By Bill Hamilton

NORFOLK, VA – Second-seeded Bethune-Cookman, down one to seventh-seed Maryland- Eastern Shore at the half, used a 16-0 third-quarter run to take control of the game, then beat back a fourth-quarter rally to earn a 71-65 win over the Lady Hawks in quarterfinal action of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament Wednesday at The Scope.

The Lady Wildcats, with assistant coach Chandler McCabe filling in for head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis who gave birth to her second second, Bryce Robert,  on Monday, advanced to Friday's 2 p.m. semifinals against the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal matchup between Morgan State and Hampton.

Junior guard Angel Golden matched her career-high of 29 points on 8-14 shooting from the field, including a 3-6 effort from three-point range and a 10-10 performance from the charity stripe. Ashanti Hunt, also a junior, added a career-high 22 points -- including 14-19 from the free throw line -- and seven rebounds in the win, which lifted the Lady Wildcats to 24-5.

Chasimmie Brown had a game-high nine rebounds to lead Bethune-Cookman on the boards and added six points, while point guard Emily Williams contributed seven points for the winner.

MDES, which  completed its campaign at 11-19, was led by junior Ciani Byrom with 15 points, which included a 9-11 showing from the free throw line. Jordyn Smith and Tori Morris, two of four Lady Hawks completing their college careers, added 10 points each. Martha Thompson grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and had an equal number of points in the loss.

"We knew coming it that it would be a tough matchup," said McCabe. "Coach [Fred] Batchelor does a great job in getting his team ready so we knew we were in for a fight. The game featured some runs by both teams but anytime you get a win in a tournament, you are happy about it."

The Lady Wildcats scored the first 14 points of the game, a rally which Golden ended with two of her 10 free throws with 6:28 left in the first period before MDES came back to within 20-10 after one.

The Lady Hawks kept their momentum with a 20-9 second quarter which gave them a 30-29 lead at halftime, somewhat of a surprise.

But the third quarter would be mostly Bethune-Cookman as the Lady Wildcats got a 3-pointer from Golden to start the period and went 16-0 run that was capped by a 3-pointer by Williams with 3:57 left in the period and the number two seed ahead 45-30. MDES got the last five points of the period to close the gap to 45-35.

The Lady Wildcats took control early in the final quarter, using a 6-0 run to stretch their lead to 16 again, 51-35 with 7:38 to play. The closest MDES came after that was the final margin.

NOTES: B-CU held the Hawks to 5-31 shooting from the field in the first and third quarters ... This was B-CU's fourth straight win over MDES ... Hunt's 14 FTs is the third-best single-game total in program history ... B-CU's 27 FTs were a season-high...Ths was Golden's 12th 20-point game of her career ... Both of Hunt's 20-point games have come in Norfolk...Her previous high was 21 against Norfolk State last year.