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Feb. 3, 2007
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - Jasmine Speed was the hard worker and recipient of many high-low passes as she recorded a career high in points and rebounds, 15 and 12, to pace the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Lady Hawks over second-place North Carolina A & T State University (NCAT) in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conferences (MEAC) women's hoops action. "The production off the bench was incredible," said Head Coach Fred Batchelor. "We started our four seniors and they really set the tone for us," added Batchelor. UMES went to a starting line-up of Natalia Benton, Candyce Jeter, Almalika Lemon, Qiana Cheatham, and freshman sensation April McBride. Combined the four seniors only had 31 starts between them, 16 coming from Jeter. Usual starters Kristi Veltkamp, Jasmine Speed and Danielle Cooper all came off the bench and Batchelor thought it made a difference in the game. "By having some of our usual starters come off the bench we were able to match A & T's intensity and step up, we did a tremendous job of that," Batchelor said. UMES (9-13, 5-5 MEAC) was up six at the break, having led by as many as ten on two different occasions. The second half however, saw a more intense Aggie defense as they forced 13 UMES turnovers in the second frame. They committed 24 in the game to the Aggies' 15, only four coming in the second half. "[Turnovers] have plagued us all season," said Batchelor. "But with four possessions to go I told [Cooper] to take us home and we did a good enough job of holding on to the win."
McBride was second in the scoring column for UMES with 13. Cheatham was the other Lady Hawk in double figures with 12. Veltkamp, while only tallying three points in the game did a nice job defensively pulling down eight boards, one block and two steals. She also had a career-high tying three assists, all to Speed in the high-low game. As the second half began UMES stretched the lead back to nine just two and a half minutes in on a McBride free throw. Six minutes into the game it was a ten-point advantage as Cheatham knocked in a pair of free throws. Cheatham left the game at that point with a leg injury. Her inspired play was definitely missed by the Lady Hawks because at that point A & T began their run. A three pointer by Amber Bland less than 40 seconds later cut it to seven and a pair of free throws by Ahmad Williams made it a five point game. With 12:45 left to play Bland drained another three and the lead was two. Twenty-five seconds later Shantar Williams was fouled by McBride and her free throws tied the game at 46. The next ten minutes became a hard-fought battle as NCAT (12-9, 7-3 MEAC) took a three-point lead on another Bland trey. Speed's three-point play would tie it with 11:10 to go. The Hawks would then take the lead back with just under ten minutes to go on another Speed lay-up. UMES would never fall behind from there, extending it to nine with four minutes to go. A & T wasn't done yet, they cut the lead to as little as one in the final minutes but a pair of Jelila Abdul-Bassit free throws with just seconds left sealed the game at a five point advantage. Abdul-Bassit had seven boards and six rebounds in the contest. The Hawk defense contained the entire Aggie team, with the exception of Bland who poured in a whopping 28 points, ten coming form the charity stripe. Cook was second in scoring with eight. Waddell led the Aggie boarding effort with nine. "I am going to enjoy the Super Bowl and get ready for Monday," said Batchelor. "The team really responded to the challenge and we hope we can get another one on Monday," he added. Monday, the Lady Hawks face South Carolina State at 5:30 pm in the Hawks second to last home game of the year. A win will move UMES above .500 in the MEAC. |
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