Baltimore, Md. – The UMBC women's basketball team moved to 6-1 on the year with a 60-46 victory over Lafayette (3-5) on Saturday evening at UMBC RAC Arena. The Retrievers tallied their fourth win in a row for the first time since the 2001-02 season and are 4-0 at home for the first time since the 1993-94 season. UMBC was led by Matea Pender with a season-high 22 points.
Pender proved valuable for the Retrievers who despite never trailing in the game could not quite put Lafayette away until final three minutes of the game. After jumping out to an 11-2 lead to start the game the Retrievers and Leopards played even throughout the first half as UMBC led 30-21 at the break.
The Retrievers shot 52.5 percent in the first half making 12-of-23 attempts as Pender and Amanda Robinson each went 3-for-4 with seven points in the half. UMBC's largest lead was 11 with 4:20 play as Morgan Hatten drained the second of back-to-back treys.
The Leopards closed UMBC's lead to three, the closest deficit since the opening minutes of the game as consecutive three-point baskets drained the Retriever lead to 30-27 with 18:10 to play.
UMBC responded as Pender hit a three-point basket at the 17:56 mark, sparking a 10-0 UMBC run as the Retrievers led 40-27 with 15:48 to play. Lafayette closed the deficit to under double digits on three occasions behind Kara Stetler, who tallied 20 points in the game with a 6-for-9 performance outside the arc.
UMBC put the game away on the trey by Pender with 3:03 to play as UMBC finished on an 11-5 run in the final three minutes of the game.
Pender shot 8-of-12 from the field and 4-of-6 from outside the arc. The senior guard tallied five rebounds and a block as well. Brittnie Hughes saw her seven-game streak of double-digit performances end at seven with two points in the game but dished out a career-high 10 assists and committed no turnovers in the second half. UMBC shot 45.3 percent from the field on 24-of-53 for the game.
Lafayette shot 27.3 percent from the field going 15-of-55 in the game. Stetler was 7-of-13 from the field with six of those baskets three-pointers. Kristin Doherty tallied 11 points as well.
UMBC's bench outscored Lafayette 18-11 as Hatten tallied a UMBC bench-high 10 points with two treys. The Retrievers, who entered the game with the sixth best assist per game mark in the country, handed out 20 assists in the game.
The last time UMBC started 6-1 was during the 1985-86 season as UMBC started 10-1 in its last year prior to becoming a Division-I institution.
"It is always great to get off to a strong start," UMBC head coach Phil Stern said on the Retrievers beginning to the season. "We are building confidence which will give us the momentum we will need as we head into America East Conference play next month."
UMBC faces a tough stretch ahead, playing their next eight of nine games on the road, including four of five to start conference play.
