Baltimore, Md. - The UMBC Retrievers (0-6, 0-0 AEC) lost to the American Eagles (5-2, 0-0 Patriot), 57-41, in women's basketball action on Thursday night at UMBC RAC Arena. The Retrievers, who got off to a slow start trailing by 12 early in the first half, received 19 points off the bench as they came back from a double-digit deficit to tie the game early in the second period. UMBC, however, succumbed to a 15-3 run by the Eagles midway through the second half as American broke its two-year losing streak to the Retrievers.
With turnovers an issue early for UMBC, the Eagles ran out to a 12-0 and 15-3 lead by the 14:20 marker before UMBC roared back with a 7-0 run of its own to close the gap to five. Anastasia Goncharova (Moscow, Russia/The Newport School) gapped off the Retriever run with a jumper at the 10:21 mark. The Retrievers stayed within striking distance as the Eagles held a five-point advantage at the break, 22-17.
In the opening minutes of the second-half, UMBC got a lay-up by Goncharova and Courtney Doughman (Ironton, Ohio/South Webster) knocked down a trey, one of her three for nine points off the bench, to tie the game 22-22.
The Eagles out of a timeout hit three consecutive baskets as their lead swelled back to nine before Goncharova hit one of her two three-pointers at the 14:06 mark. Goncharova's three would be all the points UMBC got in the Eagles 15-3 run as they held a 37-25 lead with 10:17 play.
The Eagles kept their lead at double digits up until the three-minute mark when back-to-back three-point baskets by Mariana Santos (Presidente, Brazil/Americana) and Doughman pulled the Retrievers back within six at 47-41 with 1:44 to play.
The Eagles once again fought off the Retriever charge with five-straight points by Kaitlin Schuyler and made free throws down the stretch as the Eagles held on for the win.
The Eagles were led by Chanel Spriggs with 17 and Schuyler had 12. The Retrievers were led by Goncharova with 12 points while off the bench Katie Tedder (North Newton, Kan./Hutchinson, C.C.) added 10 points and Doughman tallied nine.
UMBC returns to action on Saturday, Dec. 20 when they face Maryland at 1 p.m. at the Comcast Center.
