Haynes got on the board late in the half with a pull up jumper, but Coppin State closed the half with its final three pointer to take a 36-23 lead into the halftime break.

Coming out of the halftime break Lester set the tone for the Hawks' comeback efforts with a quick three pointer before pulling up for a jumper for a 5-0 run through the first 1:12 of the third quarter. Lester scored 11 through the frame while the Hawks poured on the pressure to take an 18-16 scoring advantage. While Coppin State hit a trio of threes en route to the Eagles' 31 three-point attempts, a bevy of knocked down shots from Haynes Turner, Lester and Lainey Allen pushed the Hawks back into contention as they trailed 52-41 heading into the final quarter.

The opening three minutes of the final quarter were all UMES as the Hawks went on an 8-0 run before Coppin State made it to the basket. Each side combined for 34 points with the Hawks taking a 20-14 advantage. Aleah James knocked down all five of her points in the game in the quarter while Haynes and Lynch dropped another six and five, respectively, for the Hawks. Despite a heavy push through the final minutes, the Hawks could not overcome the deficit as Coppin State connected on five free throw attempts to preserve its lead.

BY THE NUMBERS

Mahogany Lester recorded a double-double as she led the Hawks with 16 points and 12 rebounds. She added an assist and a steal in the effort.

For the third game in a row, the Hawks had a trio of scorers in double digits. Joining Lester in the feat, Zamara Haynes and Ashanti Lynch scored 11 and 10, respectively.

Ashanti Lynch was all over the court for the Hawks as she added five rebounds, four assists, four steals and a block in the game.

The Hawks put up a season-high 22 three-point attempts while hitting five. Coppin State, though, went 11-of-31 from beyond the arc.

For the fifth straight game, the Hawks held the advantage in the paint with rebounds as they pulled down 50 to the Eagles' 38. Despite the Hawks' rebounding advantage, Coppin State outscored UMES 20-18 in the paint.

UMES marked the fifth straight game with double digit assists as the Hawks dished out 11 for the game. Lynch led the team with four while Barnes dished out another three.

COMMENTS FROM HAWK HEAD COACH MALIKAH WILLIS

Thoughts on the game

"Slow start. We ended up making adjustments at halftime to our lineup. We've got to be ready to play in conference. They're big games with big opportunities. There's no time for any drop offs, taking breaks and things like that. We started the game doing that kind of stuff. We started with a turnover on offense, miscommunication on a few defensive plays which led to threes for them. We just have to start with more urgency."

Second half effort

"The resilience and the toughness isn't the problem. What I can say about it is that it has to be consistent. I know certain players I can rely on and they have be held to that level and standard of this program right now. We're headed in the right direction and they need to embrace the challenge. The inconsistency is something we see is getting us these losses. They're persistent, they're resilient, battle-tested, but there's no wiggle room for any error. That's the part we need to get over."

Learning from this game

"It's a missed opportunity. Losing by five, the way we play, even on our worst days we're going to play great, as far as defense. We're going to outrebound; these are the things that are our go-to. The thing we hope is that we score one more point. I say it all the time. And that's where we get stuck, just in our offensive rhythm sometimes. But it is a good thing that we get to see everybody twice because we make the adjustments, we prepare them, we've got the game plan and hopefully we just get out there and execute."

Individual efforts

"I really want to shout out Ashanti because she stepped up defensively. She had to guard Angel (Jones) the whole time the second half. She was face guarding her, she was trying to not let her get the ball, and she didn't ask for one sub. She had a lot of pride on the defense. Even with her 10 points, four steals, four assists, she's giving it up on offense and going back on defense and trying to face guard. Mahogany is going to do what she's going to do. She's always going to get up in there and mix it up in the paint, trying to get every rebound. But Ashanti stepped it up great today, especially defensively."

Facing Howard next

"We'll watch a lot of film, but first thing is we're going to get in the training room. We've got a lot of players playing heavy minutes. So we'll watch film, we'll game plan again. These quick one-day turnarounds, we had a lot we were throwing at them for our game plan for Coppin State, so I do think that with everything we were trying to do, they did a good job. We might take it a little bit easier and work on ourselves instead of the opponent for the upcoming week so that our mind is a little bit more focused and we can get a little bit of a better start.

NEXT UP

The Hawks remain at home to play Howard on Monday, Feb. 10, in a game that was previously postponed from Jan. 6 due to inclement weather.

To purchase tickets for any and all upcoming home games, visit the following link: UMES Basketball Tickets