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Dec. 11, 2006
By Chevonne Mansfield Week in Review (Dec. 4 - Dec. 10) Men's and Women's Basketball were the only Hawk teams in action the previous week. The Lady Hawks dropped Longwood and Winston-Salem St. to finish 2-0 last week while the Fighting Hawks battled George Washington and Howard but fell short against both squads. In a non-conference women's basketball contest on Dec. 6, UMES picked up its first road win of the season on when it defeated Longwood, 59-52 at Willett Hall. UMES was paced by three Hawks in double figure scoring with senior Candyce Jeter (Baltimore, Md./Milford Mill Academy) leading the way with 14 points on 6-11 shooting from the field. Danielle Cooper (New York, N.Y./Manhattan College) added 11 points and five assists while Qiana Cheatham (Baltimore, Md./Milford Mill Academy) finished with 10 points. Longwood (4-6) got 17 points from Abigail Freese. Odessa Williams contributed 13. The Lady Hawks held the Lancers to 35% field goal shooting (19-55) and forced 19 turnovers. UMES outscored Longwood 24-16 in the paint and had 13 second chance points compared to 10 by the Lancers. Brittany Adkins' (Millsboro, Del./Sussex Tech.) jumper at 9:36 in the second half gave the Hawks a 12-point lead, its largest of the night. Kevia Smalls' basket at 1:54 cut the maroon and gray lead down to three but Cheatham knocked down a pair of free-throws with under a minute left to seal the win for the Hawks. Women's basketball dropped Winston-Salem State (WSSU) for its fourth consecutive win on Dec. 9. The Lady Hawks downed the Lady Rams in overtime, 54-48 in front of 1,888 fans at the Hytche Center. UMES (4-6) was led by Kristi Veltkamp (Hudsonville, Mich./Lansing Home School), who fell one-point shy of a triple-double and finished with a career-high 11 blocks, 10 rebounds and nine points. Jasmine Speed (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay H.S.) fell one-point shy of a double-double and added a team-high 12 points to go along with nine rebounds and a game-high five steals while Jelila Abdul-Bassit (Anchorage, Alaska/Monroe C.C.) chipped in with 11 points (all in the first half) on 3-6 shooting from beyond the arc. "I thought our post players did a very, very good job of playing defense and rebounding," Head Coach Fred Batchelor said. "Kristi in particular has struggled as far as production and as far as points and rebounds from time to time, but the one thing she's always given us is some good solid defense and I thought her and Jasmine did an exceptional job." WSSU (2-8) got a double-double of 18 points and 17 rebounds from Shalonda Carter. Kadina Baldwin added 14 points. The Hawks held the Rams to 26% field goal shooting (17-66) and held WSSU to just two 3-point field goals the entire game. The defense was strong on the maroon and gray's end with UMES holding an 11-2 advantage in blocks and stealing the ball 10 times compared to seven by the Rams. The Lady Rams battled back from an 11-point first half deficit to cut lead down to two with 3:33 left in regulation. Baldwin hit the game-tying bucket with :01 left to tie things up at 44 and force overtime. The Lady Hawks went on to outscore WSSU 10-4 in the extra frame as UMES made 6-of-8 shots from the charity stripe to seal the win. The maroon and gray held a 30-19 lead at the end of the first half with Abdul-Bassit leading all scorers with 11 points. Veltkamp, meanwhile, already had eight blocks at the intermission. Lavontay Johnson had five points for the Rams at the break. The Lady Hawks are off for 10 days, next returning to action on Tuesday, Dec. 19 when they host Auburn at 7 pm at the Hytche Center. In Men's Basketball action on Dec. 9, UMES missed three shots in the final eight seconds, all of which would have given the Hawks the lead or the tie and they fell to Howard University 65-63 in an exciting contest televised live on ESPNU. The first television game and conference contest of the season for the Hawks, a noon start, saw UMES (1-5, 0-1 MEAC) come out with intensity and sharp shooting but four points in the final one minute and 11 seconds by Kandi Mukole gave the Bison the tie and the lead with just seconds to play. There were eight ticks left when Howard called a timeout to try and preserve the two-point lead with a defensive play. Head Coach Larry Lessett diagramed a play but a three pointer by Ed Tyson rimmed out and a put-back by Shondale Robinson fell short. Another Hawk put-back also missed and Howard (5-5, 2-0 MEAC) escaped with the win. "I would have bet that our first option on the play I diagramed wouldn't have been available, but it was," said Lessett. "We got the open shot by Tyson but he missed it and we missed the follow as well, it is very disappointing," he added. The Hawks were led in scoring by Tyson who had 16, a game high, while Antonio McMillion and Jesse Brooks had 14 each. McMillion had four on two impressive dunks. Ten of Tyson's points came in the second half. As a team the Hawks shot an impressive 46 percent but long range and free throw shooting hurt UMES. The Hawks went just five for 19 from behind the arc, 26 percent and just eight for 15 from the charity stripe, 53 percent. The free throw shooting in the second was costly as they were just three for ten after a perfect first frame. "I was pleased with our defense," said Lessett. "We contained their scorers," he said. Howard was led in scoring by Will Gant who had 14. Curtis White had nine, all coming on three for four shooting behind the arc. Mukole had 12 and Darryl Hudson had ten, all in the second half. The defense was incredible in the first half as UMES held Hudson and Eugene Myatt to just two points. Combined, the two average 40 per game. They finished with 18 combined. UMES fell behind 10-2 at the start despite scoring the opening basket. The Hawks then got on pace and tied the game at 11 with 13:40 to play. They led by as many as eight with just over five minutes to play. Gant's three cut it to five and another three by White made it just a two point advantage. Robinson, playing his most minutes of the season drained two free throws with 1:45 to play to make it a 31-29 lead. Jeron Smith made a pair from the line a minute later and it was tied. After a Mukole steal, McMillion took it right back and passed to Brooks who found Robinson under the basket for a 33-31 lead as time expired at the half. Howard opened the second half with a Mukole lay-in to tie it at 33. UMES took the lead back at the 12:13 mark and held it until the final 2:28 when the Bison tied the game on free throws. It was knotted up at 62. Mukole, who made many big shots, gave Howard the lead at 64-62. Corey Brown, who finished with nine, went strong to the basket and made the second of two free throws to cut it to one. After a miss by Myatt, McMillion went to the hole and got fouled but missed both attempts and UMES had to foul. Mukole made one of two and gave them the 65-63 edge. In a non-conference game on Dec. 5, The Hawks came out of the gate running against the Colonials of George Washington University (GWU) and maintained the lead until the 4:56 mark of the first half when the Colonials took the 21-20 advantage and rode a four point lead at the half to a 79-56 win at the Smith Center on the campus of GWU. The Colonials (6-1) made seven of their first 11 shots to start the second half and pulled away to seal their 18th straight home win. The Colonials' Rob Diggs had 12 of his 16 points in the second half. Diggs, who had a career-high seven blocks, had a dunk with 17:10 left in the game that gave GW a 43-33 lead, and the Hawks never threatened after that. Antonio McMillion had 19 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for Maryland-Eastern Shore, who are 0-3 against GW in the series. Upcoming Week (Dec. 11 - Dec. 17) Men's Basketball will travel to Wichita State in the opening game of the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic on Dec. 17. |
