Baltimore, Md. - The UMBC women's basketball team (1-16, 1-7 AE) snapped their losing streak with a 65-55 win over Vermont (8-8, 2-6 AE) on Saturday night in UMBC RAC Arena. Last week's America East Rookie of the Week Courtney Doughman (Ironton, Ohio/South Webster) came off the bench for the Retrievers to score a team-high 15 points including draining a trey at the 10 minute mark in the first half that put the Retrievers up for good. UMBC led 26-21 at halftime.
After giving up their early 3-0 lead and trailing 9-7, Doughman hit her first points of the game with a three-pointer to put UMBC ahead 10-9 with 10:04 to play in the half. The Retrievers would never relinquish their lead as Doughman's trey sparked a 7-0 run by the Retrievers who took a 26-21 lead into the break.
The Catamounts closed the gap to one as Aaron Yantzi, who had a game-high 20 points, converted a lay-up to close the Retriever advantage to 26-25 in the opening minutes of the second half.
The Retrievers responded as Anastasia Goncharova (Moscow, Russia/The Newport School) fueled UMBC's 15-4 run with eight of the Retrievers 15 points. Goncharova drained two treys and converted a jumper from just inside the arc as UMBC took a 41-29 lead.
Holding the Catamounts at a safe distance down the stretch the Retrievers shot 54.5 (12-of-22) percent from the field in the second stanza and 58.3 (7-of-12) percent from three-point range. The Retrievers made 8-of-8 free throws including 6-of-6 by Maria Brown (Frederick, Md./Frederick) in the final minute to seal the Retrievers 10-point victory.
Four Retrievers scored in double digits as Doughman tallied 15, Goncharova scored 14, all coming in the second half, Brown netted 11 points and Erin Voss (Brookfield, Wis./Pius XI) scored a career-high 10 points. UMBC shot 48.9 (22-of-45) from the field in the game.
The Catamounts were led by Yantzi's 20 points with Chrissy Battram chipping in 14 and Lani Boardman scoring 12 points.
The Retrievers losing streak ends at 17-games, dating back to last season's end of the year loss in the NEC title game, two shy of the school record set in 1996-97.
The Retrievers return to action in a men's and women's double-header against Albany on Wednesday, Feb. 4 at UMBC RAC Arena. The women's game is slated to start at 5:30 followed by the men at approximately 7:30.
