Baltimore, Md. – Junior forward Matea Pender (Sibenik, Croatia/Croatian National Team) scored a game-high 20 points at the UMBC Women's Basketball team (1-1) defeated Mount St. Mary's (0-2), 59-55, in the Retriever Tip-Off Tournament on Sunday afternoon at UMBC RAC Arena. In the Tournament Championship game Coppin State (2-0) defeated Cornell (1-1), 70-50, as tournament MVP Sherrie Tucker of Coppin State scored 28 points.
UMBC fell behind fast as the Mount jumped out on a 9-0 run to open the game. The Retrievers finally got on the board with a layup by Pender at the 16:02 mark, starting a UMBC 9-0 run.
After four lead changes, the Retrievers on a Pender layup off an assist by Brittnie Hughes (Roanoke, Va./Northside), who finished with six assists for the second-straight game this season, took an 18-16 lead with 5:29 remaining. The Retrievers would never relinquish that lead the remainder of the game as they increased their advantage to seven before taking a 23-19 lead into the break.
The Retrievers went 5-of-11 from outside the arc and shot 44.8 percent in the second half as they built a 10-point lead, 55-45, when Pender drained a three-pointer.
The Mount clawed back in the game down the stretch with a jump shot by Brooke Blain closed the gap to four but two free throws by Kristin Drabyn (Avon, Ind./Avon) with 10 seconds on the clock sealed the game for UMBC.
The Retrievers received 23 bench points, 13 from Drabyn as the rookie guard played 30 minutes, hitting 2-of-3 from outside the arc and recorded three steals as well. Heather Luttrell (Kokomo, Ind./Northwestern) also came off the bench for UMBC, clearing eight rebounds off the glass, a career-high.
Mount St. Mary's Samira Rashid scored 16 points to lead the Mountaineers in the game.
The Mount's Rashid and Hughes from UMBC joined Cornell's Amy Lyon and Claire Perry along with Coppin State's Rashida Suber on the all-tournament team.
The Retrievers return to action on Tuesday as they head to Morgan State for a 7 p.m. game.
Notes:
Samira Rashid (Mount St. Mary's), Brittnie Hughes (UMBC), Amy Lyon (Cornell), Claire Perry (Cornell), Rashida Suber (Coppin State) earned all-tournament honors…Sherri Tucker (Coppin State) won Tournament MVP…Game marked the 35th meeting all-time between Mount St. Mary's and UMBC...UMBC has won the last two and seven of the Retrievers' eight wins have come at UMBC…Matea Pender's 20 points mark the first 20-point performance of the season for UMBC, the Retrievers only had one 20-point performance in 2003-04 (Courtney Doughman, 22 points, against Albany)…the UMBC freshman (Amanda Robinson, Morgan Hatten, Kristin Drabyn) have combined for 37.1 percent of UMBC's total scoring and 32.7 percent of UMBC's total minutes played…Heather Luttrell set a career-high eight rebounds in the game.
