NEWARK, DE -- Freshman guard Casey Morton scored 14 points and Chena Parker added 13 to lead the Maryland-Eastern Shore women's basketball team to a 65-53 victory over Delaware on Thursday night at the Bob Carpenter Center.

Sophomore guard Corinthia Benison poured in a game-high 15 points for the Blue Hens, who lost their seventh straight game for the first time since an eight-game skid in January of 1998.

Delaware led 50-49 with 7:57 left in the second half, but the Hawks (4-3, 0-0 MEAC) used a 16-3 run in the final minutes to secure their second straight win.

UMES sizzled in the opening minutes, scoring the first 13 points of the game to take a 13-0 lead on an April McBride three-pointer with 15:47 left in the first half. The Hawks hit three consecutive trifectas in the stretch, while UD missed its first six shots from the floor. The Hens were held scoreless for the first 5:07 of play, as Maryland-Eastern Shore sank five of its first eight field goal tries.

Point guard Kyle DeHaven finally put Delaware on the board at the 14:53 mark, when she drained a three from 25 feet out. DeHaven's basket ignited a 29-10 Blue Hen surge that forward Courtney Irving (right) capped with two free throws at the 3:44 mark. Benison poured in 13 points during the run, which put the Hens up 29-23.

The Hawks answered with a 6-0 spurt of their own, but Jamie Mundy gave Delaware its first halftime lead of the season with a jumper from the left wing just before the horn.

UMES began the second half much like the first, embarking on a 16-7 run to take a 45-38 lead on a Kritsti Veltkamp lay-in with 11:47 left. But the Hens battled back again, as DeHaven sank a long three, Benison hit a baseline jumper, and Irving converted a three-point play to pull the Hens to within 48-46 with just under nine minutes on the clock.

Irving gave her squad a 50-49 edge with two free throws a few possessions later, the Hens' last lead of the game. That's when UMES reeled off ten unanswered points, taking command at 59-50 when Parker scored on a fast break with 3:49 remaining. McBride keyed the decisive run with six points in the last eight minutes of action, while Delaware was held without a field goal for the final 8:50.

The Hens enjoyed their most balanced offensive effort of the year, as four UD players reached double figures for the first time since a win over VCU on March 9 of last season. Irving finished with season highs of 14 points and eight rebounds, while Mundy added 10 points and seven boards.

UD scored its most points since it put up 55 in a loss to Louisville on Nov. 23, but shot just 20.7 percent from the floor in the second half and 30.5 percent for the game.

DeHaven tallied 11 points, six assists, and two steals in the setback, but she made just three of her 16 shots from the floor.

The Hens (1-7, 0-0 CAA) suffered their first loss to a team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference since 2001, when they fell to Coppin State. They've now dropped three consecutive games at home for the first time 1998.

Delaware returns to the court on Dec. 18, when the Hens host Quinnipiac at 7 p.m.

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