UMES Lady Hawks hold on to win over the Savannah Lady Tigers

UMES lady Hawks hosted the Savannah State lady Tigers on Saturday afternoon and the Hawks dominated from the start.

The first half was all about the Hawks – UMES showed up ready to play and took it to Savannah from the start. The Hawks maintained possession, they were patient, and made smart decisions with the ball. The lady Hawks sunk 42.3% from the field while shooting 44.4% from behind the arc. UMES headed into halftime up 31-16.

The momentum began to shift in the second half as the Lady Tigers chipped away at the Hawks lead. Savannah State scored the first 8 points of the second half and continued to push their way back into the game. With twelve minutes left in the game and a Savannah substitution of Lauryn Fields – the Lady Tigers were on their way to make a comeback. There was seven minutes remaining in the game and Savannah was within 4 points of UMES, but the Lady Hawks would not let the comeback happen. They slowed down the pace of the game managing to run plays and take control of the game as they did in the first half.

The Tigers were in foul trouble having three different players with 4 fouls each in the last four minutes of the game. Savannah’s leading rebounder, Tiyonda Davis, fouled out of the game with four minutes remaining in the game. Just thirty seconds later, another one of Savannah’s leading scorers, Jasmine Norman, was knocked out of the game due to five fouls. Forty-five seconds later, the Tigers had another player benched with fouls, Ezinne Kalu. The Lady Hawks took over the game and would not look back.

UMES got the eleven point win after a back and forth second half – the final score, 61-50.