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Dec. 1, 2008 PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - The men's and women's basketball teams at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) haven't quite found their groove this season. The men are looking to make their mark in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) this week while the women head back home for more tough non-conference play. The women's bowling team picked up steam going into a bye week and sophomore Kristina Frahm and junior Neal Pitt were named the UMES Athletes of the Week for the period ending Nov. 23. Frahm, of the No. 1-ranked women's bowling team, helped lead the Lady Hawks to a 13-3 mark at the Eastern Shore Hawk Classic in Millsboro, Del., this weekend. Pitt, a forward on the men's basketball team, led all players with 21 points and 15 rebounds in the Hawks' 61-49 loss to Longwood at the William P. Hytche Athletic Center Saturday. It was the second double-double of the season for Pitt, who ranks 34th in the nation in rebounds per game with a 10.5 average. He received the Athlete of the Week distinction for the second consecutive week. MEN'S BASKETBALL Navy `s Chris Harris tallied 21 points on seven three-pointers to lead the Midshipmen to a 76-51 win over UMES at Alumni Hall Tuesday. Pitt came one rebound short of his third double-double to start the season, scoring 18 points and gabbing nine rebounds, while freshman Keishawn Mayes contributed 13 points and five boards. "Navy hit some key shots and we knew that they were a good shooting team," said Head Coach Frankie Allen. "They shot 45 percent for the game from the three and I'd like to attribute some of that to those guys, [but] I didn't think early we defended like we wanted to." There is something to be said for youth and energy, but UMES can't say anything good about it...at least not yet. The young Hawks dropped their fourth game of the year, this time to Kennesaw State, 64-49 at the KSU Convocation Center in front of 774 fans. The game drops UMES to 0-4 under new Head Coach Allen and extends the road losing streak of UMES to 20, dating back to the 2006-07 campaign. Allen would rely on his starters to carry the load and the Hawks got solid production from them. Freshmen Tyler Hines would earn his first career start and not disappoint. He posted a career and team high 16 points to go along with 10 boards, his first career double-double. Pitt, the team's workhorse, was solid with 15 points of his own while adding six boards.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL It has been a rough start for the women's basketball team. The Lady Hawks came into the Iona Thanksgiving Challenge looking for their first win of the season, but came up short against host Iona College, falling 80-47. "It's disappointing to know we played so poorly against a very good team," said Head Coach Fred Batchelor. "We can only work to keep it from happening again." Casey Morton finished with a team high 11 points. Two players came up big off the bench for the Lady Hawks. Kanzes Battin had a career and game-high seven rebounds, while Adobi Agbasi knocked out a game-high five blocks. It's hard to argue with near perfection. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) put up a 20-plus lead on UMES going 21-30 from the field and hitting 7-7 from behind the arc in the first half of their matchup. The Lady Hawks were not able to close the gap and fell 92-70 in the final day of the Iona Thanksgiving Classic. Josephine McLane led UMES with 16 points. Battin doubled her career high in points, finishing with 13, and led with a team-high six rebounds. Tiffany Reid tied Battin with 13 points and Amber Cook rounded out the Lady Hawks in double figures with 12. WOMEN'S BOWLING For the fourth straight year the UMES women's bowling team hosted the Eastern Shore Hawk Classic women's bowling tournament. It featured, for the first time, three days of action, with each team bowling 18 matches in a field of 20 teams, including 10 of the top 20 in the nation.
The tournament turned out well for the Lady Hawks, who posted a 15-3 record, tied for the best at the event. Final standings were determined by pin fall so the Hawks took fourth, trailing no. 2 Vanderbilt, no. 16 Kutztown and no. 9 Delaware State. In those team games Frahm led all of the Hawks with an 1192 pin fall, averaging a 198.66. Senior Jamie Culbreth was also strong with an 1159 for an 193.16 average. Maria Rodriguez posted 1,084 pins while Martha Perez had 1,065. All four Hawks bowled all six games. Frahm had the high game of the day with a 244. Individually, she was the highest individual finisher in seventh place. "It was a good tournament," said Head Coach Sharon Brummell. "These take a lot out of you, as the host, there is so much work that goes into getting everything right it is hard to also focus on coaching the team. I was very proud of the way the girls stepped up. To finish higher would have been nice, but more importantly we picked up the most wins at the event against some stiff competition and bolstered our record." When all was said and done the Hawk's 15-3 record at the event gave them a solid overall mark of 36-14. For the third week in a row UMES' Frahm has been named the MEAC Bowling Athlete of the Week for the week ending November 23, 2008. This is the fourth straight honor for a Lady Hawk bowler. The defending National Rookie of the Year bowled three team games over 200 with a high-game of a 244 against no. 19 St. Francis (N.Y.). Since the conference has been awarding the Bowling Athlete of the Week, Frahm has won it six times and is the first to ever do it three times in a row. UPCOMING COMPETITIONS Men's basketball will see its first conference game up at Delaware State on December 4. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. at Alumni Hall in Dover, Del. The Lady Hawks basketball team will look to rebound at home as they face off against Patriot League member American University on December 2 at 6 p.m. in the William P. Hytche Center. Check out live audio and video of the game on the web for free at www.umeshawks.com. All women's home games will also be covered on Timeless Classics 540AM. The defending bowling National Champions travel for another MEAC Northern Division match-up the weekend of December 6 & 7 in Baltimore, Md.
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