The first week-plus of MEAC basketball has seen some stunning results and Saturday’s women’s game at Maryland Eastern Shore provided another.
Senior forward Brianna Barnes‘ basket with 1:29 left in the fourth quarter was the difference as the Fighting Hawks stunned preseason conference favorite Howard 62-56, improving to 3-0 in MEAC play and 9-10 on the season. After the win, Maryland Eastern Shore stands alone in first place in the conference standings.
Barnes’ winning basket came off of a steal by Kaliya Perry, who found the senior for two of her game-high 22 points to give UMES a 55-53 lead.
After two Kalise Hill foul shots pushed the Hawks’ lead to 57-53, Howard guard Ariella Henigan nailed a three-pointer to pull the Bison (12-7, 2-1 MEAC) within a point with 30 seconds left, but Howard would not score again and four free throws from Barnes and one from Dakieran Turner closed out the scoring.
Zennia Thomas led Howard with 18 points and Henigan added 11. Hill joined Barnes in double figures for UMES with 11 points.