Tonight's game between the Lady Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman women's basketball and the Lady Hawks of Maryland Eastern Shore was no simple game. It was not a competition that could be explained by simply looking at the box score. The Lady Wildcats took a huge lead to open the game and held it through halftime, only to come out strong in the second half. However, late in the game, B-CU's shots stopped falling, while UMES launched an 18-1 scoring run to claim a late one point lead. The Lady Wildcats kept their cool, took back the lead, and held on to claim the seven-point victory, winning 61-54, and claiming their thirteenth win for only the third time in the past decade.
Although the Lady Hawks got the first points on the board, that didn't discourage the Lady Wildcats, who responded with a 15-0 run to take a dominating lead just five minutes into the first half. The B-CU attack was fueled by lights-out free throw shooting, with B-CU hitting 8-of-9 from the perimeter in the first half. Despite many struggles in the season against zone defenses, B-CU shredded the Lady Hawk line, keeping a double-digit lead for the majority of the half. As the period wound down, UMES began to mount a comeback, making a great deal of headway, narrowing the gap to two possessions with just over one minute remaining. However, a Demetria Frank three-pointer with :19 on the clock hit back, going into the half with the Lady Wildcats up 8.
Although B-CU hit it hard from the outside in the opening period, UMES recognized that the zone was not putting enough pressure on the Lady Wildcat shooters. The Lady Hawks came out in a very tight man-to-man defense in the second half, forcing B-CU to change up their attack plan and press the ball inside.
B-CU came out firing again in the second half, riding the momentum to a 10-2 run in the opening seven minutes of the second period, giving B-CU its largest lead at 16. After breaking B-CU's scoring streak, the Lady Hawks began a powerful streak of their own, climbing gradually back into the game on the strength of an amazing 18-1 run, taking a one-point lead with 5:50 remaining on the clock. The advantage was short-lived, with B-CU breaking the slump at 4:01, reclaiming the lead permanently. The game became a possession game in a very intense battle, which B-CU won with strong free throw shooting and defensive stops to close out the game with a 61-54 victory.
Although B-CU was outrebounded overall, the Lady Wildcats hit the boards hard, grabbing seven crucial rebounds in the final four minutes of the game, stealing multiple second-chance opportunities from the Lady Hawks. Another crucial factor in the win was playing solid, lock-down defense in crunch time. Once UMES grabbed the lead, B-CU only allowed four further points through the final buzzer.
Individually for Maryland Eastern Shore, senior April McBride lit up B-CU in the first half, scoring 18 points, and helping to keep UMES within striking distance. The Lady Wildcats were able to slow her down in the second half, but she still finished as the Lady Hawks' top scorer with 27, while also leading in rebounds with 12. One player who was mostly quiet in the first half, Bria Jackson, brought UMES back into the game with her perimeter shooting, hitting 3-of-3 from three-point range in the second.
B-CU literally had two scoring leaders in more than one aspect, since it truly was a tale of two halves on offense. In the first period, the perimeter attack set up Sarah Bolden came on strong in the second half, going strong to the basket inside, while hitting the boards with 12 rebounds and her sixth double-double.
Finally wrapping up a twelve-day road trip, the Lady Wildcats are happy to return home to the confines of Daytona Beach, and Moore Gymnasium. The Lady Wildcats are 7-1 at home this season, and hope to extend that number, Saturday, in a rematch that B-CU has been waiting for. The Lady Pirates of Hampton, who defeated B-CU 81-44, travels to Daytona Beach to face an anxious Lady Wildcats team. The game will be B-CU's Basketball Homecoming, in addition to other events, including Senior Day, Breast Cancer Awareness, and Alumni Weekend.
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