PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – Junior guard Kimeira Burks scored a game-high 22 points, but the North Carolina Central University women's basketball team was held off by a hot-shooting University of Maryland Eastern Shore squad in a 92-74 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference road loss Monday.
 
Burks made all six of her 3-pointers in the second half as NCCU closed a halftime deficit of 27 point to 11 points on three occasions in the fourth quarter, but the Hawks kept making shots of their own to avenge a loss to the Eagles on Jan. 23.
 
UMES (7-17 Overall, 3-7 MEAC) had its best shooting percentage out of its 10 league games to win its second straight game and improve to 5-6 at home.
 
UMES scored the first five points of the game and led throughout the contest. The Hawks maintained that same five-point lead after one quarter of play, 18-13, before UMES dominated the second quarter to pull away. The Hawks started the decisive period with a 22-4 run and eventually tripled up the Eagles 33-11 in that period to extend their lead to a game-high 27 points, 51-24, at halftime.
 
The host Hawks shot 63.3 percent from the field in the first half while holding the visiting Eagles to just 24.2 percent from the floor. Freshman Jála Bannerman, who was held to just two points in a five-point loss at NCCU on Jan. 23, led all players into the halftime locker room scoring 10 of her 12 points over te first 20 minutes.
 
NC Central outplayed UMES in the second half, 50-41, by making half of their field goal attempts, but the Eagles never could never trim the deficit to single digits. After outscoring UMES by six points, 24-18, in the third quarter, Burks sparked a 15-5 run by NCCU in the middle of the fourth quarter to pull the Eagles with 11 points. Burks made a trio of treys during that surge to inch the score to 80-69, but after trading baskets the Hawks scored the final seven points of the game in the last minute to prevail by 18 points.
 
Senior Mya Thomas and junior Zamara Haynes led the victors with 18 and 16 points, respectively. They each scored seven points in the fourth quarter to counter NCCU's late comeback attempts. Junior Mahogany Lester was a fourth double-digit scorer for the Hawks with 10 points while posting a team-high seven rebounds.
 
For the Eagles, sophomore Aniya Finger netted 12 points; senior Kira Lowery contributed 10 points and a game-high eight assists; and junior Tianna Carter supplied nine points and a game-best eight rebounds.
 
NC Central (12-14, 6-5) will return home and host Howard University on Senior Day Saturday. The Eagles and Bison are scheduled to tipoff inside McDougald-McLendon Arena at 2 p.m.
 
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