“I just told them that Drexel is a championship level team and they are lucky to get out of here with a win,” Hawks head coach Fred Batchelor said. “That was probably the best basketball game we played this year. I think we need to continue to get better and we were just a few steps away from being able to beat that team on our home floor. That had everything to do with us learning.”
The Hawks (2-2) used a very well-run zone and a lot of effort to help slow down Drexel’s size on the inside. It was a team effort that kept the team in the game early and they even took a 28-27 lead into the half. Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington Kentucky) played 33 strong defensive minutes on the inside for the Hawks and still managed eight points and six rebounds.
“We have been working on this for a while and the thing is that it takes a lot of synergy to play and there are a lot of kids who are not quite there yet and it makes it tough to sub,” Batchelor said. “But I thought Bunz was huge today with her heart, her leadership and her communication. I thought we grew a lot today. Sometimes you can get more out of a loss than you can from a win. I thought we got more out of this game than we did out of our last win.”
The Dragons (3-1) took the lead back two minutes into the third quarter, but the Hawks didn’t go away easily despite struggling a bit with foul trouble. Mahogany Lester (Virginia Beach, Virginia) picked up two early fouls and played just four minutes in the first half. She picked up her third foul less than a minute into the third quarter, but Batchelor rolled the dice and left her in.
Huge inside move by Gill-Miles, 48-46 Hawks pic.twitter.com/KE6Zu8Dh4I
— Hawk Women's Hoops ? (@ESHawksWBB) November 20, 2021
During a six-minute stretch in the third quarter, she made a pair of jumpers, had two put backs and found Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey) for one of her few clean looks on the night for three.
“We are expecting Mahogany to play a big role,” Batchelor said. “She comes back and starts after being out for two years, so that tells you what we think about her. I think she is capable. She has got to learn to play more intelligently on the defensive end and stop picking up those fouls. She wouldn’t have had the game she had if we had done what we normally do, which is take her out with her third foul.”
Lester finished with 10 points and four rebounds in just 14 minutes and Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill South Carolina) had 12 points including eight in the first quarter to help keep Eastern Shore in the game early. Carney finished with nine points and three rebounds.
The fourth quarter was a tough one for the Hawks as Drexel ratcheted up the defense and held them to 30% from the field, while managing just 35% of their own against an active defense. In the end it was the little things that mattered.
“I thought they took advantage of opportunities and got some easy buckets,” Batchelor said. “They don’t score a lot so the little point guard gets a steal, they get an offensive rebound. It was the little things they do and the championship level plays they made out there tonight is what separated the two of us in our journey to develop into a championship level team.”
The Shore’s bench outscored the Dragons’ 19-5 with Taylor Clayborne (Upper Marlboro, Maryland) putting up six points and two boards in 16 big relief minutes on the inside. But the super sub on the day was graduate student Angelique Taylor (Wachapreague, Virginia) who scored a career-high 12 points — on 5-of-6 shooting— and grabbed five rebounds in 20 minutes.
“Angel had a big game,” Batchelor said. “She gave us a lot of energy and effort and I think that is what Angel is capable of doing. We have to find a way to get more out of her too, but at the end of the day she is going to do it with effort and she is one of the smartest kids we have.”
Gill-Miles’ six rebounds give her 582 for her career and moves her ahead of Kristi Veltkamp (2004-08) on the program’s all-time rebounding list and into 10th place.
“Bunz is the heart of our team,” Batcheler said. “I thought she did a great job today with leading from the time I walked into the locker room to how I saw her on the floor today. She was a huge energy booster for a lot of kids.”
PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore gave visiting Drexel all they could handle on Saturday (Nov. 20) — leading as late as with 7:25 left in the fourth quarter — but ended up settling for a 65-60 loss.
“I just told them that Drexel is a championship-level team and they are lucky to get out of here with a win,” Hawks head coach Fred Batchelor said. “That was probably the best basketball game we played this year. I think we need to continue to get better and we were just a few steps away from being able to beat that team on our home floor. That had everything to do with us learning.”
The Hawks (2-2) used a very well-run zone and a lot of effort to help slow down Drexel’s size on the inside. It was a team effort that kept the team in the game early and they even took a 28-27 lead into the half. Bairesha Gill-Miles (Lexington Kentucky) played 33 strong defensive minutes on the inside for the Hawks and still managed eight points and six rebounds.
“We have been working on this for a while and the thing is that it takes a lot of synergy to play and there are a lot of kids who are not quite there yet and it makes it tough to sub,” Batchelor said. “But I thought Bunz was huge today with her heart, her leadership and her communication. I thought we grew a lot today. Sometimes you can get more out of a loss than you can from a win. I thought we got more out of this game than we did out of our last win.”
The Dragons (3-1) took the lead back two minutes into the third quarter, but the Hawks didn’t go away easily despite struggling a bit with foul trouble. Mahogany Lester (Virginia Beach, Virginia) picked up two early fouls and played just four minutes in the first half. She picked up her third foul less than a minute into the third quarter, but Batchelor rolled the dice and left her in.
During a six-minute stretch in the third quarter, she made a pair of jumpers, had two put backs and found Amanda Carney (Old Bridge, New Jersey) for one of her few clean looks on the night for three.
“We are expecting Mahogany to play a big role,” Batchelor said. “She comes back and starts after being out for two years, so that tells you what we think about her. I think she is capable. She has got to learn to play more intelligently on the defensive end and stop picking up those fouls. She wouldn’t have had the game she had if we had done what we normally do, which is take her out with her third foul.”
Lester finished with 10 points and four rebounds in just 14 minutes and Brooklyn Bailey (Rock Hill South Carolina) had 12 points including eight in the first quarter to help keep Eastern Shore in the game early. Carney finished with nine points and three rebounds.
The fourth quarter was a tough one for the Hawks as Drexel ratcheted up the defense and held them to 30% from the field, while managing just 35% of their own against an active defense. In the end, it was the little things that mattered.
“I thought they took advantage of opportunities and got some easy buckets,” Batchelor said. “They don’t score a lot so the little point guard gets a steal, they get an offensive rebound. It was the little things they do and the championship level plays they made out there tonight is what separated the two of us in our journey to develop into a championship-level team.”
The Shore’s bench outscored the Dragons’ 19-5 with Taylor Clayborne (Upper Marlboro, Maryland) putting up six points and two boards in 16 big relief minutes on the inside. But the super-sub on the day was graduate student Angelique Taylor (Wachapreague, Virginia) who scored a career-high 12 points — on 5-of-6 shooting— and grabbed five rebounds in 20 minutes.
“Angel had a big game,” Batchelor said. “She gave us a lot of energy and effort and I think that is what Angel is capable of doing. We have to find a way to get more out of her too, but at the end of the day she is going to do it with effort and she is one of the smartest kids we have.”
Gill-Miles’ six rebounds give her 582 for her career and moves her ahead of Kristi Veltkamp (2004-08) on the program’s all-time rebounding list and into 10th place.
“Bunz is the heart of our team,” Batcheler said. “I thought she did a great job today with leading from the time I walked into the locker room to how I saw her on the floor today. She was a huge energy booster for a lot of kids.”
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